Women’s Health Research at Yale is now accepting letters of intent from Yale faculty to apply for funding of pilot studies providing new approaches to understanding the health of women, and/or the influence of sex/gender differences on health.
The center seeks:
- Clinical research and community interventions that describe a clear path toward clinical or public health benefit.
- Translational basic science, such as developing models to understand mechanisms of disease, that leads to actionable implications for clinical care.
- Evidence that women’s health — or the influence of sex/gender — is the point of the investigation.
Studies that advance our understanding of sex or gender in addressing the coronavirus pandemic will also be reviewed for funding.
Funding opportunities:
- General Annual Pilot Project Award ($35,000 max) for research designed to meet a clear need in advancing the health of women.
- Area-specific Pilot Project Award ($50,000 max) in the areas of depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and other brain-based conditions such as autism spectrum disorder; cancers, especially endometrial cancer; or autoimmune disorders, particularly thyroid disease.
- Wendy U. & Thomas C. Naratil Pioneer Award ($50,000 max) for either new and highly inventive research designed to achieve a breakthrough or ongoing research where funding is needed to achieve its aims of discovery.
Highest priority projects:
- Provide a clear statement of how the proposed study will advance the health of women by leading to clinical, community, or public policy benefit.
- Specifically target diseases and conditions with a disproportionately high prevalence in women or those for which female mortality and morbidity are high.
- Are hypothesis-driven, have clear specific aims, and demonstrate methodological rigor showing a thoughtfully considered study design.
- Demonstrate the link between advancing the health of women and greater societal benefits.
- Leverage the diversity among women to study various groups (e.g., by age, ethnicity) to advance the health of all women.
- Initiate programmatic research on the health of women (junior faculty) or seek to expand research to include the health of women (senior faculty).
- Bring together different research communities and/or interdisciplinary approaches in which investigators with complementary skill sets provide new perspectives on the health of women.
- Study the health of women in communities within the United States.
Examples of projects sought:
FOR TRANSLATIONAL BASIC RESEARCH:
Model system approaches that:
- focus on uncovering the mechanism of action of a disorder or intervention, AND
- can be transferred to the human condition, AND
- articulate a clear path toward clinical implementation or benefit to the public health.
For example, use of a humanized mouse model and female animals to test mechanism/treatment explorations that have application to human disease with high prevalence, morbidity, and/or mortality among women.
FOR CLINICAL, COMMUNITY AND POLICY RESEARCH:
Studies that focus on:
- uncovering etiology, AND/OR
- clarifying presentation and diagnosis, AND/OR
- developing treatments or prevention strategies that improve lives.
These studies are encouraged to consider the examination of sex/gender differences to develop gender-focused approaches to disorders and conditions experienced by women.
WHRY also accepts inquiries year-round for projects that address emerging and/or urgent threats to the health of women and/or have sex-or-gender differences that could inform our knowledge of a disease. Such conditions as identified by the National Institutes of Health include maternal mortality and COVID-19. Please address your inquiries regarding this "off-cycle" funding to marco.mutonji@yale.edu.
Proposals that will NOT be considered for funding:
- Laboratory models with little evidence of connection to human disease and health, such as the study of an isolated protein without a clearly described path to how the model will improve the health of women.
- “One-off” studies that are not part of the investigator’s research interests and do not demonstrate a programmatic interest in the health of women.
- A study that focuses on some aspect of biology that affects women (e.g., gonadal hormones) but has little chance of improving women’s health.
- A study primarily about the development of a technology or technique, rather than about the condition of interest itself.
- Modeling of big data without a clear connection to clinical or public health benefit.
Letter of Intent Requirements (Due October 21, 2021):
Our application process begins with a request for Letters of Intent. A full application will be requested from investigators whose projects are consistent with Women’s Health Research at Yale’s funding interests as outlined above. Click here for detailed instructions.
Eligibility:
All Yale Ladder Faculty are eligible to apply. Investigators outside the Yale community are invited to collaborate with Yale or Yale-affiliated principal investigators.
Important Dates:
Oct. 21, 2021 — Letters of Intent due by 12 PM
Nov. 11, 2021 — Invitations for full application
Jan. 7, 2022 — Full applications due
June 2022 — Awards announced
July 2022 — Funded projects begin