BIRCWH K12 Program | Duke Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

BIRCWH – K12 Institutional Career Development Program

Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health

Annual Women's Health Symposium at Duke - Feb 21, 2025

In October, BIRCWH scholars and leadership traveled to NIH for the annual program meeting. Scholars presented their work and networked with scholars and others from across the US.

About the BIRCWH Career Development Program

The Duke University School of Medicine and North Carolina Central University (NCCU) are recipients of a National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) grant. The BIRCWH program is led by the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), along with nearly a dozen other NIH Institutes and Centers. The BIRCWH is a K12 Institutional Training Grant that provides junior faculty at Duke or NCCU 75% salary support (50% for surgical specialties) for up to $100,000 per year for a minimum of two years. The program provides research development support to pursue research careers related to women's health and builds upon existing interdisciplinary faculty relationships to foster productive and innovative collaborations.

In 2022, our 5-year renewal was awarded, which will lead to 25 years of continued funding for the BIRCWH program.

BIRCWH NIH Video Image — *Click image to hear the story of BIRCWH at Duke from leaders, scholars, and alumni.*

Purpose

The purpose of the BIRCWH Faculty Development Program is to promote the career development of junior faculty pursuing interdisciplinary basic, translational, behavioral, clinical, and/or health services research relevant to the health of women and, where appropriate, the influence of sex as a biological variable on health and disease.

The BIRCWH also aims to strengthen the Women’s Health Research enterprise at Duke and NCCU. The BIRCWH Program provides advanced training, mentoring and career guidance. BIRCWH research spans the entire spectrum of women’s health topics, and the program is open to all types of clinicians and non-clinicians.

Letter of Intent

A Letter of Intent may be sent when there is no open call for applications. Submission of the LOI begins the process and a discussion of your career goals, proposed project, mentor selection, and eligibility with the Program Director. We will contact you to let you know if you are eligible to apply. The LOI should be emailed to the Program Director: Cindy Amundsen, MD at cindy.amundsen@duke.edu and Program Coordinator: Friederike Jayes at friederike.jayes@duke.edu.

The LOI must include the following information:

Applicant’s full name
Degree(s) and date(s) awarded (if MD with residency/fellowship, also include when you finished residency/fellowship)
Department, Division, School
Academic rank and position
NIH biosketch
Project title and a two-sentence description of the research project
Brief description of the planned project (1 page max)
Brief description of professional development goals (1 page max)
Proposed mentor(s), at least one from the list of approved mentors