Women’s Health Collaboration Program

Program Overview

The Women’s Health Collaboration Program is part of the MLSC’s Women’s Health Initiative. This program supports collaborative projects that aim to improve the discovery, technical innovation, and/or analysis of datasets to answer pressing life science questions around women’s health. It incentivizes translational projects that develop novel solutions to treat conditions that solely or disproportionately affect women or have a different presentation between genders.

Up to $5 million capital dollars are available for the current program round, with each award anticipated to be approximately $750,000 to support data generation and equipment at not-for-profit partners. 

The application period will run from July 31 to Nov. 17, 2023 at 5 p.m. EST.

Eligibility & Evaluation

Project teams are to be comprised of not-for-profit applicants collaborating with at least one for-profit Massachusetts life science company. All not-for-profit applicants must be a Massachusetts legal entity such as an academic/research institution, a hospital engaged in research, a business incubator or accelerator, or other not-for-profit entity eligible for capital funding from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Institutions that are exclusively health care providers and/or requests for the purchase of equipment associated with standard healthcare delivery would not be eligible for capital funding.

To evaluate applications, an external panel of scientists from academia and industry with expertise in women’s health will review applications in the following categories:

  • Qualifications of the Team
  • Use of funds and value to the Massachusetts ecosystem
  • Proposed plan, including the following: unmet need/market opportunity, data generation and sharing (if applicable), scientist training, and approach to solving a key question in women’s health

Top applicants will be asked to present their proposed project plan to our review panel.

Please view the full list of eligibility requirements and evaluation process.

Resources

Sample Application

Post-award deliverables, confidentiality, and general conditions

Learn more about the Women’s Health Initiative

R.E.D.: Research Equipment Database

D.A.T.A. (Databases, Algorithms, Tools, and Analyses) Repository

Impact on the Ecosystem

Massachusetts recognizes there has been a lack of development in novel solutions to treat conditions that solely or disproportionately affect women or have a different presentation between genders. This impacts not only patients, but also employers and the healthcare system. The consequences are profound, with women more likely to have adverse drug reactions than men, and the lack of effective therapies results in reduced quality of life. The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center aims to support and incentivize translational project teams developing novel solutions in this area of need.

Learn more about the 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 Women’s Health awardees, including the principal investigator, industry partners, and the innovative projects.

Connect with us to Learn More

If you have any questions regarding the application process, e-mail: WomensHealth@Masslifesciences.com.