CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine is one of only 11 institutions in the country to win a highly competitive federal grant for helping young faculty build research careers in women's health.
The $2.5-million grant for Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH, pronounced "birch") comes from the National Institutes of Health. It will fund the BIRCWH program at Carolina for five years, including support for the salaries of six junior medical faculty members.
"The past decade has seen a marked decrease in new faculty members entering research careers. This is particularly true of women, many of whom have avoided this career path because of a lack of protected time, funding uncertainties and family responsibilities," said Dr. Eugene P. Orringer, professor of medicine and the school's executive associate dean for faculty affairs.
Orringer, principal investigator for the program, also noted that although the quality of women's health research at UNC-CH is outstanding - ranging from the molecular level to the study of large populations - no single entity on campus brings this disparate group of researchers together.
"This program grant will provide both the salary support and protected time that is absolutely essential for junior faculty to become successful and independent women's health researchers," he said.
Orringer also pointed out that the BIRCWH program at Carolina "will unite our senior investigators in a coordinated multi-disciplinary way, one that will further enhance the already excellent activities in women's health research."
Keys to making all this happen are woven into the program's design. There is an advisory committee of senior leaders and scholars from throughout the university's health-affairs programs, including the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Carolina Population Center. Advisors also come from the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences and from Family Health International, a reproductive health research group. Both are based in Research Triangle Park.
"Finally, we chose a group of mentors who are broadly representative of the diverse research environment that exists at UNC," Orringer added. "They will provide outstanding training opportunities for all of the young faculty scholars selected for the program."
At its initial meeting, the UNC BIRCWH Advisory Committee selected six people as the initial group of BIRCWH scholars. Included among them are two junior faculty members from obstetrics, one from medicine/oncology, one from pathology and two from psychiatry. Officials anticipate that each of these individuals will remain on the BIRCWH grant until he or she receives independent grant support, after which a replacement scholar will be named by the advisory committee.
The research plan is built around three themes: Biomarkers to Therapeutics; Prevention and Intervention; and Health Issues of the Mature Woman. "We selected these themes because each is relevant to women's health, well-suited to interdisciplinary collaboration and emphasizes an area of particular strength at UNC," said Dr. Bruce A. Lessey, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and project director of BIRWCH at UNC. Added Orringer, "Given the exceptional quality of the research opportunities available, the strength of the applicant pool and the commitment of the institution to the goals of this program, we are well-positioned to launch the careers of the next generation of women's health researchers."
By LESLIE H. LANG UNC-CH School of Medicine
Note to media: Dr. Eugene "Gene" Orringer can be reached at 919-843-9485 or epo@med.unc.edu
Dr. Bruce Lessey can be reached at 919-966-5288 or lessey@med.unc.edu