The objective of the Harvard Women's Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) Career Development Program is to provide an outstanding training environment for the development of Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) Physician-Scientists leaders. The Program is based on a transdisciplinary scientific approach to understanding the molecular, cellular and structural bases of gynecologic health, fertility preservation, and healthy pregnancy, with attention to mechanistic factors contributing to racial and ethnic disparities in reproductive outcomes including exposures to environmental toxicants, stress hormones, metabolic and microbiome disturbances. The program capitalizes on the long tradition of world-class postgraduate training and women's reproductive health research with collaborative mentoring teams across Harvard and leading hospital centers in the Boston Area: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Center for Glycoscience and the National Center for Functional Glycomics at Beth Israel- Deaconess Medical Center, the Boston Center for Endometriosis, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School and Tufts Medical Center. The Harvard WRHR consortium offers cutting-edge facilities and equipment and unique resources including high risk patient populations and access to several large, well-curated and characterized biospecimen and data repositories. Each WRHR scholar will be assigned to a primary preceptor/mentor and a mentoring team including basic and clinical scientists, mentor in good laboratory practice, research integrity officer, epidemiologic, biostatistical, data management and health disparity advisor to guide education, thinking, and progress in the scholar's research topic of choice. Career Mentors will advise scholars to successfully navigate within the academic structures of career advancement. To develop Scholars who will successfully transition to an independent research career, remain and thrive in academic medicine, the Program will follow a carefully deigned plan and advisory committee recommendations to attract and nurture the most qualified candidates and the institutional commitment will guarantee 80% research time of sufficient duration in the Program for each WRHR Scholar. We are deeply committed to enhancing diversity developing the independent research careers of women and OB-GYN physicians from under-represented minority groups.

The primary goals of the proposed Harvard K12 Women’s Reproductive Health Research Career Development Program are to: 1) recruit a diverse group of obstetrician- gynecologist physicians of high motivation and talent for academic medicine, 2) provide them with the best resources, scientific environment, intensive training and mentoring in all aspects of high-impact and socially responsible research conduct; and 3) advise them on grantsmanship and career development and see them through a successful transition to an independent research position. The public health importance is related to meeting the Nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs and enhanced by the special attention to biological factors associated with disparities in reproductive health.