About Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH)

The BIRCWH program (pronounced “BIRCH”) connects junior scientists, known as “BIRCWH scholars,” to senior faculty with shared research interests. Since the program was launched in 1999, ORWH has awarded 63 grants to 39 institutions supporting more than 450 junior faculty.

ORWH is the lead for the BIRCWH program. Grants management oversight is provided through the NIH Institutes and Centers, primarily through the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The last two rounds of BIRCWH programs are supported by NICHD, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Environmental Health Sciences, (NIEHS), the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute of Mental Health, and the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Programmatic oversight for two BIRCWH programs resides with NIEHS and NIDA, in addition to oversight by ORWH.

To be eligible for the BIRCWH program, researchers must have recently completed clinical training or postdoctoral fellowship, and plan to conduct interdisciplinary basic, translational, behavioral, clinical, and/or health services research relevant to women’s health.

For more information about ORWH Interdisciplinary Initiatives, contact Joan D. Nagel, M.D., M.P.H., Program Director, Interdisciplinary Research Programs; Director, BIRCWH Program; Coordinator, Specialized Centers of Research on Sex and Gender Factors Affecting Women’s Health (SCOR);  joan.nagel@nih.gov