UCSF-Kaiser Department of Research Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Program

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ABSTRACT This competing renewal application is to support the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) Department of Research Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) Program. The program objectives are to: 1. Recruit a superb and diverse group of early-career women's health researchers; 2. Provide tailored training and mentoring on sex and gender influences in health and disease; 3. Build upon our existing program by targeting topics in women's health of public health importance; 4. Strengthen and integrate models of interdisciplinary research to develop researchers who foster linkages across disciplines and institutions and excel in building team science; 5. Promote the prominence of women's health and the retention of investigators underrepresented in clinical research by mentoring BIRCWH scholars and alumni in academic advancement and leadership. The rationale of our program is that scholars' successful careers in women's health will transform biomedical research and ultimately advance women's health in the US through sustained focus on the study of sex and gender influences in health and disease. The program brings together mentors and advisors from 16 of UCSF's departments and centers and KPNC. The program design emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to a wide range of women's health issues. We will continue the program's initiatives in path-breaking research in women's cancers; environmental health; mental health, addiction, and cognition; infectious diseases; metabolism and bone health; and reproductive health across the lifespan. A multidisciplinary UCSF/KPNC Advisory Committee oversees the program in partnership with leadership, including selection of new scholars. Our program fosters mentoring teams that cross disciplines and research methodologies. Diverse scholars and faculty—in terms of fields of interest, background, training, race/ethnicity, and gender—are a priority. Our program supports three BIRCWH scholars at the Assistant Professor level for at least two years and they receive tailored mentoring and participate in training courses, program seminars, progress assessments, and leadership development activities, including for alumni. An array of career development and training opportunities at the UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) support our BIRCWH program. The career development path for each scholar is tailored to the specific experience and mentoring that will most effectively support transition to independence. Our program evaluation follows a conceptual framework of important domains to scholar career development, with survey measures that assess scholar outcomes such as career trajectory, scientific productivity, and BIRCWH program effectiveness for up to 10 years afterwards. The program will continue to be a unique resource to bring women's health to the forefront of promising advances in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond that are transforming the health sciences for our nation.