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Center of Excellence in Women's Health

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

Karen M. Freund MD MPH, Principle Investigator

Rebecca A. Silliman MD PhD, Co-Principal Investigator
http://www.bumc.bu.edu/geriatrics

Bonnie J. Shermam, Ph.D. , Program Coordinator

Phone # 617 638-8033
Fax # 617 638-8026

Website:
http://www.bmc.org/womenshealth

Research Career Development Program for Junior Faculty
(Please click here for application procedures )

Boston Medical Center/Boston University Medical Center has received funding from the Office of Women's Health Research, NIH to establish BIRCWH Research Scholars Program. The long-term goals of the BU Research Scholars Program are to mentor an identified cadre of outstanding scholars and to provide them with the support and training to needed for them to develop independent research careers in women's health. There is a demonstrated need to expand research in women's health, and to increase the number of excellent researchers in women's health and gender-based medicine. The Boston University Research Scholars Program will recruit, select and train junior faculty in conducting clinical and health services research on women's health issues. The focus of research training and research will be on addressing the needs of underserved, minority and elderly women.

The Boston University BIRCWH Research Scholars Program will train a cadre of clinician investigators in health services research, clinical research and clinical epidemiology to address a focus of important questions in the care of women:

•	Prevention research, with focus on behavioral, cultural and health service delivery influences on risk and lifestyle change, in addressing the prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.
•	Health services outcomes and effectiveness, especially investigating outcomes in ethnic and racial minority communities.
•	Addiction medicine, with particular focus on adverse outcomes of alcoholism, and interactions of gender, violence and HIV.
•	Issues of aging women, including the prevention of functional decline, diabetes and cardiovascular disease management, and cancer outcomes.
•	Consequences of multiple caregiver roles, especially in the chronic care of women with disabilities, elders, and those with Alzheimer's disease.

The Boston University Interdisciplinary Women's Health Research Scholars Program will provide 80% protected research time to four Scholars conducting research in the field of women's health. Potential candidates include BU junior faculty as well as candidates who are being recruited to join the faculty, and for whom the funding will constitute part of their initial offer package. The primary appointment of each Scholar will be through their Department.

Applicants are eligible from all clinician disciplines at Boston University/Boston Medical Center interested in developing a career as a clinician investigator. Eligible applicants must hold a doctoral degree in a clinical discipline such as medicine, dentistry, rehabilitation medicine or psychology. The program will include two levels of research Scholars. The first level will be Basic Clinical Scholars who have completed their clinical training but who have not had formal research training. This level of Scholar will complete a master's degree as part of their research training within the Scholar program, and will require time to develop an independent research program and extramural funding. The second level will be Advanced Clinical Scholars, who will have already completed master's level research training, and will utilize the program to refine their research skills, develop an independent program of research, and obtain independent extramural funding. Basic Clinical Scholars will on average receive funding for 2 - 3 years; Advanced Clinical Scholars will on average receive funding for 1 - 2 years.

The Program will have 5 key components to the structured training curriculum that will be tailored to meet each Scholar's training needs:

1.	Mentoring . Scholars will have guidance provided by a strong mentoring system that will address research as well as career development. This will be overseen by the Program Director, with input from the Principal Investigator and the Advisory Board.
2.	Formal research training . For Scholars who have completed their clinical training but have no formal research training, they will be enrolled in the MSc degree program in Epidemiology, or the new MSc degree program in Health Services Research in order to gain skills in research methodology.
3.	Interdisciplinary research seminars . All Scholars will participate in a series of required seminars. These include the interdisciplinary CREST program in clinical research training, the BIRCWH interdisciplinary research seminars, and the Boston University Medical Center course on the responsible conduct of research. Scholars will also have the opportunity to participate in a number of other seminar and training opportunities, including the Center of Excellence in Geriatrics and the Boston University Research Data Assistance Center (ResDAC) training program in the use of Medicare and Medicaid administrative datasets.
4.	Mentored research project . All Scholars will complete a mentored research project, utilizing the Core Resource Laboratory for technical assistance in the planning, conduct, and analysis of their data.
5.	Grant proposal development . All Scholars will receive mentoring and guidance in the preparation of their first grant applications, as it is an expectation that all Scholars will have independent funding by the end of their tenure in the program.

For more information on the Boston University Interdisciplinary Women's Health Research Scholar's Program please contact: Karen Freund, MD, MPH, Program Director at (617) 638-8036 or Karen.freund@bmc.org . You may also contact Bonnie J. Sherman, Ph.D., Program Coordinator at (617) 638-8033 or bsherman@bu.edu.

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