UIC Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health Program

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The overall goal of the UIC BIRCWH Program is to align with the 2019-23 Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women’s Health Research to “promote training and careers to develop a well-trained, diverse, and robust workforce to advance science for the health of women” (NIH ORWH, 2019). Our long-term objective is to promote training and career development of a new generation of researchers equipped with the knowledge and career skills necessary to advance science for the health of women in the next decade and beyond. We are based in the UIC College of Medicine, but draw on the interdisciplinary strengths of UIC’s seven health colleges. Our past success directing a BIRCWH from 2007-2017 fostered the academic careers of 18 Scholars (33% under-represented minorities; URM). Their success is evident in 24 NIH grants as Principal Investigator and 32 as Co-Investigator, as well as numerous non-NIH grants (55 as PI and 50 as Co-I). We also have a record of success mentoring in the UIC-funded Women’s Health Research (WHR) Associates Program which supported 8 Scholars (38% URM) and the UIC-funded Bridge Program which currently supports 3 Scholars. All three programs have received strong institutional support from UIC leadership. We seek BIRCWH funding over the next 5 years to train 6 junior faculty researchers in women’s or sex/gender-based health research: 3 MDs for 3 years and 3 PhDs for 2 years. We will build upon our demonstrated success by capitalizing on 4 program strengths: (1) our success in launching the careers of 29 junior faculty in women’s health research; (2) alignment with the Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women’s Health; (3) the highly interdisciplinary nature of the program and integration across UIC and regional BIRCWH Programs; and (4) the use of evidence-based mentoring practices to prepare scholars to conduct team science and address barriers facing new female and URM investigators. Our short-term objectives build upon these strengths through ongoing program activities and several new initiatives. Ongoing activities include: a) supplementing team mentoring programs with new training and tools, b) optimizing existing and new UIC partnerships, and c) augmenting our strong didactic curriculum in women’s health research. We also have 4 novel initiatives. First, the Diversification of the Sciences Initiative identifies institutional and other barriers to optimal academic quality of life among new investigators, and pursues policy changes and program activities to improve recruitment, retention, and advancement of women and URMs. Second, we will engage in the Midwest BIRCWH Program, an initiative to increase collaboration across Midwestern BIRCWH Programs. Third, we will incorporate new curriculum content on reproducibility, transparency, and rigor. Lastly, we will provide training on fundamental research approaches, hands-on bioinformatics training, and experimental design for personalized medicine. BIRCWH activities at UIC related to sex and gender influences in health and disease will advance the ORWH goal to accelerate the translation of knowledge into improved health care for women.