The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is one of 10 programs in the country to receive a $2.4 million grant to establish a scholars program.
The five-year grant, from the federal National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), establishes the medical school as a Women’s Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) Career Development Center. The initiative promotes research that will benefit the health of women. Scholars will expand research on subjects ranging from women’s infectious diseases to maternal fetal physiology to endometrial cancer.
“The WRHR will give us a greater ability to train the next generation of physician/scientists,” said George Macones, M.D., the grant’s principal investigator and the Mitchell and Elaine Yanow Professor and head of obstetrics and gynecology at the School of Medicine.
Macones
The career development centers program was initiated by the NICHD in 1998 in response to the need for greater numbers of physician/scientists in women’s health research. The United States has only 20 WRHR centers. Their primary goal is to increase the research skills of obstetricians and gynecologists and, thus far, 106 scholars nationwide have been appointed to faculty positions.
“Having the WRHR awarded to our institution will afford Washington University the opportunity to attract the best and the brightest in our field,” said Kelle H. Moley, M.D., WRHR program director, the James P. Crane Professor and vice chair of basic science research in obstetrics and gynecology. “Our department has developed a strong translational mission in addition to a vibrant basic science core. I believe that as a result of this combination, the NIH has recognized our department as one of the top centers for training physician/scientists in this important area of medicine.”
The grant will fund three new scholars each year for a term of two-to-five years. Scholars are physicians who have completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology and are planning a career in academic medicine.
Scholars are provided with a senior mentor and all research support. Formal course work and hands-on laboratory instruction as well as a stipend for supplies and travel are included. Scholars commit at least 75 percent of their time to research. Clinical duties within an appropriate subspecialty will make up the remaining time.
The potential mentors for these scholars represent a multidisciplinary team of scientists and physician-investigators from eight departments at the medical school.
Washington University School of Medicine’s 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked third in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.