We are thrilled to announce the launch of a new, interagency collaboration with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) – the NIH-VA BIRCWH Scholars Program. This partnership between the ORWH Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) program and VA’s Office of Research and Development will allow VA junior investigators, known as VA-BIRCWH Scholars, to participate in the NIH BIRCWH Program. BIRCWH is a mentored career development program that pairs scholars with senior faculty with shared interests in women’s health and sex differences research. VA-BIRCWH Scholars, who will be current VA career development awardees (CDA2s), will be paired with a BIRCWH site throughout the country and receive mentorship in activities such as grant writing. Up to 4 VA CDA2 awardees per year will be selected to participate.
Through its Women’s Health Research Network, the VA will provide trainings in health systems research and implementation science to the BIRCWH scholars community at large. The Women’s Health Research Network is a national resource for accelerating women Veterans’ health research toward evidence-based policy and practice.
The BIRCWH program is approaching its 25th anniversary this November. We are excited to further grow the program through this timely collaboration with the VA to train the next generation of women’s health researchers. The synergies between both agencies across the full scientific translational spectrum will advance research for improving the health and healthcare of women.
Have questions? Please reach out to Dr. Marquitta White (whitemj@nih.gov).