Women’s Brain Initiative

Research Fellowship Program

The WBI has recently issued a new request for proposals for fellowship awards, with a submission deadline of Sunday July 21, 2024.  Further details and application instructions can be found here.

The WBI Research Fellowship Program is an important component of WBI. Each year, the WBI Fellowship Program selects two early-career researchers at the Brigham who wish to explore how biological sex may affect neurologic or psychiatric disorders, and related conditions of the nervous system, as well as how female-specific life transitions may influence brain health. The Program enables selected fellows to pursue new research directions and to develop their careers as independent investigators.

Each WBI Research Fellow shall receive up to $50,000 per annum for two years. This program is geared toward junior investigators at the Brigham. Postdoctoral researchers, clinical fellows, instructors, and assistant professors within 3 years of appointment, with support from their mentors, are eligible to submit an application. Proposals are reviewed by a cross departmental committee of Brigham faculty members.  Please refer to our most recent RFA for further details of the process and selection criteria.

To date, the WBI Fellowship Selection Committee has selected the following investigators to join the WBI Research Fellowship Program. Congratulations to the awardees!

2024 Awardees

Saranna Fanning, PhD

Department of Neurology

Harvard Catalyst BIO

Fellowship Project: Defining the Neutral Lipidome for Female Parkinson’s Disease

Susanna Mierau, MD, PhD

Department of Neurology

Harvard Catalyst BIO

Fellowship Project: Effect of mosaicism on female brain development in a human cerebral organoid model”

Jennifer Nicoloro-SantaBarbara, PhD

Department of Psychiatry

Harvard Catalyst BIO

Fellowship Project: Sex Differences in Cognitive Functioning in Systemic Mastocytosis

Joseph Taylor, MD, PhD

Department of Psychiatry

Harvard Catalyst BIO

Fellowship Project: Accelerated TMS for Perinatal Depression: A Pilot Study

efficacy of SANT as a treatment for depression in pregnant women and new mothers.

2020 Awardees

Rajae Talbi, PhD

Division of Endocrinology

Harvard Catalyst BIO

Fellowship Project: A novel female-specific hypothalamic pathway underlying the metabolic regulation of ovulation.

2019 Awardees

Iain Clark, PhD

BWH Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases

Harvard Catalyst BIO

Fellowship Project: Analysis of Sex Differences in CNS Inflammation by scRNA-seq

(Joint project with Michael Wheeler)

Jie (Jack) Hu, MD, PhD

Department of Medicine/Women’s Health

Harvard Catalyst BIO

Fellowship Project: Metabolomic Response to Hormone Therapy and Ischemic Stroke in Postmenopausal Women

Michael Wheeler, PhD

BWH Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases

Harvard Catalyst BIO

Fellowship Project: Analysis of Sex Differences in CNS Inflammation by scRNA-seq

(Joint project with Iain Clark)

2018 Awardees

Laura Cox, PhD

BWH Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Disease

Harvard Catalyst BIO

Fellowship Project: Sex-dependent role of the microbiota in Alzheimer’s diseases

Rosalind Lai, MD

BWH Department of Neurosurgery

Harvard Catalyst BIO

Fellowship Project: Risk factors for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage in women