The Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology provides funding for investigators who are advancing sex-specific and sex-differentiating knowledge about novel therapeutic interventions, conducting systems-based investigations, and building interdisciplinary collaborations for disease-based research in conditions that are exclusive, predominate or differential in women.
Connors funding encourages new and innovative research that helps us train new leaders in women’s health and have the potential to transform medicine and patient care.
For more information about Connors Center Funding Opportunities, please contact ConnorsCenter@bwh.harvard.edu
Applications for the 2025 WHISPR Award are now open! Full proposals are due December 13th, 2024.
Established in January 2018, the goal of the Women’s Health Interdisciplinary Stress Program of Research (WHISPR) is to advance our understanding of how physiological and psychological stress (broadly defined) affect women’s health and disease, and vice versa, by supporting pilot projects, facilitating interactions among WHISPR investigators and other stress researchers, and hosting an annual scientific symposium for the BWH academic community. The scope of proposed research includes women’s health-focused clinical, translational, population, and basic research studies investigating interactions of physiologic indicators of stress (e.g., adrenergic, immune, neural, endocrine) and stress exposures (e.g., trauma, adversity, cognitive, affective). In addition, the WHISPR program welcomes submissions of studies which utilize interventional approaches (including, but not limited to, behavioral, physiological, and pharmacologic) to understanding the pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying stress and test therapeutic strategies linked to clinical outcomes.
WHISPR aims to involve investigators from across BWH to develop new research and foster synergy among investigators in this interdisciplinary and cross-cutting field. As a mentored program of research, WHISPR awardees will receive scientific guidance and career development advice from Connors Center leadership and a group of scientific advisors via structured events and informal interaction. Please visit the WHISPR page for information about the previous WHISPR awardees.
Up to one one-year grant of $50,000 (inclusive of 20% for indirect costs), will be awarded. The awardee will be asked to present their proposed research project at the 8th annual WHISPR Symposium, which will be held in-person in April 2025, date still pending.
Application Materials:
This award is funded by the Gretchen S. Fish Fund for Women’s Health and Stress Research.
RFP now open!
These $50,000 awards will support one Brigham and Women’s Hospital investigator to conduct new and innovative projects for one year. Up to three awards will be assigned. Applications that have high translational impact are particularly encouraged. This includes projects that focus on breast cancer and biomarker discovery and drug delivery systems in all disease areas affecting women exclusively, predominately and differentially.
Up to one of these awards is reserved for a specialized award – the Cardiac and Vascular IGNITE Award. This award will be given to support one Brigham and Women’s Hospital investigator to conduct research in the field of cardio-metabolic and vascular diseases in women and/or sex- and gender-differences in cardio-metabolic and vascular diseases, including studies on disease mechanisms, biomarkers, diagnostics and therapeutics.
The Gayle Brinkenhoff IGNITE Pilot Award for Breast Cancer Research aims to promote and support pilot and proof-of-concept studies in the specific area of breast cancer aimed at advancing our understanding of disease mechanisms, treatment, and related health impacts, with the ultimate goal of generating pilot data to support further funding for larger translational projects. Projects can include development and utilization of novel diagnostics and therapeutics – drugs, devices, and digital strategies targeting breast cancer, as well as health services research, and clinical research projects focused on the course of breast cancer and its treatments. Studies that also involve other cancers in women together with breast cancer will be considered.
This $50,000 award (inclusive of 20% indirect costs) will support one Brigham and Women’s Hospital investigator to conduct a new, innovative project for one year. Applications that have high potential for translational impact are encouraged.
Up to one Connors BWH-MGB Collaborative IGNITE will support a BWH principal investigator who is collaborating with an investigator from another MGB institution on a joint project in the specific area of expertise of the candidates, aimed at advancing our understanding of female-specific and sex-differentiating factors in the development and utilization of novel diagnostics and therapeutics – drugs, devices, and digital strategies – for diseases affecting women exclusively, predominately, or differentially. A joint project from a BWH investigator and a Mass General Brigham investigator will be funded for $100,000 to support one year of work.
Application Materials for BWH Connors Center IGNITE Awards and Connors BWH-MGB Collaborative IGNITE Awards:
Full proposals for all IGNITE Awards are due December 3rd, 2024. For more information about the IGNITE Program, please visit our IGNITE webpage. Please direct any questions to ConnorsCenter@bwh.harvard.edu.
The IGNITE Awards are made possible through generous contributions from Jennifer Toolin McAuliffe, our BWH Women’s Health Advisory Board, Scott Schoen and Nancy Adams Research Fund in Women’s Vascular Disease, the Mass General Brigham Office of the Chief Academic Officer, RevitaLash Cosmetics, and other generous donors to the BWH Connors Center.
The Brigham/Harvard ROSA Center is one of eleven Specialized Centers of Research Excellence (SCORE) on Sex Differences nationwide.
To foster collaboration between SCORE sites and enable early career scientists to learn new technical skills and/or enhance SCORE collaborations, the ROSA Center will award 4 SCORE Travel Fellowships in the 2024-25 academic year:
- 2 ROSA Associate scientists to visit external SCORE sites, and
- 2 for SCORE sites to send fellows/faculty to the Brigham/ Harvard ROSA Center site.
Award of up to $3,000 for travel-related costs. Applications due December 1st, 2024.
For more information about eligibility and a summary of the SCORE sites, please see the Travel Fellowships Request for Applications
For more information about the ROSA Center, please visit our ROSA Webpage.
Applications for the 2024 ROSA Center Pilot Program are now closed. Please check back later for the next cycle’s dates.
The ROSA Center Pilot program is for early-stage investigators (postdocs and junior faculty). These Pilot awards are perfect for investigators seeking to obtain preliminary data in order to facilitate applications for future NIH K- or R-level awards. Up to two $50,000, 2-year awards will be granted. All awards must align with the ROSA Center and at least one of the awards will be reserved for projects focused on menopause.
Application Materials:
For more information, please visit our ROSA Webpage, email BWH_SCORE@partners.org.
The 2023 application cycle for these awards is now closed. Please check back later for the next cycle’s dates.
The ROSA Scholar program will equip early-stage faculty or established investigators who wish to refocus their careers on sex-differences and women’s health translational research with critical tools to become leading researchers in the field through a mentored research project with the successful Scholar going on to receive NIH K- or R- level funding.
One Scholar Award will be distributed. Funding is provided for a minimum of one year and until the Scholar receives K- or R-level funding, for a maximum of 3 years. The Scholar will receive $75,000 annually for salary/fringe support for the required 6 person- months of full-time professional effort per year. In addition, $20,000/year in research project-related costs, including research supplies, programming or research assistance, training, and travel.
Letters of intent are due April 14th and full applications are due May 15. Application materials can be submitted to bwh_score@partners.org.
Application Materials:
For more information, please visit our ROSA Webpage, email BWH_SCORE@partners.org.
The 2024 application cycle for the First Look Awards is now closed. Please check back later for the 2025 cycle.
The First Look Awards are a collaboration between the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) and the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Harvard Medical School. The goal of this grant program is to support translational research at Massachusetts research institutions that furthers our understanding of sex and gender differences especially for diseases or conditions that affect women exclusively, predominately, or differentially.
3 awards of up to $50,000/each will be awarded.
Application Materials:
