Women's Health Research

GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS

Vital mentorship for up-and-coming researchers.
Investment needed: Three awards per year, $13,750 each

Mentorship is vital for up and coming researchers. But unfortunately, a lack of funding options for graduate students can curtail important growth opportunities for promising students.

BC Women’s Health Foundation now funds four Graduate Student Awards per year to outstanding graduate students or postdoctoral fellows who are supervised by a WHRI member. The Graduate Award supports research and salary costs, to allow the student to investigate a research question that can launch their career in the field of women’s or newborn’s health research.

There is tremendous demand for the kind of early career support this award offers. In the first year it was offered (2019), there were nearly 40 applicants. You can join us in achieving our goal of providing young researchers with a 10 to 1 chance of success by supporting Graduate Student Awards – and activate a new generation of women’s health researchers.

The Graduate Awards are our way to inspire the most gifted young researchers to continue on the track of investigating women’s health issues.

CATALYST GRANTS

The only grants specifically for emerging women’s health researchers in BC.
Investment needed: Six grants per year, $27,500 each

Too often, early career researchers’ ideas and hypotheses remain uninvestigated due to lack of funding. Imagine how many breakthroughs in women’s health we’ve missed out on.

That’s why our Foundation is partnering with the WHRI to award ten Catalyst Grants ($27,500 each) in 2020. We have steadily increased the number of Catalyst Awards to respond to tremendous application rates – from one award in 2016, to three in 2018, to six in 2019. Last year alone, there were over 60 high quality applications.

We know the value of investing in early career researchers has profound implications for healthcare. By supporting a catalyst grant you’re supporting the next generation of women’s health researchers in BC.

FAMILY PLANNING FELLOWSHIP

Women across BC do not have equal access to family planning.
Investment needed: $120,000 per year for three years

When it comes to family planning in BC and Canada, not every woman has equal access to care, due to a lack of providers. There is an urgent need to improve access to contraception, early pregnancy assessment, and pregnancy loss – to help women safely address complex or unplanned pregnancies.

BC Women’s Hospital and the UBC Faculty of Medicine have collaborated to develop the Family Planning Fellowship – the only program of it’s’ kind in Canada that trains gynaecologists to become experts in family planning.

But their fellowship program is currently in jeopardy. Your support for this transformational training program will raise the bar of expertise in women’s healthcare.

The research potential is immense. Your investment in this fellowship will benefit women across BC who need to safely address complex or unplanned pregnancies.

MEDICAL GENETICS FELLOWSHIP

Ground-breaking discoveries in patient care.
Investment needed: $275,000

Medical genetics research has led to ground-breaking discoveries and transformations in patient care. However, the transition from research to clinical practice is only possible if there is protected time for both research and clinical practice – a challenge that the Provincial Medical Genetics Clinic housed at BC Women’s Hospital needs your support to address.

As a world leader in genetics research, the Medical Genetics Clinic is urgently seeking funding to recruit a clinician-scientist to join the team in 2020. This highly specialized clinician will help advance genome research to practice, educate medical genetics students in translational research, and provide state-of-the-art genetic healthcare to the women of BC.

Your donation can drive cutting-edge research and ensure that transformative patient care in medical genetics is possible for the entire province.