Grants that Work for Women

April 29, 2009 at 3:37 pm · Filed under Funding Opportunities, Research News

Just think if instead of studying why women do or do not succeed in biomedical research careers or what intervention is needed, the NIH simply provided funds that addressed the “pitfalls” of a life of science. Sort of like the Elsevier Foundation currently does with their New Scholar program. Nature features this refreshingly straightforward approach to helping women succeed as researchers, including the “research” that went into setting up this program:

David Ruth, foundation executive director, says the grants’ focus on childcare, family issues and career advancement grew out of discussions with organizations and agencies internationally, all of which identified early- to mid-career women scientists as most likely to leave the field. They found that concerns about work-life balance were a central reason for the exodus. Ruth says the foundation is trying to spur the development of new programmes to address these conflicts, in hopes of reducing the dropout rate.

I bet it didn’t require a multi-million dollar budget either.

2 Comments »

  1. BB said

    April 30, 2009 @ 8:01 am

    More like a cup of coffee budget. Seriously.
    (Don’t get me started; it’s why I started my career in pharma.)

    Reply

  2. writedit said

    October 12, 2009 @ 11:41 am

    The NIH has announced its 14 awards to study factors that influence women’s decisions to pursue careers in science.

    The grant recipients are:

    • Stephanie B. Abbuhl, University of Pennsylvania, “Women & Academic Medicine: A Randomized Multi-level Trial”
    • Mary Carnes, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Advancement of Women in STEMM: A Multi-level Research and Action Project”
    • Thomas Diprete, Columbia University, “Educational Pathways to Science and Other Careers for Academically Talented Women”
    • Karen Fruend, Boston University Medical Campus, “Longitudinal Follow-up to the National Faculty Survey”
    • Donna K. Ginther, University of Kansas, “Economic Explanations for Gender Differences in Biomedical Careers”
    • Deborah L. Helitzer, University of New Mexico, “Achieving a Critical Mass of Women Biomedical Faculty: Impact of 3 US Programs”
    • Reshma Jagsi, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, “Examining How Gender Differences in Outcomes Develop Among Physician Researchers”
    • Yael G. Levitte, Cornell University, “Entry and Retention of Women in the Sciences: A Cohort Comparison”
    • Richard McGee, Northwestern University, “Pivotal Career Decisions Guiding Potential Women Science Faculty”
    • Donna Nelson, University of Oklahoma, “Building an Evidence Base for Developing Effective Intervention Strategies for Women”
    • Joan Reede, Harvard Medical School, “Factors that Promote and Support Careers of Women of Color in Academic Medicine”
    • Virginia Valian, Hunter College, “Gatekeepers and Gender Schemas”
    • Amparo Villablanca, University of California, Davis, “Women’s Careers in the Medical Sciences and Family Friendly Policies”
    • Wendy Williams, Cornell University, “Assessing and Reducing Gender Bias in STEM Recruitment, Mentorship and Evaluation”

    More information can be found at the Women in Biomedical Careers initiative.

    Reply

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