The goal of the Vanderbilt BIRCWH Scholars Program is to increase the pool of well-prepared investigators dedicated to advancing knowledge about women's health via advances in sex and gender biology. Our intent is to integrate the study of sex/gender differences into thriving research programs across the scientific spectrum, in order to actualize personalized prevention, diagnostics, and therapeutics for girls and women. We are building on a tradition of research excellence that includes large-scale health system data; ongoing cohorts, several with more than 90,000 participants like the Southern Community Cohort Study and Shanghai Women's and Men's Health Studies; two decades of Medicaid data record linkages; DNA samples linked with clinical data for more than 220,000 patients; robust tissue and biomarker banks and consortia access; and more than 50 cores that support interdisciplinary teams making fundamental discoveries inside and outside the lab. Our 25 former and current scholars conduct research in areas as diverse as immunologic aspects of lupus, gender differences in outcomes of ICU care, differences in gait and needs for prosthetic revision among female and male amputees, role of sex hormones in T cell differentiation and cytokine expression, and patterns of progression and resistance to dementia comparing women and men. All our alumni remain in science or industry. Of those in academics, all have had extramural awards, 88% with federal funding, for a total of more than $32 million in extramural research support. BIRCWH Scholars are grounded in the 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 brings individualized care for women closer to reality. Scholars are selected by competitive review of applications from among early-career faculty. Training is tailored to the individual scholar guided by structured interdisciplinary mentorship, and is overseen by the PI, Program Director and Associate Program Director (each former BIRCWH Scholars). Scholars form a mentoring panel, craft an individualized career plan, participate in weekly BIRCWH work-in-progress presentations and seminars, receive formal evaluation each 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 and feasibility funding; and 7) grant writing support including grant workshops, a funded grant library, and internal study sections. Tools are in place to evaluate both mentees and mentors and to continuously enhance our program. Oversight is provided by an advisory committee and biennial external reviews. Combined these efforts ensure we can continue to foster excellence in the next generation of women's health researchers.
High impact discoveries often grow from the confluence of sophisticated methods, awareness of the implications of findings across fields, the energy and creativity sparked by collaborations, and emphasis on pursuing cross-cutting themes. We propose an interdisciplinary faculty career development program to increase the pool of well-prepared investigators focused on advancing knowledge about women's health that is anchored in the theme of investigating sex/gender differences in the mechanisms, treatment, outcomes, and prevention of disease.
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