Executive Summary

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® was developed to address 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 (http://www.myoncofertility.org).

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 through the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research/Common Fund. 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.

Exit to the Consortium website... 

Consortium Director and Scientists

Woodruff, Teresa, 1UL1RR024926-01: THE ONCOFERTILITY CONSORTIUM: FERTILITY PRESERVATION FOR WOMAN; RL1HD58295: PRESERVATION AND GROWTH OF HUMAN FOLLICLES

Chang, Jeffrey,1PL1CA133835-01: NATL PHYS COOP TO PRESERVE FERTILITY FOR FEMALE CANCER PATIENTS

Coutifaris, Cristos, 1RL9CA133838-01: TRAINING THE GLOBAL READY SCHOLAR, and 1TL1CA133837-01: TRAINING THE GLOBAL READY SCHOLAR

Emanuel, Linda (Missing from Photo),1RL1HD058296-01: R01D: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE: A SOCIAL SCIENCE EXAMINATION OF ONCOFERTILITY

Gracia, Clarisa, 1KL1CA133839-01: MEASURES OF FERTILITY IN YOUNG CANCER PATIENTS

Jona, Kemi, 1RL5CA133836-01: LEARNING MODULES IN ONCOFERTILITY

Shea, Lonnie, PL1EB8542: BIOMATERIALS CORE

Stouffer, Richard, 1RL1HD058294-01: BIOENGINEERING PRIMATE FOLLICLES: FROM IMMATURE EGGS TO LIVE BIRTHS

Zelinksy, Mary, RL1HD58293; NOVEL METHODS FOR CRYOPRESERVATION AND RECOVERY OF FEMALE FOLLICLES (formerly under CRITSER, J.)

Selected Publications

1. Clayman, M and Galvin, K. 2010. Whose Future Is It? Ethical Family Decision Making About Daughters’ Treatment in the Oncofertility Context. Cancer Treat Res. 156:429-46, 2010. NIHMSID: NIHMS283620


2. Gracia CR. Reproductive health after cancer. Cancer Treat Res. 2010;156:3-9. PMC336230


3. Jeruss JS, Woodruff TK. Preservation of fertility in patients with cancer. N Engl J Med. 2009, Feb 26. 360(9):902-911. NIHMSID: 137503


4. Xu J, Bernuci MP, Lawson MS, Yeoman RR, Fisher TE, Zelinski MB, Stouffer RL. Survival, growth, and maturation of secondary follicles from prepubertal, young and older adult, rhesus monkeys during encapsulated three-dimensional (3D) culture: effects of gonadotropins and insulin. Reproduction, Nov; 140 (5): 685-97, 2010. PMID 20729335.


5. Xu J, Lawson MS, Yeoman RR, Pau KY, Barrett SL, Zelinski MB, Stouffer RL. Secondary follicle growth and oocyte maturation during encapsulated three-dimensional culture in rhesus monkeys: effects of gonadotropins, oxygen, and fetuin. Hum Reprod, Feb 2011. PMID 21362681.

The Oncofertility Consortium: Fertility Preservation for Women Scientists. From left to right, bottom row: Cristos Coutifaris, M.D., Ph.D., Jacqueline Jeruss, M.D. Ph.D, Teresa K. Woodruff, Ph.D., Richard Stouffer, Ph.D., Clarisa Gracia, M.D., Lonnie Shea, Ph.D.; top row: Robert Brannigan, MD, Kemi Jona, Ph.D., Jeffrey Chang, M.D. Missing, Mary Zelinsky, Ph. D., Linda Emanuel, Ph.D. M.D.