# University of MN Building Interdisciplinary Research Carerrs in Women's Health

> **NIH NIH K12** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2020 · $540,000

## Abstract

7. Program Abstract
The University of Minnesota's Building Interdisciplinary Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH)
Program's overarching goal is to improve the health of all women across the lifespan and, by extension, to
improve the health of their families and communities in Minnesota, the nation, and the world. The BIRCWH is a
comprehensive program that ensures our scholars (assistant professors) become premier interdisciplinary
women's health researchers. Our short-term objective is to facilitate the research careers of our scholars by
expanding their research skills, experience in team science, research networks and leadership abilities, and
increasing their scholarly productivity. This objective will be accomplished through the following components:
1) Competency-based training in the design, conduct, and dissemination of high-quality women's health and
sex differences research with both required and individualized components, including curricular innovations in
research ethics, rigor and reproducibility, bioinformatics and advance methodology, and scientific leadership;
2) A robust interdisciplinary mentoring program that has an academically diverse pool of women's health
research mentors, including BIRCWH alumni, who can support all aspects of the Scholars' research career
development; 3) Formation of new alliances with other BIRCWH Programs to enhance opportunities for cross-
institutional networking and research collaborations to will promote the national recognition of our Scholars;
and 4) Strong program oversight and evaluation that is tailored to the program competencies and benchmarks.
Our long-term objectives are to: 1) Increase the number of interdisciplinary research leaders who advance
scientific knowledge in women's health and wellness across the lifespan and in sex/gender differences in
health and disease; 2) Foster new cross-disciplinary collaborations within the University and broader
community to increase the impact of women's health research; 3) Transform the academic environment by
increasing the visibility of interdisciplinary women's health and sex/gender determinants research; and 4) Effect
the timely translation of women's health research findings to clinical practice, public health and policy. For this
cycle, we are have chosen four major interdisciplinary research focus areas. They are: a) Cancers
occurring in primarily in females or have sex-specific aspects to treatment; b) Behavior and health
eating/obesity and substance use disorders; c) Mature women's health with an emphasis on cardiovascular
disease and osteoporosis; and c) Health disparities community-engaged research to address disparities in
women and girls. Rationale and design of the program: We will achieve the program's goal by increasing
the number of well-trained, interdisciplinary researchers who focus on women's health and the effects of
biological sex and gender roles on health and disease. We fund three women's health or sex differences
researchers w...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9994319
- **Project number:** 5K12HD055887-14
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** SHARON S ALLEN
- **Activity code:** K12 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $540,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2007-09-24 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9994319

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9994319, University of MN Building Interdisciplinary Research Carerrs in Women's Health (5K12HD055887-14). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9994319. Licensed CC0.

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