The goals of the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health Scholars Program at the University of Wisconsin (UW) are 1) to increase the diversity of academic leaders in the field of Women's Health (WH) and 2) to promote interdisciplinary research that addresses disparities in health status and health outcomes among diverse populations of women throughout the life span, and chronic disease prevention. We will accomplish these goals by selecting diverse and talented applicants and providing them with dual scientific mentorship with established investigators in both biomedical and behavioral/social sciences;a rigorous 2-3 year didactic curriculum (biostatistics and study design, ethics, leadership/management, presentation and teaching, and scientific writing);and individual guidance in a safe environment that values cultural diversity. We believe that integrating biomedical sciences, public health sciences, and socio-cultural and behavioral sciences is prerequisite to addressing the linkages of macro-societal levels of being with pathogenesis of disease, so important in addressing health disparities. Thus, the UW BIRCWH provides interdisciplinary and multifaceted opportunities for research that includes not only biomedical and behavioral sciences, but also investigation into quality of care, cost, access and satisfaction with services;causes of and barriers to reducing health disparities;social context;and identification of assessment measures for outcomes. To address not only the broad array of research areas outlined above but also the interdisciplinary nature of the possible candidates, the faculty is interdisciplinary and consists of physician scientists, perinatal researchers, sociologists, nurse scientists, nutritional scientists, epidemiologists and economists. The outstanding research mentors selected for the BIRCWH are enthusiastic about the opportunity to mentor more advanced Scholars through the BIRCWH. A major strength of the UW application is the integration of the BIRCWH Scholars into an NIH K30 program initially developed with funding from an NIH, which supports a competency-based curriculum incorporating principals of adult education into the training program. The Scholars will be integrated into a thriving interdisciplinary WH research network.. This will provide the Scholars with role models as well as cutting edge research opportunities;thus, fostering their careers as academicians, scientists, and leaders. These future leaders in academic medicine will play a major role in improving the health and health care of all women, pushing forward the frontiers of WH research, and framing the WH research agenda of the future.
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