A grim health diagnosis that threatens to damage reproductive health presents both patients and providers with the dual challenges of maximizing life expectancy while protecting the ability to have a family-after the disease. The Northwestern University Center for Reproductive Health After Disease addresses the science needed to understand human follicle and egg biology and pursue cutting-edge options for preserving reproductive health. It also provides physicians, patients, their families, and the public with information about the risks of diseases and treatments available to protect reproductive health. In collaboration with the Oncofertility Consortium, the center aims to develop:
- Engineered solutions to ovarian follicle development in support of overall reproductive health
- Mitigation strategies to protect endocrine function in adults
- An understanding of reproductive and endocrine health considerations of patients
- Emerging tools to educate the larger community and improve the quality-of-life of current and future cancer survivors.
This research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, Grant U54HD076188 as a SCCPIR from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development.