About the Penn BIRCWH
The University of Pennsylvania Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) program is an internal K12 grant mechanism funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). This program fosters mentored research and career development of junior faculty, both men and women, who are engaged in interdisciplinary women's health or sex differences research. Currently, there are over 20 active BIRCWH programs at US universities.
Read more about the BIRCWH program on the NIH ORWH website.
The BIRCWH is part of the NIH ORWH's strategic plan for women's health research through 2020.
BIRCWH in the News
Placental RNA may help protect embryo from viruses, Penn study finds
May 9, 2016, Penn News
According to the continued research of Dr. Montserrat Anguera, there is evidence of a long-coding RNA, or an IncRNA, that exists in the placenta during pregnancy to aid in protecting the fetus from invading pathogens.
Explaining the female bias in autoimmunity
April 7, 2016. Penn Current
The Penn Current writes about Dr. Anguera's recent findings discovered while exploring the female bias in autoimmune diseases.
Penn Vet Study Identifies Mechanism Explaining Female Bias in Autoimmunity
March 21, 2016, Penn News
Explore the findings of one of our BIRCWH Scholars, Dr. Montserrat Anguera, about female susceptibility to autoimmune diseases such as lupus. Her work was recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Women's health program probes unexplored sex and gender differences
February 4, 2016, Penn Current
Read our announcement of the BIRCWH program at Penn, introducing BIRCWH Scholars Dr. Roy Wade and Dr. Montserrat Anguera!
NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health Announces New Awards to Support Interdisciplinary Research Careers of Junior Faculty in Women’s Health
June 8, 2015
"The National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) and other co-sponsors recently awarded almost $6 million to 14 new and continuing Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Programs nationwide. This is the sixth funding round of an innovative, interdisciplinary career-development program for women and men in women’s health research."