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

ABSTRACT This administrative supplement proposes K12 and postdoctoral scholar funding for the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) Division of Research’s Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Program. 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; and to 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 and improve health equity 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 UCSF departments and centers and from KPNC and 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 UCSF/KPNC

Advisory Committee oversees the program in partnership with leadership, along with newly appointed external advisory members for greater outreach to underrepresented scholars. Our program is strengthened by mentoring teams that cross disciplines and with our newly offered training in mentoring across differences.

Diverse scholars and faculty—in terms of fields of interest, background, training, race/ethnicity, and gender— are a priority. We connect scholars to a network of our BIRCWH scholars and alumni, including investigators underrepresented in medicine for ongoing peer and mentor support. Our BIRCWH scholars receive tailored

mentoring, and participate in training courses, program seminars, progress assessments, and leadership development activities. 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.