Evaluation Process

One of the most important outcomes of the Mayo Clinic Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) program is preparing scholars to become successful clinical research investigators.

To measure how well we achieve this goal, the program tracks the following outcomes data for each BIRCWH scholar:

• Academic positions attained.
• Grants submitted and awarded.
• Peer-reviewed publications published.
• Patents received.
• Other traditional academic career accomplishments, such as recognition awards for teaching and research.

When you enter the program — and again each year — we give you a survey to assess your competencies and accomplishments. You and your mentors review this information during your meetings with the BIRCWH executive committee.

After you graduate from the BIRCWH program, we'll ask you every year about your career progression, grant funding and publication record; this information is needed to meet National Institutes of Health reporting requirements.

Outcome data collected

We gather different types of information to measure scholars' short-term success in the program. We keep these numbers in a database that allows for immediate retrieval and analysis. Data include:

• Diversity in recruitment.
• Matching scholars with multidisciplinary mentor teams.
• Relationships between scholars and their mentor teams.
• Development of interdisciplinary research plans.
• Implementation and applicability of curriculum.
• Timely completion of academic and curricular milestones.
• Scholars' success in the program curriculum.

We also use the following factors to track scholars' intermediate and long-term outcomes:

• Overall completion rate.
• Completion rate for minority scholars.
• Publications.
• Diversity of research.
• Success in obtaining R01 or equivalent grant funding.
• Success in obtaining faculty positions at high-quality academic medical centers.
• Success in becoming training mentors.
• Success in leading interdisciplinary teams.