Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (K12)

Overview of the Proposed Program: This is a Program by Duke University and includes participation of North Carolina Central University (NCCU) a historically black university also located in Durham, NC. We are continuing our career development program Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH), which has three major goals: 1. To develop highly skilled and innovative junior researchers who investigate women’s health and the effects of sex as a biological marker of health and disease throughout a woman’s lifespan by employing interdisciplinary approaches. 2. To foster women’s health research by identifying and recruiting scholars from a variety of scientific backgrounds and by providing individualized mentoring and career development support in an environment of team science. 3. To encourage interdisciplinary research on all aspects of women’s health by emphasizing the merits of all scientific categories and methods. The Duke/NCCU BIRCWH is a strong, vibrant program with a history of success in developing careers of junior investigators in women's health research. Our strengths build from our commitment to interdisciplinary research, structured mentoring relationships, and a focus on individualized career development. Success is facilitated through strong institutional commitment, experienced leadership, and effective interdisciplinary mentoring teams. Our BIRCWH philosophy is to incorporate diverse personal, scientific and academic backgrounds and a broad range of research projects within our program. This strengthens our ability to truly engage interdisciplinary approaches. It is through our expert advisors, supportive leadership, and experienced mentors that these approaches are integrated to focus on women's health and sex differences in human disease within our overarching theme of "Women's Health Across the Lifespan.