Annual report : 2014 / Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

  • Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Date:
2014
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Annual report : 2014 / Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    35/80 page 35
    BWE Preterm Birth Initiative In 2008 the BWF Preterm Birth Initiative competitive grant program was begun to look at the basic biology of preterm birth and parturition. We have gone through two full-grant cycles and ten $600,000 awards have been made. The deadline for the last cycle was December 2, 2013, and we anticipate making five $600,000 awards. BACKGROUND A major BWF breakthrough in reproductive science support came in 2008 with the board approval of the BWF Preterm Birth Initiative. This initiative followed closely on the heels of a report from the Committee on Understanding Premature Birth and Assuring Healthy Outcomes and published by the National Academies Press in 2007. This study was partially funded by BWF. The BWF Preterm Birth Initiative involves: 1. Partnering with other funders who are committed to prematurity to hold biannual symposiums. This was funded by a one-time ad hoc grant made in 2008. 2. BWF board approval in 2008 of a competitive preterm birth award program aimed at a better understanding of parturition by fostering multidisciplinary collaborations, and to attracting new researchers to the field. To stretch grant dollars BWF partnered with the March of Dimes to host the Biannual Symposium on Preventing Prematurity. Symposiums have been held in 2008, 2010, and 2012. The 4th symposium will be held December 7-9, 2014. About 125 attendees from around the globe are expected to attend. A draft agenda is included in the appendix. The competitive preterm birth program has gone through three complete grant cycles. Fifteen $600,000 grants have been. The deadline for the 4th full grant cycle is December 1, 2014, and it is anticipated that five awards will be made. MBL SUMMER COURSE: FRONTIERS IN REPRODUCTION (FIR) The FIR course was a product of the Reproductive Sciences Network (RSANET) that was established in 1995 to provide career development opportunities for reproductive scientists. The mentored training component of RSANET became what is now known as MBLs Frontiers in Reproduction summer course. BWF had an interest in the course from the beginning because of the career development aspect of the course and its focus on reproductive science that was considered an undervalued and underfunded area. BWF currently provides about 35% of the annual cost. The other major funder is NICHD. The FIR course has provided training to over 300 students since its inception in 1998. Over the years there have been three formal outcomes studies. The most recent outcomes study was presented at a poster session at the July 2014 Society for the Study of Reproduction annual meeting. A reproduction of the poster is included in the appendix. REPRODUCTIVE SCIENTIST DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (RSDP) A 1992 IOM report stated that there was great concern regarding the research capabilities and capacity of academic OB/GYN departments. Through the 90s few reproductive physician scientists received NIH support and private sector support of reproductive physician scientists was meager. RSDP was founded to address these issues and to create a pipeline for academic OB/GYN physician scientists. The latest data (2010) from AAMC shows that only 0.48% (195) of the 40,377 active OB/GYNs list research as their major professional activity. Each year four to six new RSDP Scholars are selected for the five-year program and over the past 26 years 96 have been admitted to the program. BWF became an RSDP sponsor in 1998 and has provided partial funding for eight Scholars. Of the 80 who have completed the program, 82% are in academia or with the intramural program at NIH. This compares very favorably with the 68% of M.D.., Ph.D. graduates who end up in academia.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3