Research targets cancer's fertility threat

CHICAGO, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago will use a $21 million federal grant to target fertility threats posed by cancer treatment.

The goal of the new program is to significantly alter how the medical world cares for female cancer patients and promote a new consciousness to protect their reproductive health, the university said Thursday in a release.

The program, called The Oncofertility Consortium, is headed by Teresa Woodruff, chief of the Feinberg School's newly created fertility preservation division.

"We're trying to create a total shift in how we interact with female cancer patients to anticipate their lives as survivors and their ability to bear children," Woodruff said.

The Oncofertility Consortium is comprised of biomedical and social scientists, oncologists, pediatricians, engineers, educators, social workers and medical ethicists from Northwestern and the University of California-San Diego, University of Pennsylvania, University of Missouri-Columbia and Oregon Health & Science University.

Northwestern said the group's research will include "a thorough examination of the scientific, medical, psychological, legal and ethical issues surrounding infertility and cancer."