Infertility is the inability of a person, animal or plant to reproduce by natural means. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy adult, except notably among certain eusocial species. It is the normal state of a human child or other young offspring, because they have not undergone puberty, which is the body's start of reproductive capacity.
Fertility medications, also known as fertility drugs, are medications which enhance reproductive fertility. For women, fertility medication is used to stimulate follicle development of the ovary. There are very few fertility medication options available for men.
NCI-designated Cancer Centers are a group of 71 cancer research institutions in the United States supported by the National Cancer Institute.
Female infertility refers to infertility in women. It affects an estimated 48 million women, with the highest prevalence of infertility affecting women in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa/Middle East, and Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Infertility is caused by many sources, including nutrition, diseases, and other malformations of the uterus. Infertility affects women from around the world, and the cultural and social stigma surrounding it varies.
The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) is a unique pan-European non-profit clinical cancer research organisation established in 1962 operating as an international association under Belgium law. It develops, conducts, coordinates and stimulates high-quality translational and clinical trial research to improve the survival and quality of life of cancer patients. This is achieved through the development of new drugs and other innovative approaches, and the testing of more effective therapeutic strategies, using currently approved drugs, surgery and/or radiotherapy in clinical trials conducted under the auspices of a vast network of clinical cancer researchers supported by 220 staff members based in Brussels. The EORTC has the expertise to conduct large and complex trials especially specific populations such as the older patient and rare tumours.
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is the medical school of Northwestern University and is located in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1859, Feinberg offers a full-time Doctor of Medicine degree program, multiple joint degree programs, graduate medical education, and continuing medical education.
Reproductive medicine is a branch of medicine concerning the male and female reproductive systems. It encompasses a variety of reproductive conditions, their prevention and assessment, as well as their subsequent treatment and prognosis.
Fertility preservation is the effort to help cancer patients retain their fertility, or ability to procreate. Research into how cancer, ageing and other health conditions effect reproductive health and preservation options are growing. Specifically sparked in part by the increase in the survival rate of cancer patients.
Ovarian tissue cryopreservation is cryopreservation of tissue of the ovary of a female.
Ashok Agarwal is the Director of the Andrology Center, and also the Director of Research at the American Center for Reproductive Medicine at Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, USA. He is Professor at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, USA. Ashok is a Senior Staff in the Cleveland Clinic's Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute. He has published extensive translational research in human infertility and assisted reproduction.
Oncofertility is a subfield that bridges oncology and reproductive research to explore and expand options for the reproductive future of cancer survivors. The name was coined in 2006 by Teresa K. Woodruff at the Oncofertility Consortium.
Sandra Ann Carson, M.D., is the principal innovator of the first artificial human ovary. This innovation was reported in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, and recognized by Time magazine as one of the top 10 medical breakthroughs in 2010.
Julia Indichova is an American reproductive healthcare activist and author. She is best known for her book Inconceivable: A Woman’s Triumph Over Despair and Statistics (2001), which was hailed by Library Journal as “an important consumer health resource…the first such book written from the patient’s point of view.” In 1997 Indichova founded FertileHeart.com, a global, patient driven community, focused on health enhancing approaches to reproductive health.
Cancer in adolescents and young adults is cancer which occurs in those between the ages of 15 and 39. This occurs in about 70,000 people a year in the United States—accounting for about 5 percent of cancers. This is about six times the number of cancers diagnosed in children ages 0–14. Globally, nearly 1 million young adults between the ages of 20 and 39 were diagnosed with cancer in 2012, and more than 350,000 people in this age range died from cancer.
Teresa K. Woodruff is an American medical researcher in human reproduction and oncology, with a focus on ovarian biology, endocrinology, and women's health. She joined Michigan State University as the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs in August 2020. Woodruff became the interim President of Michigan State University on November 4, 2022 after the resignation of Samuel L. Stanley. She was previously the Thomas J. Watkins Memorial Professor and Vice Chair for Research and Chief of the Division of Reproductive Science in Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Woodruff was Dean of the Graduate School and Professor in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois as well. She is credited with coining the term oncofertility and founded the Oncofertility Consortium at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. She is also founder and chief of the Division of Fertility Preservation and founder and director of the Women's Health Research Institute at Northwestern University.
Melissa Andrea Simon is an American clinical obstetrician/gynecologist and scientist whose research, teaching, clinical care and advocacy focus on health equity across the lifespan. Simon is founder and director of the Center for Health Equity Transformation (CHET) in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, and founder of the Chicago Cancer Health Equity Collaborative, a National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer partnership led by the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Northeastern Illinois University, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Simon holds the positions of the George H. Gardner, MD professor of clinical gynecology., the vice-chair of clinical research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, professor of preventive medicine and medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and is a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Lisa Campo-Engelstein, Ph.D., is an American bioethicist and fertility/contraceptive researcher. She currently works at the University of Texas Medical Branch as the Harris L. Kempner Chair in the Humanities in Medicine Professor, the Director of the Institute for Bioethics & Health Humanities, and an Associate Professor in Preventive Medicine and Population Health. She has been included in the BBC's list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2019.
The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Centerof Northwestern University, is a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center located on Northwestern Memorial Hospital's downtown medical campus in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States. One of two NCI-designated cancer centers in Illinois, Lurie Cancer Center's physicians and scientists hold faculty appointments within the Feinberg School of Medicine, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and other academic units across Northwestern University. Together, they bring their combined knowledge and expertise to patients at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Ann & Robert H. Children's Hospital of Chicago, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. Additionally, Lurie Cancer Center is a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and a member of the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium.
Catharyn Johanna Stern is a clinical associate professor, and gynaecologist at Waverley Private Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to gynaecology, reproductive medicine and fertility research. Stern has been a member of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) member for 23 years. Her award was for her services to gynaecology, to reproductive medicine and fertility research, and to the community.
The side effects of radiotherapy on fertility are a growing concern to patients undergoing radiotherapy as cancer treatments. Radiotherapy is essential for certain cancer treatments and often is the first point of call for patients. Radiation can be divided into two categories: ionising radiation (IR) and non-ionising radiation (NIR). IR is more dangerous than NIR and a source of this radiation is X-rays used in medical procedures, for example in radiotherapy.
