Oregon BIRCWH: Scholars in Women's Health Research Across the Lifespan

NIH RePORTER · NIH · K12 · $532,411 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Project Summary This competing renewal application seeks to continue and enhance the OHSU BIRCWH program entitled “Oregon BIRCWH: Scholars in Women’s Health Research Across the Lifespan.” The overarching goal of the Oregon BIRCWH is to develop leaders in interdisciplinary team science who advance research in women’s health and on sex differences. Oregon BIRCWH Scholars and mentors actively contribute research across the entire lifespan (unifying research theme) of girls and women from in-utero, child, and adult disease through the reproductive years to cancer and cognition in the elderly. The Oregon BIRCWH has successfully trained 25 scholars who have received over $153 million dollars in research funding, published over 720 publications (including Science, NEJM, JAMA), and assumed important national leadership positions. In this renewal we focus on innovative program expansions: 1) a leadership academy focused on providing BIRCWH scholars with the knowledge, skills, and encouragement to become leaders in academics/research organizations as well as scientific leaders, 2) entrepreneurship, 3) a focus on infrastructure and activities that promote interdisciplinary team science including state and national cross-institutional research pilots in interdisciplinary women’s health, and 4) BIRCWH alumni program. These expansions are intended to strengthen the experience for BIRCWH scholars and to broaden the reach of women’s health and sex/gender research at institutional, state, and national levels. The Oregon BIRCWH is a vital driver of OHSU’s institutional research and interdisciplinary career development culture. The BIRCWH Advisory Committee consists of the most successful investigators on campus who are deeply dedicated to overseeing the program, recruiting and selecting Scholars, and monitoring Scholar and Program successes. The BIRCWH training program is tailored to the background and individual needs of each Scholar. The Program will support 3 scholars at all times. Seen as one of the most prestigious and successful career development programs at OHSU, the Oregon BIRCWH benefits from a robust and highly competitive institutional and national candidate pool and will continue existing best practices that have made our program highly successful. The Oregon BIRCWH plays a unique and important role at OHSU as the only K12 career development program open to all faculty and specifically dedicated to career development in women’s health and sex differences research. The Oregon BIRCWH is also an important contributor to the Program at a national level leading cross-institutional discovery and publications on topics such as best practices in mentoring, understanding the unique skills and needs for interdisciplinary team mentoring, and examining infrastructural elements and organizational design that promote team science. The Oregon BIRCWH program develops a workforce of leaders in interdisciplinary team science and advances research in women’s health.

Key facts

NIH application ID
9995541
Project number
5K12HD043488-19
Recipient
OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator
JEANNE-MARIE GUISE
Activity code
K12
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2020
Award amount
$532,411
Award type
5
Project period
2002-09-26 → 2022-07-31