Kathleen Hwang, MD, Awarded P50 Grant from the NICHD

Kathleen Hwang, MD, associate professor of Urology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and director of male reproductive health at the UPMC Men’s Health Center was recently awarded a P50 grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD).

“I am incredibly excited about the upcoming grant,” says Dr. Hwang. 

According to the NICHD, the clinical research center grant (P50) supports an investigator-initiated research program in which a multidisciplinary team of investigators works in a clearly defined central theme of mutual scientific interest.

Dr. Hwang’s award is a large-scale grant in collaboration with scientists at the Cornell University – Ithaca Campus. It is a nine-million-dollar grant and spans five years, beginning in April 2021.

“This is a special funding mechanism that focuses on reproductive health,” says Dr. Hwang. “Within the NICHD, there is a specialized branch that houses these funding opportunities, The National Center for Translational Research in Reproduction and Infertility (NCTRI). NCTRI is a national network of centers that promote multidisciplinary interactions between basic and clinical scientists interested in establishing high-quality translational research programs in the reproductive sciences. Currently, I believe there are seven P50 Center Grants across the country.”

The study, titled “Spermatogenic Gene Regulation and Infertility,” aims to explore the transcriptional regulation during meiosis and spermiogenesis that ensures the timely expression of meiotic and spermatid differentiation gene, ensuring the packaging and differentiation of spermatozoa for reproduction. Dr. Hwang is a project lead for project number two.

To learn more about the UPMC Department of Urology, please visit our website. For more information about the UPMC Men’s Health Center, click here.

See more research by Kathleen Hwang, MD, on PubMed.