The Steering Committee (SC) is composed of the PI (Brady), the PD (McGinty), and faculty representing programs and four colleges across the MUSC campus. This group is responsible for assisting in the recruitment and selection of BIRCWH scholars. They will assist in promoting BIRWCH through their colleges/programs to ensure a pool of qualified applicants. They will meet quarterly to assess applications and select scholars, monitor and track the Scholars’ career development plans and progress to ensure that the research experience is interactive and integrated with the program plan and objectives, and to help organize activities such as seminar series, workshops/symposia and relevant courses. The constituency of the SC ensures multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives in recruitment, selection, and mentoring activities to achieve our stated objectives for a broad base of knowledge and skills, information exchange and interaction, continuous learning, networking, and outstanding career development opportunities in women’s health research. 

The Advisory Committee (AC) is comprised of leaders in women’s health and research training from MUSC and other universities. We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Etta Pisano, the new Dean of the College of Medicine and an experienced researcher in women’s health, join the AC for this renewal application. In addition, we are fortunate to have Dr. Eugene Orringer serve as the AC Chairperson. Dr. Orringer has been an invaluable member of the AC for the past 4 years. He is the Director of the successful UNC BIRCWH and the Director of the Education, Training, and Career Development (ETCD) Core of the UNC CTSA. He has an established track record of interdisciplinary research, and research training program development. His innovative integration of the BIRCWH and CTSA KL2 training programs at UNC served as the model for the synergistic integration of the MUSC BIRCWH and SCTR described below.

The AC meets annually and provides oversight and direction in the development, implementation, and evaluation of the BIRCWH Program. The AC includes four internal members who represent key components of university administration and constituent colleges or departments, and two external members who have national recognition and direct experience in women’s health research, mentorship and research career development (see table below). The AC directly consults with and advises the PI and PD. They evaluate the overall conduct of the BIRCWH Program and advise on recruitment and retention of a cadre of scholars with appropriate diversity of racial, ethnic, gender and disciplinary backgrounds, use of program resources, and future research directions and opportunities.