M. Iréne Ferrer Scholar Award In Gender-Specific Medicine
Jennifer E. Amengual, MD
Dr. Jennifer Amengual’s research goals are focused on developing targeted therapies for the treatment of lymphoma. Primary mediastinal b-cell lymphoma (PMBCL) is a distinct entity which harbors both epigenetic and immune derangements driving lymphomagenesis. It is a disease that predominantly inflicts women in their third and fourth decades of life. Dr. Amengual hopes to understand how epigenetic modulation effects the expression of key determinants and drivers of PMBCL and immune function and to determine if combined epigenetic modulation and immune check point inhibition is synergistic in PMBCL.
2019 Winner of the M. Iréne Ferrer Scholar Award In Gender-Specific Medicine
Hilda E. Fernandez, MD
Dr. Hilda E. Fernandez, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at Columbia University Medical Center, is studying the reason young people with chronic kidney disease have difficulties in brain function. She believes this may be on the basis of a defective gene that affects both the brain and the kidney.
2018 Winner of the M. Iréne Ferrer Scholar Award In Gender-Specific Medicine
Elaine Wan, MD, FACC, FAHA, FHRS
Esther Aboodi Assistant Professor of Cardiology (in Medicine) Columbia University Medical Center
Dr. Elaine Wan is studying the cardiac ion channels and how the modulation of these ion channels in mouse models allow for discovery of novel therapeutic targets for atrial fibrillation and heart failure, both of which are major health problems around the world.
2017 Winner of the M. Iréne Ferrer Scholar Award In Gender-Specific Medicine
Emily J. Tsai, MD, FACC, FAHA
Doctor Tsai is researching a critical issue that is overlooked and under-studied— that heart failure differs between men and women and that a vast number of women with heart failure do not benefit from existing medications. This award will support her research in understanding the biology of gender-differences in heart dysfunction. Her hope is that by understanding the biology of gender-differences in the failing heart, we will one day be able to develop personalized, precision medicine to improve the lives and survival of ALL patients with heart failure, INCLUDING the nearly 3 million women afflicted with heart failure in the US.
2016 Winner of the M. Iréne Ferrer Scholar Award In Gender-Specific Medicine
Call For Nominations: M. Iréne Ferrer Scholar Award In Gender-Specific Medicine
The Foundation for Gender-Specific Medicine and the Department of Medicine are pleased to announce the Call for Proposals for the annual M. Irené Ferrer Scholar Award in Gender-Specific Medicine. Dr. Ferrer was a cardiologist and medical educator who helped refine the cardiac catheter and electrocardiogram, which became diagnostic essentials in the treatment of heart disease. She joined the faculty of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1946, was promoted to the rank of Professor of Clinical Medicine in 1972, and became Professor Emeritus in 1981. She died in 2002 at the age of 89. Gender-specific medicine is the science of the differences between males and females, not an isolated study of females or women’s health, and its research encompasses all levels of investigation from basic bench research with cultured cells to clinical or epidemiological studies.
The research proposed for support by the M. Irené Ferrer Scholar Award must include gender as a specific variable in the protocol. Both Investigators already conducting gender-specific research or research that addresses gender-specific issues and those entering the field are encouraged to apply. Applicants must include preliminary or supporting data related to the gender-specific issues of their proposal and must describe how the funding, if awarded, would permit them to obtain preliminary data that would lead to federal funding for a research (R) grant. One award, of $60,000 is available annually, directed towards junior faculty holding a full-time Assistant Professor appointment in the Department of Medicine. Recipients of NIH career development (K) awards or other junior investigator funding are eligible.
All areas of investigation are eligible: basic, translational, clinical, epidemiological, or outcomes research. Those grant proposals in the area of clinical or epidemiological research should include appropriate numbers of both sexes. Some areas of particular interest include the impact of biological sex on gene expression; the mechanisms of the impact of experience/environment on male-female phenotype differences; and studies involving synthetic biology - i.e., applying concepts of engineering to biological systems through medicinal chemistry, genetic engineering, and other bioengineering approaches. The deadline for submission February 2018. A committee of senior faculty in the Department of Medicine will review the applications. The recipient will be announced in April 2018 and the awards ceremony will occur at the Foundation Gala in May 2018 in New York City.
The application, as described below, should be sent by e-mail as one attached file (in pdf format) to Dr. Jaime S. Rubin, Vice Chair for Investigator Development, Department of Medicine. Please include "Ferrer Scholar Award" in the Subject line of your e-mail.
- Cover page with applicant's (A) Name; (B) Title; (C) Division in the Dept. of Medicine; (D) Contact information [e-mail and telephone number]; and (E) Title of proposed research project.
- Research proposal (3-pages maximum, including figures; literature cited on following page). Proposal should follow the NIH format: (A) Specific Aims, (B) Significance, (C) Innovation, and (D) Approach and must include a discussion of the statistical approach and analyses. Preliminary Studies/Pilot Data are not a requirement
- NIH biosketch (“new” format, 5-pages maximum)
- Listing of all peer-reviewed publications
Please contact Dr. Rubin, jsr9@columbia.edu, 342-3184, if there are any questions.
