Northwestern University and Feinberg School of Medicine launched a new educational web site, MyOncofertility.org, to provide information, support and inspiration for young cancer patients. School of Education and Social Policy faculty and staff developed the site with input from cancer fighters and cancer survivors.
MyOncofertility.org offers video testimonials, survivor stories and expert advice for cancer patients who wish to maintain their fertility. The site answers cancer-related fertility questions, describes cancer treatments' effects on fertility and delineates the options available to preserve fertility for both men and women. The web site helps patients talk to their doctors about fertility concerns, educates parents and partners to help support cancer fighters to make decisions to preserve their fertility, and offers a help line for assistance in finding a local fertility specialist.
In honor of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, the site was unveiled on September 14 at the Oncofertility Consortium Conference at Chicago's Prentice Women's Hospital, Northwestern University.
"In working closely with cancer survivors at Gilda's Club Chicago and Northwestern Memorial Hospital, we learned how overwhelming it was for them to have to make urgent decisions about fertility preservation at the same time that they were struggling to come to terms with their recent cancer diagnosis and imminent treatment plan," says SESP faculty member Kemi Jona, director of the Office of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education Partnerships, which led development of the site.
"The MyOncofertility.org web site was designed around the needs we heard from these inspiring men and women: an accessible, friendly web site that explains in understandable language how cancer and cancer treatments can impact fertility and the range of fertility preservation options that are available," Jona explains.
The site includes more than 200 expert videos and survivor stories, allowing visitors to get answers to their questions from leading physicians and scientists and hear how other cancer survivors and their families dealt with fertility preservation decision-making in the face of a cancer diagnosis.
This new resource for cancer patients is one of the educational programs OSEP is developing for the Oncofertility Consortium, a collaboration of five leading academic medical centers directed by faculty at Northwestern University and Feinberg School of Medicine. The centers share a grant of $21 million from the National Institutes of Health to support a national research, clinical and education program aimed at preserving the fertility of women being treated for cancer.
The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University in Chicago is one of the nation's 39 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, combining research, clinical care and community outreach to advance the prevention, treatment and cure of cancer.
See story in Washington Post.
See story in U.S. News & World Report.
Read story in Chicago Tribune.
Read the Northwestern University press release.
Last Modified: 8/14/09