Annual Report for Center for Research and Education in Women’s Health (CREWH)
2010-2011
Executive Summary
The Center for Research and Education in Women’s Health (CREWH) had a very productive year in 2010-2011. Under the
leadership of the Director, Dr. Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, CREWH re-established a visible presence in the School of
Public Health and Health Sciences and hired an Associated Director, Ms. Sara Sabelawski. With generous support from
SPHHS Dean Marjorie Aelion, we established a new Research Scholars program to provide early and mid-career faculty
working in women’s health with the support and protected time essential to developing successful proposals for
external research funding; three faculty members from SPHHS were chosen as the initial cohort of Scholars, whose
fellowship year will begin in September 2011. Other achievements included: the preparation and submission of an
application for Government Appropriations funding to support collaborative research in maternal and reproductive
health among Latina women in Holyoke and Springfield, MA; the development of a new website for the Center; and the
establishment of a seminar series for faculty and students.
Center Activities in 2010-2011
Establishment of the CREWH Research Scholars Program
The Center’s highest priority at this time is increasing the amount of externally funded research conducted by its faculty.
Investment in Center faculty at early stages of their research careers will have long-term benefits for these investigators,
as well as the Center and the SPHHS. Support for junior faculty in obtaining funding will help them grow into successful
senior faculty with successful research programs. They will then be able to mentor the next generation of junior faculty,
postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. Furthermore, increasing the number of Center faculty members with
external research funding will directly improve the Center’s competitiveness in applying for Center grants from the
National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control, as well as grants from other federal and state agencies and
private foundations.
We were excited to report that Dean Aelion generously provided funding for the establishment of the CREWH Research
Scholars program, providing funds for 1 year, renewable for up to 3 years. The CREWH Research Scholars program will
provide early and mid-career faculty working in women’s health with the support and protected time essential to
developing successful proposals for external research funding, following the successful model developed by the UMass
Center for Research on Families.
Throughout the year, Scholars will attend biweekly meetings with the CREWH Director and Associate Director. These
working group meetings will provide Scholars the opportunity to share their project aims and grant application text and
get feedback from the group. The Center will also bring in experts to provide consulting on statistical methods,
budgeting strategies, identifying funding sources, and grant writing. Additionally, each Research Scholar will be able to
identify an expert in their research area to invite to campus to consult on their research and grant proposals. Each
consultant will be asked to give a seminar to the greater campus community during their visit. In accepting the
fellowship, Research Scholars agree to submit 1 or more grant proposals within 1 semester of the end of their fellowship
year. For all grants awarded to Research Scholars as a result of their work during their fellowship year, the SPHHS Dean
and Chair of the Research Scholar’s home department will provide CREWH one half of their portion of the award’s
indirect costs.
Success of the Research Scholars program will ultimately be measured by the ability of the program to become selfsustaining. Additional benchmarks will be the number of applications submitted; the amount of research funds
requested and funds awarded; the numbers of publications in peer-reviewed journals resulting from funding; and the
number of presentations at national meetings resulting from funding.
The first cohort of scholars has been chosen for the pilot year, with the goal of identifying early career faculty who were
poised to submit major grant applications for federal funding. In addition, we selected faculty with some overlap in
research areas, home departments/divisions, and research approaches, in order to facilitate peer mentorship. Research
Scholars for 2011-2012 are:
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Aline Gubrium, Community Health Studies
Lisa Wexler, Community Health Studies
Brian Whitcomb, Biostatistics and Epidemiology
We look forward to a productive pilot year working with these talented junior faculty members, whose fellowship year
will begin September 2011.
Hiring of an Associate Director
We are very pleased to have hired Ms. Sara Sabelawski as Associate Director of CREWH. Ms. Sabelawski has over 10
years of experience working with the UMass School of Public Health and Health Sciences, both in the management of
grant-funded research projects and in nutrition science. She has excellent knowledge of the field of women’s health.
Ms. Sabelawski has worked extensively with faculty in the school and thus has established relationships that will allow
her to hit the ground running in the Associate Director position. She comes highly recommended by faculty in the
departments of Nutrition and Public Health. Furthermore, she has active working relationships with faculty and
clinicians at Baystate Franklin Medical Center and Cooley Dickinson Hospital.
As Associate Director, Ms. Sabelawski will work closely with Dr. Bertone-Johnson to develop and implement the Center’s
ideas, events, and initiatives. In particular, she will manage the Research Scholars program to foster the development of
faculty research grants in women’s health, including writing and editing grant text, planning of biweekly seminars,
arranging for speakers, and coordinating with faculty researchers. In addition, she will serve as catalyst to expand the
scholars program, promote interdisciplinary collaboration between the Center and other units on and off campus,
including but not limited to other UMass schools/colleges, the Center for Research on Families, the Center for
Neuroendocrine Studies, Faculty Senate, OGCA, the Office of Research Engagement, and Five College System (Amherst,
Smith, Mount Holyoke and Hampshire Colleges).
Request for Government Appropriation
In November, CREWH developed and submitted an application for US Government Appropriations funding: Promoting
Maternal and Reproductive Health among Latina Women in Western Massachusetts; PI = ER Bertone-Johnson, for the
Center for Research and Education in Women’s Health; Total costs: $806,697.
CREWH members enthusiastically responded to this opportunity and the Director’s Request for Proposals for small
studies related to maternal and reproductive health. Despite a quick deadline of only 36 hours, proposals were received
from 10 faculty members:
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Jean Anliker, Nutrition
Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Elena Carbone, Nutrition
Lisa Chasan-Taber, Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Lorraine Cordeira, Nutrition
Aline Gubrium, Community Health Studies
Jerusha Peterman, Nutrition
Katherine Reeves, Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Alayne Ronnenberg, Nutrition
Brian Whitcomb, Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Dr. Bertone-Johnson and Dr. Elaine Puleo, Associate Dean for Research, reviewed all submissions and selected 5
proposals that shared common objectives to be integrated into a single Center proposal. Subsequently, Dr. BertoneJohnson met with Linda Downs-Bembury, who prepared a summary budget for the Center’s proposal incorporating
specific budget items provided by individual faculty.
Throughout this process, we worked closely with Cheryl Dukes in the Office of Government Relations. Ms. Dukes was
very generous with her time and extremely helpful, meeting with us on several occasions to answer questions and
review drafts of our document. We were very pleased to have put forward a strong interdisciplinary proposal to the
Office of Research Development. Our project evaluated how nutrition, inflammation, physical activity and other factors
influence a variety of maternal and reproductive health outcomes among Latina women in Western Massachusetts. Our
research integrated bench science, community-based participatory research, qualitative methods and
intervention research to address these important public health problems in complementary ways.
Our final proposal was selected by the Office of Research Development to be submitted to Congressman John Olver.
Unfortunately, government policies relating to earmarks changed in November, 2010, and government appropriations
monies were no longer available. However, drafting this proposal has prepared us to respond to other initiatives in a
thorough and timely manner.
Website development and membership drive
During 2010, funds were granted from the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology to support new development
activities for CREWH. A portion of these funds supported a work study student (Linda Rim) to design and maintain a
web site, with the goal of increasing the Center’s visibility. At this time, we also reestablish membership of CREWH and
recruited new SPHHS faculty to join the center. As of January 2011, 22 faculty reaffirmed membership in the Center.
The url for the Center’s website is: www.umass.edu/crewh
Creation of CREWH Seminar series
Over the past year, we have been successful in meeting one of our initial goals; the re-establishment of CREWH seminar
series. For our inaugural event on April 21, 2011, CREWH sponsored a special seminar attended by approximately 50
students and faculty. We were happy to invite Jane Cauley, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh
Graduate School of Public Health to campus to speak on: “Vitamin D, Falls and Fractures: Just the Facts.” Dr. Cauley is a
national leader in the epidemiology of a range of women’s health conditions including osteoporosis, fracture and falls,
breast cancer, and the role of sex steroid hormones in chronic disease. She is currently PI or Co-PI of multiple NIH
funded studies including the on-going Study of Osteoporotic Fractures and the Study of Women’s Health Across the
Nation. In addition, Dr. Cauley has authored over 400 peer-reviewed scientific articles and mentored a large number of
graduate students. In addition to her presenting her seminar, Dr. Cauley spoke in PubHlth 490ew/690ew: Epidemiology
of Women’s Health. Furthermore, she consulted with several CREWH faculty members and provided feedback on
research ideas in development.
Summary and Initiatives for 2011-2012
We are excited about continuing to develop and expand CREWH initiatives in 2011-2012, including:
 Continuing the Faculty Scholars program, with applications for 2012-2013 due in late January, 2012.
 Working with the Office of Research Development to identify new mechanisms to fund individual investigator
research and larger applications to support collaborative work within the Center.
 Increase our profile on campus and promote CREWH activities to the greater university community by
expanding our web presence and preparing regular newsletters.
 In support of our education mission, working towards developing Graduate and Undergraduate Certificate
programs in Women’s Health.
This past year has proven to be a successful one for CREWH and we look forward to another great year working towards
our full potential.