WOMEN'S HEALTH AND AGING: CLINICAL SCIENTIST DEVELOPMENT

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a proposal for a Women's Health and Aging: Clinical Scientist Development Program at the University of Wisconsin. The intent is to develop a cadre of researchers in the area of older women's health who are excellent scientists imbued with an interdisciplinary perspective, effective communicators, and managers of independent research programs. This program will provide salary support to young investigators at a critical juncture in their successful research careers. It will integrate well with the K30 Clinical Investigator Preparatory Pathway, which provides tuition support but not salary and with other training programs in older women's health that support research training below the junior faculty level. Indeed, the K12 is the next logical step in the systematic development of academic programs in women's health at the University of Wisconsin, and establishing this program meets one of the objectives of the NIA funded Women's Health Academic Leadership Award. The program, administered through the Center for Women's Health, will assure that each K12 investigator achieve the six core competencies needed to be an independent researcher: 1) research excellence, 2) statistics and study design, 3) research ethics, 4) leadership/management, 5) presentation and teaching, and 6) scientific writing. This will be accomplished through development of an individualized learning plan in conjunction with an intensive research experience with outstanding mentors. It will include a flexible didactic curriculum and guidance from a Leadership Team. Research mentors are active investigators in either The Basic Biology of Menopause and Post Menopausal Diseases or Clinical, Socio-demographic, and Epidemiologic Research in Mid- and Late-Life Aging Women with enormous potential for translational research and fertile interdisciplinary dialogue. All research mentors are in areas of investigation cited as priorities by the NIA in its Guide to Research and Training, July 2000. Both K12 investigators and the training program will be evaluated by multiple methods with the goal of continuous improvement. Aligned with the NIA's goals, considerable resources will be devoted to ensuring a diverse group of mentored scientists including a "grow your own" strategy for underrepresented minority investigators. Because women's health research draws predominantly women investigators, this program also addresses the NIH workforce priority of developing women leaders in biomedical and behavioral research.