# Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health

> **NIH NIH K12** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · $170,320

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
This supplement to the Vanderbilt-Meharry BIRCWH award will support a fourth BIRCWH Scholar, Dr. Ana
Serezani, who is a Latina and a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine. Her research
examines the contribution of adaptive and innate immune responses to chronic lung diseases, with a particular
interest in sex differences in disease etiology. Dr. Serezani will expand our diverse group of BIRCWH scholars.
She is being mentored by exceptional mentors Drs. Timothy Blackwell and Dawn Newcomb. Dr. Serezani is an
ideal fit for our program. Her work spans three of our five thematic areas of exceptional institutional strength:
mechanisms, sex and gender biology, and precision medicine research. She joins a cohort dedicated to
research excellence. The program environment creates synergy for robust mechanistic and therapeutic
research to deliver discoveries both inside and outside the lab. Our 37 former and current scholars conduct
research as varied as immunologic and genetic aspects of lupus, sex differences in resilience to Alzheimer's,
and role of sex hormones in T cell differentiation and cytokine expression in asthma onset and severity.
Scholars are 79% women and 27% identify with minority race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disadvantaged
status historically underrepresented in research. Nearly all remain in research. During training, scholars
average 8 publications a year, and alumni have been awarded 107 extramural grants worth over $50 million
total. BIRCWH Scholars are grounded in fundamentals of women's health and sex differences research,
prepared to lead collaborative teams, trained to effectively deploy innovative interdisciplinary approaches to
attack and solve problems, and committed to pursuing research that optimizes the health of all women.
Scholars are selected by competitive review of applications from early career faculty. Training is tailored to the
individual scholar guided by structured interdisciplinary mentorship and is overseen by a trio of Co-PIs who are
all former BIRCWH Scholars. Program resources are further extended by myriad institutional resources that
ensure our researchers thrive. Scholars form a mentoring panel, participate in weekly BIRCWH work-in-
progress sessions and seminars, receive formal evaluation twice a year, attend twice-monthly career
development seminar series with other K-awardees, and are regularly exposed to case studies on responsible
conduct of rigorous and reproducible research. They have access to: 1) an array of cores; 2) biostatistics
consults; 3) manuscript preparation groups; 4) technical editing of completed products; 5) studios with experts
to vet scientific ideas, aims, and research designs; 6) intramural pilot funding; 7) grant writing support including
grant workshops, a library of funded grants, and internal study sections; and 8) new expert consultations to
design fully individualized training plans termed Pathways. We deploy evaluation tools to continuous...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10674088
- **Project number:** 3K12HD043483-22S1
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** KATHERINE E HARTMANN
- **Activity code:** K12 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $170,320
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2002-09-26 → 2027-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10674088

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10674088, Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (3K12HD043483-22S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10674088. Licensed CC0.

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