Cancer patients and their loved ones must make an incredible number of important decisions upon diagnosis. It’s a time of extreme stress and emotions run high. Not only do they have to absorb the shock of a cancer diagnosis, they also have to navigate through…
FAMILY TRAVELS TO RHODE ISLAND FROM OHIO FOR FERTILITY PRESERVATION FOR TWO-YEAR-OLD GIRL Having a child diagnosed with cancer is a parent’s worst nightmare. But juxtaposing the knowledge that your child may survive, and then may never be able to naturally have children of her…
Northwestern University’s Chemistry of Life Processes Institute recently highlighted the dramatic increase in fertility preservation consultations for young cancer patients through Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. The institute, which promotes scientific advances by reducing traditional barriers between chemical, physical, engineering, and life sciences, discussed how the interdisciplinary mission…
Newborn Hope, May 2001 In the late 1990s, Lauren and Henry were a young married couple looking forward to starting a family when Lauren was diagnosed with cancer. Lauren and Henry were advised by her doctors to retrieve eggs and bank embryos but the couple…
Four times a year, the Oncofertility Consortium hosts its Virtual Grand Rounds series, a public online forum that addresses topics in oncofertility. These clinical, research, and patient presentations engage the diverse oncofertility community to understand broader fertility issues for cancer patients. On November 18, the…
Congratulations to all of the Mo Bros and Mo Sistas who participated in Movember 2010! The month quickly flew by and it was great following along many Movember adventures through their Twitter account and website. Almost half a million people worldwide registered for Movember, bringing…
Over the past decades, the patient-doctor relationship has changed dramatically in the United States. This may be due to changes in the amount of time that patients spend with their doctors and the rising costs of health care. Consequently, patients often spend more time educating…
Don’t worry, it’s not a typo – Movember is the proper name for the month of November where men join together to grow moustaches (aka the mo) for the whole month in order to fundraise and raise awareness about cancers that affect men. The moustache…
On 10-10-10, a record number of runners started the annual Bank of America Chicago marathon across the neighborhoods of the city. For the Oncofertility Consortium’s own Clinical Research Coordinator, Shauna Gardino, it was a warm start to her 10th marathon. Despite the less than ideal…
I’m a huge football fan, so most Sundays in the fall and winter are spent watching games. Starting this past Sunday and running until the end of the month, all of the NFL teams will accent their uniforms and gear with pink, in support of…
In an article titled “Saving for a Family,” TIME Magazine discusses new techniques in oncofertility, patient stories, and the ethical considerations for this dynamic field. It also includes interviews with multiple members of the Oncofertility Consortium. The article is available on the TIME website.
As many of you know, the annual Oncofertility Consortium Conference: Big Ideas and Training the Next Generation is coming up in just a few short weeks. The meeting will highlight recent advances at the intersection of cancer and reproduction. This information will cover a diverse…
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in Boston, Massachusetts uses MyOncofertility.org to explain reproductive options to their patients. The Survivorship Program at Dana-Farber is developing online tools to discuss the fertility concerns that men and women face when being treated for cancer. In order to clearly explain some…
Jonny Imerman is a two-time testicular cancer survivor and founder of the cancer advocacy group, Imerman Angels, which connects cancer patients and their caregivers with the one-on-one support of cancer survivors. Last Friday, Jonny visited the Oncofertility Consortium and discussed his motivation behind Imerman Angels. Imerman…
The links between breast cancer and genetics are well established. However, it is not know exactly what makes some women more likely than others to lose their fertility after cancer treatment. We recently wrote a blog post on the correlation between amenorrhea, the absence of…
We posted last week on the Cancer Rights Conference in Chicago, Illinois hosted by the Disability Legal Resource Center. The health care reform bill was one of the most discussed topics at the conference. Formally called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the bill…
On May 6, 2010, the Pew Research Center released a study on changes in the demographics of motherhood in the United States. Comparing data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the Census Bureau from 1990 and 2008, the “The New Demography of…
In an effort to continue its goal of helping communities foster an environment that encourages children to pursue careers in the sciences, the Oncofertility Consortium and Woodruff Lab celebrated National Lab Day today by opening its doors to students from all over Chicago. Students were…
On April 23, Dr. Woodruff will participate in a panel discussion as part of the annual conference of the Association of Health Care Journalists, taking place at McCormick Place in Chicago IL. The topic of the panel is “Meeting the needs of cancer survivors” and…
On April 13, 2010, Dave Look received the Northwestern University Information Technology (NUIT) Customer Champion Award based on his work with the Oncofertility Consortium and Dr. Teresa K. Woodruff. Dave’s work is pivotal to the Oncofertility Consortium’s success, as he helps to develop and enhance…
The Oncofertility Consortium® is excited to announce that one of our postdoctoral fellows, Lisa Campo-Engelstein, has published an article in the March 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The article, titled “Including Fertility Preservation Treatment: Consistency and Fairness in Insurance Coverage for Iatrogenic…
This year’s symposium, titled: “The X Factor: Women of Biology and the Biology of Women” will feature speakers from all over North America. For more information on the symposium, please go to the symposium website.
A recent announcement on the website of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) describes the collaboration between European reproductive health researchers and members of the multi-site Oncofertility Consortium. ESHRE is the largest European Society fostering advances in the field of assisted reproduction…
Dr. Steven Rosen Northwestern Memorial’s own Dr. Steven Rosen is featured in an online video on the site EmpowHer (clever!), answering a reader question about whether female lymphoma patients can get pregnant. Dr. Rosen discusses some of the variables that may make a pregnancy more…
