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Building Interdisciplinary Careers in Women’s Health Career center seeks applicants for research by Mary Helen Yarborough Public Relations Health sciences have a lot of ground to cover toward understanding women’s health issues. Gender differences and women’s health had generally received relatively little attention in the research world until 1991 when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) founded the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) and committed to funding research in this area.   At MUSC, a new initiative is being launched to help develop a critical mass of investigators on campus with a career focus in the area of women’s heath through the ORWH-funded Building Interdisciplinary Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) program.   BIRCWH supports research and career development of junior faculty members interested in developing research careers focused on gender differences or women’s health in the neuroscience area. The BIRWCH program builds on the strength research and training in MUSC’s Specialized Center of Translational Research already funded by ORWH that is focused on gender differences in stress response and substance use disorders.   The drivers and inspiration behind the program are BIRCWH principal investigator, Kathleen Brady, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; and its program director Jacqueline F. McGinty, Ph.D., Department of Neurosciences.   BIRCWH currently is seeking applications for the next round of scholars dedicated to pursuing translational research in women’s health. Applications are due by March 1.   Applicants should have recently completed clinical training or postdoctoral fellowships, have mentorship and a solid plan for training in basic, translational, and clinical research, and/or performed health services research relevant to women’s health in the areas of mental health, addiction, aging or cognitive decline.   “A scholar must devote at least 75 percent effort, full-time, to the program at a salary commensurate with experience and departmental guidelines for faculty rank. The grant will cover up to $75,000 per year in salary support,” said Sarah Smith Gainey, project coordinator for the Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) and BIRCWH. “The opportunities and support for these scholars are tremendous, not to mention opportunities for pilot project funding and mentorship.”   BIRCWH is a K12 career development program co-funded by ORWH and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the NIH. Selected scholars will be announced by May 1 and salary support will begin July 1.   Applicants must be on faculty or eligible to join the faculty by this date. Scholars will receive two to three years of salary support commensurate with 75 percent to 100 percent effort per year to pursue multidisciplinary clinical and pre-clinical research.   The program includes a supportive environment, start-up research funds, access to core faculty who provide expertise and guidance in research design, measurement techniques, study coordination, data management, biostatistical analysis, publishing and presenting research, grant writing, and a training plan that the applicants, in consultation with their mentors, must develop specific to their career goals.   For additional information, e-mail Gainey at smithsar@musc.edu, or visit http://www.musc.edu/bircwh.     Friday, Feb. 8, 2008 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.