Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH); K12 Clinical Trial Optional | RFA OD 19 020

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA OD 19 020

Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH); K12 Clinical Trial Optional (RFA-OD-19-020) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) institutional career development grant designed to strengthen the pipeline of independent investigators focused on women's health research. Managed through the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) in partnership with participating NIH Institutes and Centers, the program funds institutions to run structured, mentored career development "Programs" that support junior faculty members, called BIRCWH Scholars, at a critical transition point shortly after completing clinical training and/or postdoctoral fellowship experience. The central goal is to help these early-career faculty build the research skills, publication record, and preliminary data needed to become competitive for independent research funding while working in environments that emphasize cross-disciplinary collaboration.

A defining feature of BIRCWH is its explicit focus on interdisciplinary research that is relevant to the health of women. Supported projects can span basic, translational, behavioral, clinical, and health services research. In addition to addressing conditions that disproportionately affect women or present differently by sex, the program highlights NIH's emphasis on considering sex as a biological variable. That means the research agenda can include studies that use both sexes when appropriate, specifically to clarify how biological sex influences health, disease mechanisms, treatment response, and outcomes. In practice, this encourages Scholars and their mentoring teams to design research questions and methods that can produce more precise, generalizable evidence about prevention, diagnosis, and treatment across populations.

This specific FOA is "Clinical Trial Optional" for Scholars, which broadens the types of mentored research experiences that can be supported. Scholars may propose to be the lead investigator on an NIH-defined clinical trial, propose an ancillary clinical trial related to an ongoing parent study, or gain hands-on experience by working within a clinical trial led by another investigator as part of their career development plan. At the same time, the announcement makes clear that a clinical trial is not required: Scholars may also pursue fundamental laboratory research or human subjects research that does not meet NIH's definition of a clinical trial. This flexibility allows institutions to recruit Scholars from a wide range of disciplines and methodological backgrounds while still aligning each Scholar's research plan with a coherent training and mentoring framework.

The applicant is the institution, not the individual Scholar. Eligible applicants are broad and include public and private institutions of higher education, state and local governmental entities, independent school districts, special district governments, tribal governments (federally recognized) and other tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, and a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit organizations (excluding the small-business-only limitation that applies in some other federal programs). The FOA also explicitly calls out additional eligible organizational categories such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), as well as faith-based or community-based organizations and U.S. territories or possessions. While the opportunity recognizes some non-U.S. involvement, it draws firm boundaries: non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply, and foreign components as defined by NIH policy are not allowed. However, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations may be eligible, which can matter for U.S.-based institutions with operations outside the continental United States.

From a funding perspective, this is a discretionary grant mechanism under an education, environment, and health activity category, using the NIH K12 institutional career development structure. The source information lists an award ceiling of $600,000, indicating an upper cap on the amount that may be awarded under this announcement. The opportunity was posted by NIH with an original closing date of May 29, 2019, and a creation date of April 8, 2019. It is also associated with multiple CFDA numbers (93.113, 93.273, 93.279, 93.313, 93.856, 93.866), reflecting the involvement of multiple NIH components and related program areas.

Overall, the BIRCWH K12 FOA is aimed at building sustainable, institution-based career development programs that produce the next generation of interdisciplinary women's health researchers. It supports mentored junior faculty as they develop into independent investigators, encourages rigorous integration of sex as a biological variable where appropriate, and provides multiple pathways for Scholars to gain clinical trial leadership experience or other human subjects research experience without requiring a trial for every project.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, environment, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH); K12 Clinical Trial Optional" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.113, 93.273, 93.279, 93.313, 93.856, 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-04-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-05-29. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $600,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA OD 19 020

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