UC Davis training the next generation of researchers in women's health

Despite remarkable advances in women's health during the past century, it wasn't until the early 1990s that medical researchers, practitioners and policy makers began to directly address the issue of sex-based and gender-based differences in disease.

The lack of information and research about women's health is part of the impetus behind a new UC Davis School of Medicine program that recently welcomed its first five participants for an innovative effort that combines women's health research with career-development for young physicians and scholars.

With a $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the new “Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH ) program is beginning with the group of women and a multidisciplinary team of senior faculty who will be working closely with them over the next two-to-three years. The program is designed to ensure that participants establish independent biomedical research careers in areas relevant to women's health and have the opportunity to work in an environment that nurtures non-traditional, interdisciplinary collaborations.

"This unique career-development program offers tremendous opportunities to advance women's health research," said  Claire Pomeroy, vice chancellor for Human Health Sciences and the program's principal investigator. "Not only does it allow talented scholars to gain additional research experience, but they will be mentored by established scientists who will be sharing with them a broad range of expertise."

The UC Davis BIRCWH program focuses on four interacting areas:

• Neuroscience and neurodegenerative diseases that have disproportionate impacts on females;
• Metabolic and nutrition-related syndromes that have repercussions for women;
• Cardiovascular science and its relationship to gender; and
• Lifespan biology and transitions that bring unique risks to females, such as early development, adolescence and menopause.

For this inaugural year, five junior faculty members were selected to participate:

• Lesley M. Butler, M.S.P.H., Ph.D., assistant adjunct professor of public health sciences;
• Diana Cassady, Ph.D., assistant adjunct professor of public health sciences;
• Donna DeFreitas, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine;
• Marjorie Solomon, Ph.D., M.B.A., assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences; and
• Wei Yao, M.D., assistant adjunct professor, internal medicine.

The scholars will devote a minimum of 75 percent of their professional time to women's health research studies and to the development of an independent, federally-funded research program. Their core curriculum will include training in the ethical issues and regulatory requirements that guide and govern research, especially as it pertains to women's health. They also will gain additional skills in the research, writing and presentation of scientific data.

“The BIRCWH program is training the next generation of UC Davis researchers in the field of women's health, contributing to medical advances that will benefit women in our community and beyond," added Pomeroy.

Joining Pomeroy in helping to guide the new program is Ann Bonham, executive associate dean for UC Davis School of Medicine and the project's co-principal investigator. Nancy Lane, director of the Center of Health Aging, and Ellen Gold, professor of Public Health Sciences, are co-directing the program. For more information about the UC Davis program, visit www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/bircwh.

The national BIRCWH program is part of the federal Office of Research on Women's Health, which was established within the office of the director for the National Institutes of Health. More information about women's health research can be found on the Web at http://orwh.od.nih.gov.