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

> **NIH NIH K12** · OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $532,411

## 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 organization:** OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** JEANNE-MARIE GUISE
- **Activity code:** K12 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $532,411
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2002-09-26 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9995541

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9995541, Oregon BIRCWH: Scholars in Women's Health Research Across the Lifespan (5K12HD043488-19). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9995541. Licensed CC0.

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