This competing renewal application for the Penn Women's Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) Career Development Center seeks continued support for training and mentorship for obstetrician-gynecologists with the goal of cultivating a cadre of independent scholars in women's health, emphasizing multidisciplinary approaches. The program will continue to have a steady state of 3 WRHR Scholars. The Penn WRHR Center builds on a tradition of multi-faceted investigation and training in reproductive and women's health at the University of Pennsylvania dating back to 1966. It is an integral part of Penn's exceptional biomedical research enterprise, ranking among the top in the nation in terms of NIH grant awards to medical schools. The short term goals of the WRHR Center are to identify especially talented physicians who have demonstrated potential for successful careers in research, to place them in an exciting and supportive research environment under the guidance of an experienced mentor(s), and to advance their skill sets in research to the point that they can establish a productive, independent line of investigation. Based on successes in the previous funding periods, the Penn WRHR Center will continue to formulate individualized curricula and career development plans. This may include enrollment in a Master of Science or Ph.D. degree program. Academic enrichment including seminars and specialized workshops has been established to enhance research skills as well as publication and grant writing. Continued support for a Biostatistician (instead of a Biostatistics Core) is requested based on its significant contributions to the research career development of Scholars during the past periods of support. The long term goals of the Center are to insure that Scholars who graduate from the Penn WRHR Center establish sustainable research programs, and develop expertise in mentorship that will allow them to guide future Scholars. A novel feature of the present proposal is that we have incorporated the joint recruitment of WRHR Scholars with Temple University (non-research intensive department of Ob/Gyn) and Howard University (minority institution) in order to start building the Women's Health Research manpower at those institutions. Overall success of the Penn WRHR Center will be measured in terms of the quality and importance of work published by the Scholars, their ability to win and retain extramural research funding, professional recognition for their research activities, effectiveness in mentoring trainees under their direction, academic promotion, and assumption of leadership roles in the specialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The Penn WRHR Center will encourage and foster the development of academic obstetrician gynecologists in order to contribute to the improvement of the health of women and their children.
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