Cedars sinai program for interdisciplinary womens health research - IT is well recognized that the lack of research into SEX differences in health and disease negatively impacts care and treatment…

The Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health Office of the Director awarded Cedars-Sinai Medical Center $907,200 on September 2, 2026, under the Trans-NIH Research Support program (CFDA 93.310) to establish a Biomedical Research Career Development Program in Women's Health Research (BIRCWH).

The program develops and trains three scholars per year to become independent investigators in women's health research, integrating precision health approaches—including precision diagnostics, biomarker discovery, applied genomics, single-cell omics, smart health technologies, and data analytics—with interdisciplinary research addressing sex differences in health and disease. Training focuses on fundamental priority areas including reproductive health, cardiovascular disease, neurological disease, cancer, and autoimmune disease. The program aligns with the 2019–2023 Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women's Health Research and builds on Cedars-Sinai's existing women's health research portfolio, which exceeds $63 million in NIH funding, and five current NIH-funded training programs.

Performance occurs in California. The period of performance runs through August 31, 2031.

Cedars sinai program for interdisciplinary womens health research - IT is well recognized that the lack of research into SEX differences in health and disease negatively impacts care and treatment of women across all ages. To address these challenges, we have developed a unique bircwh program in women's health research (WHR) at cedars sinai medical center (csmc) that will integrate precision health approaches (precision diagnostics (applied genomics, biomarker discovery), single cell omics, smart health technologies and implementation science) and data analytics with interdisciplinary approaches to understanding factors that affect women's health. In alignment with the 2019-23 trans-NIH strategic plan for women's health research to "promote training and careers to develop a well-trained, and robust workforce to advance science for the health of women" (NIH orwh, 2019), the long term goal of the csmc bircwh program is to develop the next generation of scholars who understand the importance of considering of SEX when conducting basic, translational and outcomes research to advance women's care and health outcomes at all stages of life. Building on our success in WHR (> $63MN NIH funded programs to date in WHR) and training junior researchers (5 current NIH-funded training programs), we propose to a program that recruits and trains 3 bircwh scholars per year to become independent women's health investigators who can integrate skills and expertise from a range of disciplines. The focus of our program will be to train scholars in integrating precision health and data analytics into addressing fundamental priority areas for women's health by capitalizing on the inherent strengths within csmc in reproductive health, cardiovascular disease, neurological disease, cancer, and autoimmune disease. IT will take advantage of the unique characteristics and culture of csmc research, which include (1) institutional focus on translational research, (2) exceptionally dedicated, well-funded pool of mentoring faculty composed of world class basic and physician scientists; (3) a deep seated institutional commitment to supporting and expanding WHR and graduate medical and research education; (4) a reputation for innovation, excellence and leadership in precision health approaches and data analytics to identify challenges and barriers to women's health and effective healthcare for women; (5) multiple existing interdisciplinary clinical and research programs; and (6) existing infrastructure for training and development of postdoctoral education at all levels of training. Through a rigorous mentoring process, hands-on bioinformatics and data analytics training, our objectives are to train our scholars to (1) become experts in a research area that focuses on improving the health of women, (2) have the knowledge to apply precision health tools to address complex issues in WHR and (3) implement research findings to impact women's health. With these skills, combined with an integrated program in career development, our long-term goal is to produce the next generation of leaders and innovators in WHR.