Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health in Kentucky

The primary goal of the proposed BIRCWH Program is to continue to provide Interdisciplinary Women's; Health Research (IWHR) scholars with state-of-the-art multidisciplinary training in women's health research, that will ensure that they successfully establish independent research careers in academic medicine. TOj achieve this goal, we have refined and adapted our already successful organizational structure to providej scholars with in-depth training in 4 focused and interacting areas of women's health: 1) drug abuse and its. relationship to sex and gender differences, 2) cancer as it relates to women's health, 3) hormonal regulationj across a woman's lifespan, and 4) oral health and its impact on cardiovascular and endocrine health andl pregnancy outcomes. The 4 current focus areas were chosen as an extension of our previous research I areas because research in these areas is of fundamental importance to improving the health of women'j Also these 4 focus areas address the 4 overarching themes identified by NIH and ORWH as important for this proposal (interdisciplinary research, sex/gender determinants, lifespan, and health disparities/differences I and diversity). We will establish an innovative Shared Resource Laboratory, called Advancing Researchj Through Support (ARTS), that will provide Scholars with skilled technical services that are unavailablel elsewhere in the UK research environment. Finally, we will establish an innovative program whereby formerl BIRCWH Scholars ("graduates") will act as Coaches by serving as members of research teams andj providing an extensive and interactive support network for the IWRH Scholars. I A unique feature and an important strength of our BIRCWH Program is its multidisciplinary, cross-I departmental, and interactive nature. This multidisciplinary structure allows us to address a broad range o~ issues related to public health including addictive behaviors, aging, cancer, diabetes, hormone action, lobesity, oral health, and pregnancy. During the previous funding period, we used this interactive structure Iwith considerable success. Therefore, we propose to expand the opportunities afforded to each IWHR IScholar for rich, concentrated, and multidisciplinary experiences with a primary mentor, a former BIRCWH jScholar (Coach), and many other faculty members that will enrich the IWHR Scholar's research experience !and provide multiple role models to enhance the Scholar's career development.