Women’s health research is critically important as women continue to face barriers to healthcare, health and well-being. For instance, most clinical guidelines for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment do not differentiate between men and women despite differences in how they may present symptoms or respond to medications. The impact of this oversight is detrimental to women’s health outcomes. The Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI) is one of only three research institutes in Canada with an explicit focus on women’s health. We seek to enable women’s health researchers and trainees across British Columbia to reach their highest potential. We are passionate about the importance of women’s health research, recognizing that when women are healthy, all of society benefits.

A key component of the WHRI’s Strategic Plan 2019 – 2024 is our Strategic Framework for Trainees and Mentorship, which aims to expand capacity for women’s health research through initiatives that support the next generation of women’s health scholars. To this end, in 2020, the WHRI launched the Graduate and Fellowship Research Award in Women’s Health, a funding opportunity specific to our trainee community. This award is intended to provide salary support to WHRI-affiliated graduate students and post-doctoral fellows who are engaged in women’s and/or newborn health research and who do not currently hold major competitive salary awards. 

This competition is made possible thanks to dedicated funding provided by the BC Women’s Health Foundation.

There are three awards available through this funding opportunity — one for a master’s student, one for a doctoral student and one for a postdoctoral fellow — each valued at $21,000 in salary support.

We are grateful to the BC Women’s Health Foundation for supporting these awards!