The establishment of national Women's Reproductive Health Research Centers represents a unique opportunity for the specialty as a whole and for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Colorado. Our vision for the University of Colorado Women's Reproductive Health Research Career Development Center is to provide an environment that encourages and fosters the development of creative programs of research related to women's reproductive health while enhancing the pool of highly qualified young obstetric and gynecologic investigators who are capable of pursuing independent research careers. This application draws upon the following specific, outstanding strengths: (1) the national prominence of the institution in research and research education, (2) a successful model of research career development is already in place, (3) established and successful research themes in women's health, (4) an existing strategic research plan that will be integrated into the Center, 5) an experienced and dedicated Principal Investigator and an energetic, innovative Program Director, (6) a broad-based applicant pool, (7) strong institutional support that will ensure success, and (8) a program that seeks and supports diversity among scholars with respect to race and gender. To achieve these career development goals, a flexible training schedule and individual mentorship at multiple levels are integrated into our proposal. Trainees may enter one of three tracks: the basic track, the advanced track, or the Ph.D. track. To ensure the success of our trainees we propose to continue to provide mentoring to all scholars well after completion of the training phase. This will occur in the Follow Through phase of our program. Availability of funding to support a core laboratory provides an exciting opportunity to design a facility that will serve to important functions for scholars: namely, service and training. Accordingly, we will establish the Molecular Histopathology Core Laboratory of Gene Expression to provide service and training to scholars valuable techniques not readily available elsewhere in the institution. The key factor in our program is a critical mass of senior scientists from whom young obstetric and gynecologic investigators will receive mentoring. Twenty-six primary mentors have been identified. The Advisory Committee and other mentors incorporate accomplished faculty from the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medicine, Pathology, Microbiology, Biometrics and Biostatistics, the Molecular Biology Program, Pediatrics, Pharmacology, and the Biomolecular Structure Program. We believe that the proposed University of Colorado Women's Reproductive Health Research Center will play a leading role in the development of a successful cadre of independent physician-scientist investigators in women's reproductive health or the coming decades.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 28 publications
