National Breastfeeding Research Consortium Call for ApplicantsIn response to the 2011 Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding, several federal agencies came together in May 2011 to form the Federal Breastfeeding Working Group (FBWG) for implementation of the steps outlined in the Call to Action document. Call to action item 18 was to "strengthen existing capacity and develop future capacity for conducting research on breastfeeding."An implementation strategy to achieve this goal was the development of a National Breastfeeding Research Consortium (NBRC). Such a consortium would help to prioritize key research areas, increase the generalizability of research on breastfeeding, enable expanded and advanced research to be performed, and foster the timely translation of research into practice. The intent of the consortium is to foster collaboration between disciplines (clinical/behavioral/social scientists) and across sectors (ecomomics, legal,labor). The FBWG, which provides agency coordination and oversight for activities outlined in the Call to Action seeks nominations of qualified individuals representing the diversity of fields engaged in advancing the breastfeeding agenda, to serve on NBRC. Scope: The purpose of the NBRC is to identify:
Additional functions of the NBRC also could include:
The NBRC will be made up of approximately 15 experts in breastfeeding and human lactation research. The FBWG seeks nominations for professionals from varied backgrounds and work settings with demonstrated expertise in one or more relevant areas listed below.
Travel: Group members must be able to attend one face-to-face meeting per year to deliberate on reports on evidence and related programmatic activities, and develop recommendations. Meetings will usually be held in Washington DC/Bethesda, MD area and last for 1.5 days each. Members will be reimbursed for travel expenses. Between face-to-face meetings, members will also participate in teleconference and exchange e-mail as needed. Terms of Membership: Following establishment of the NBRC and selection of initial group members, nominations for future members to replace outgoing members will be accepted on a continuous basis. Applications will be active for three years from the date of submission. Membership will be in 3 year terms that rotate within the group. [NB: Initial establishment of this rotation pattern will require the length of membership terms within the first 4 years of the Group to vary - one third of members will rotate off after the second year, one third after the third, and one third after the fourth.] Eligibility: Federal employees and private citizens with clear financial, professional, or organizational conflicts of interest are not eligible for consideration. Submit nominations to: Ursuline Singleton, HHS Office on Women's Health Phone: 202-260-0217; Email: [email protected]
FBWG members will review nominations and conduct phone interviews with a subset of nominees. These nominees will be asked to provide information on financial holdings, consultancies, corporate affiliations, and research grants/contracts, to permit assessment of real or perceived conflicts of interest. All nominees will be notified of the final selections via email upon conclusion of the in-depth review. For questions about the NBRC and the nomination process, please contact (via email): Tonse Raju, [email protected] Ursuline Singleton, [email protected] Daneil Raiten, [email protected] Reference 1. Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/calls/breastfeeding/calltoactiontosupportbreastfeeding.pdf |
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