Welcome to the Oregon BIRCWH

The Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), in the Director's Office of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), established the BIRCWH Program  in 2002 to advance mentored research career development of junior faculty who will be engaged in interdisciplinary basic, behavioral, clinical, or health services research in women's health. The Oregon BIRCWH program is dedicated to training tomorrow's leaders in women's health research.

Photo of BIRCWH Scholars and Leadership team
BIRCWH Leadership and Scholars (Left to Right): Susan Rosenkranz, Drs. Erin Foster, Bethany Samuelson Bannow, Brooke Shafer, Mary Roberts Davis, Deanne Tibbitts, Leslie Garcia, and Leslie Myatt. (Not pictured: Drs. Quin Denfeld and Alexander Dufford).

Annual NW Women's Health and Sex/Gender Differences Research Conference

The 2025 Northwest Women's Health and Sex/Gender Differences Research Conference was held on May 9 at the OHSU Auditorium and featured Judith Regensteiner, PhD, as keynote speakerPlease visit the Annual Research Conference page for more information. We appreciate our conference co-sponsors for their support: The Oregon BIRCWH Program, OHSU Center for Women's Health, and the OHSU Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

View a recording of the 2025 Conference

Announcements and updates

Headshot of Dr. Mary Roberts Davis
Dr. Mary Roberts Davis

Dr. Mary Roberts Davis received a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) through the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute and the NIH. Her proposed study entitled "Leveraging Informatics to Optimize Cardiovascular Risk Prediction in Women" will first validate the new cardiovascular risk prediction equations, called PREVENT, in the All of Us dataset and aims to improve on risk prediction for females by adding female-specific factors (such as pregnancy and menopause data) to the equation. Mentors for this award include Drs. Jackie Shannon (primary mentor), David Dorr, Nicole Weiskopf, Jonathan Purnell, and Quin Denfeld.

Headshot of Dr. Bethany Samuelson Bannow
Dr. Bethany Samuelson Bannow

Congratulations to Dr. Bethany Samuelson Bannow, recipient of an NIH Notice of Award for her K08 entitled "PAI 1, tPA, TFPI and Endometrial Endothelial Cells in Uterine Hemostasis." In addition, she is transitioning to a new position as director of the classical hematology program at Cleveland Clinic. 

Headshot of Dr. Deanne Tibbitts
Dr. Deanne Tibbitts

Amy Moran (supplement PI) and Co-Is Deanne Tibbitts (current BIRCWH Scholar), Noah Hornick, Molly Thomas, and Megan Ruhland were awarded a cross-programmatic administrative supplement in response to the NCI’s request for Administrative Supplements to Advance Development of Transdisciplinary and Large-Scale Population Science and Cancer Control Research Projects. The 1-year proposal is titled, “Biology of the hormonal regulation of cancer and immune-oncology outcomes research proposal” with a goal of understanding how patient hormone receptor tissue expression intersects with the biology of tumor immune responses, treatment toxicities, and patient outcomes.

Events

2025 BIRCWH Annual Meeting will take place on November 4, 2025, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST.

NIH Main Campus

BIRCWH & WRHR joint peer-to-peer meetings (virtual) - occur every other Friday from 1:00-2:30 p.m.