Jill M. Goldstein, PhD, MPH, Multi-Principal Investigator
Kathryn Rexrode, MD, MPH, Multi-Principal Investigator
Ursula Kaiser, MD, Research Director
The Division of Women's Health at Mass General Brigham (MGB) is the home site for the MGB-Harvard Medical School (HMS)-wide award "Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH)" from the NIH.
Entitled "Hormones and Genes in Women's Health: From Bench to Bedside," the BIRCWH K12 Training Program, in place since 2005, supports Scholars involved in investigating the role of hormones and genes in understanding sex differences in vulnerabilities to clinical disorders and those disorders specific to women. Socio-environmental factors modulating the impact of hormones and genes in understanding these sex-specific vulnerabilities may also be investigated. Scholars will be sponsored for up to three years of research mentored by Harvard faculty in basic, translational, or clinical aspects of women's health, and may combine, if applicable, clinical work in the Scholar's specialty.
Women and men are at different risks for the onset, expression, course and treatment response for a number of disorders that occur at different stages of development and through aging. The mechanisms that explain many of these sex differences or disorders specific to women are still unclear. The mission of this BIRCWH program is to develop the next generation of scientists and scientist-clinicians as leaders in the field of women's health/sex differences in medicine who will contribute to understanding sex-specific or sex-dependent vulnerabilities to medical and psychiatric disorders or disorders specific to women.
The research of BIRCWH scholars will focus on the impact of hormones and/or genes in understanding these vulnerabilities. The training program is based on a translational approach and modeled in the context of a lifespan perspective to identify etiologic mechanisms during fetal development, puberty, adulthood, and aging, with some focus on periods specific to women such as childbearing, perimenopause and menopause. Socio-environmental factors modulating the impact of hormones and genes in understanding these vulnerabilities may also be investigated. Scholar applicants can be preclinical, translational, or clinical investigators.
The MGB Division of Women's Health is the home site for this endeavor in the broader context of a HMS and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH)-wide training program. Scholars participating in this program represent a number of Harvard institutions including Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), McLean Hospital, and HSPH. The program provides access to research and academic mentors at these institutions and a vast array of biomedical resources in the Harvard-affiliated system that will be used to address scientific questions essential to improving women's health and sex differences in medicine.
The training program accepts applications every few years from potential scholars for a full-time or part-time faculty position for a MD or PhD/ScD to develop an academic career in women's health.
The next deadline to apply is May 15, 2026.
Successful applicants will have prior training in research methodology, potential to obtain independent research funding, and evidence of research publications in peer-reviewed journals relevant to women’s health and/or sex differences research. Faculty appointments will be at the Instructor or Assistant Professor level, commensurate with qualifications.
BIRCWH Scholars’ salary and fringe support is intended to offset only that portion of the salary that is devoted to research and career development. Each Scholar may be provided salary support up to $100,000 direct costs from NIH funds, plus fringe benefits per grantee institutional policy, annually.
Each BIRCWH Scholar will be awarded funds for research and career development support in the amount of $50,000. Research and career development costs may include the following expenses: (1) tuition and fees related to career development; (2) research expenses, such as supplies, equipment, and technical personnel; (3) travel to the annual BIRCWH meeting and other training or scientific meetings; (4) statistical services including consultant costs and computer time; and (5) other project infrastructure including relevant secondary data sets.
The BIRCWH scholar position is a junior faculty appointment, not a fellowship. At the time of the award, candidates for support as BIRCWH Scholars must:
Next application deadline: May 15, 2026
Successful applications will be announced in July 2026
Send your full application to Mara Hampson:
Division of Women’s Health, Dept. of Medicine
Women’s Health Center
399 Revolution Drive Suite 907
Somerville, MA 02145
If you have any questions about the BIRCWH Program or application process, please contact Mara Hampson (mhampson1@bwh.harvard.edu) and/or she will direct you to the appropriate person, if questions need further explanation.
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