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The Oncofertility Consortium is a national, interdisciplinary initiative designed to explore the reproductive future of cancer survivors. It is supported by the National Institutes of Health Interdisciplinary Research Consortium Grant (NIH Grant: U54RR024347).
Cancer survival rates among young patients have steadily increased
over the past four decades thanks, in part, to the development of more
effective cancer treatments. Today, both women and men can look forward
to life after cancer but many face possible infertility as a result of
their life saving treatments.
The Oncofertility Consortium was developed by Dr. Teresa Woodruff to address the complex health care and quality-of-life issues that concern young cancer patients. The main goal is to establish a multidisciplinary, inter-institutional and inter-professional network of medical specialists, scientists, and scholars to study the relationships between health, disease, survivorship and fertility preservation in young cancer patients.
Dr. Woodruff is the Thomas J. Watkins Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. She coined the term oncofertility to describe a new discipline that bridges the information and technology gaps between oncology and reproductive medicine, providing viable fertility preservation options for people with cancer and other fertility threatening diseases. Dr. Woodruff is also Chief of the Division of Fertility Preservation and Executive Director of the newly created Institute for Women's Health Research at Northwestern University.
