Oncofertility Consortium
The Oncofertility Consortium® is a national, interdisciplinary initiative designed to explore the reproductive future of cancer survivors.
Survival rates among young cancer patients have steadily increased over the past four decades in part because of the development of more effective cancer treatments. Today, both women and men can look forward to life after cancer, yet many may face the possibility of infertility as a result of the disease itself or these lifesaving treatments.
The Oncofertility Consortium® addresses the complex health care and quality-of-life issues that concern young cancer patients whose fertility may be threatened by their disease or its treatment.
The Consortium represents a nationwide, interdisciplinary, and interprofessional network of medical specialists, scientists, and scholars who are exploring the relationships between health, disease, survivorship and fertility preservation in young cancer patients. Their work and its findings may also extend to patients who have been diagnosed with other serious diseases and who must undergo fertility-threatening treatments.
Here, you’ll find information about Oncofertility and the work of the OncofertilityConsortium, as well as resources that will help you navigate the complex fertility issues facing patients with cancer and other serious diseases.
– Teresa K. Woodruff
Dr. Woodruff is the Thomas J. Watkins Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. She coined the term oncofertility to describe a new discipline that bridgesoncology and reproductive medicine in order to discover and apply new fertility preservation options for young patients with fertility-threatening diseases or treatments. Dr. Woodruff is also Chief of the Division of Fertility Preservation and Director of the Women’s Health Research Institute at Northwestern University.
