Supporting the Tufts BIRCWH Program with an Additional Scholar Position

There is a demonstrated need to increase the number of exceptional researchers in women's health and sex/gender differences to better understand basic mechanisms of disease and develop treatment that addresses the heterogeneity of treatment effects by sex. The Tufts University Building Interdisciplinary

Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) Scholars Program proposes the continuation of a model program to recruit, select, and train early career faculty to conduct basic research in sex/gender differences and clinical and health services research on women's health issues. The long term goals of the Tufts BIRCWH

Program are to develop the next generation of leaders in research in sex/gender differences and women’s health. The Program will fund faculty within six years of their training. We will fund two types of trainees, Basic Science Scholars and Clinical Scholars, who have completed their doctoral training but require more in depth

interdisciplinary research training. The Program will achieve its goals through five key activities, tailored to meet each Scholar’s training needs: 1) interdisciplinary mentoring teams, 2) formal research training including courses at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 3) interdisciplinary research seminars, 4) a mentored

research project, and 5) development of skills in grant proposal preparation. The Tufts BIRCWH Program will promote all stages of translational research from basic science in sex/gender differences to clinical and outcomes research focusing on several important questions in the care of women: a) discovery of sex

differences, b) health equity in disease prevention, management, and outcomes, c) nutrition science, d) women’s cardiovascular health, and e) maternal health and impact on the life course. We propose to fund three scholars annually, with initial appointments of two years with an option to be considered for a third year.