It was an honor to be featured on the Oncofertility Consortium‘s blog this week. I am grateful to Dr. Teresa K. Woodruff for her interest in C is for Courage, my new coloring book journal for those living with cancer, as well as to Chelsea Castleberry and Lauren Ataman-Millhouse for all of their time and assistance.

The Oncofertility Consortium at Northwestern University is a “national, interdisciplinary initiative designed to explore the reproductive future of cancer survivors.” Dr. Woodruff, who serves as the Director of the Oncofertility Consortium, is the Thomas J. Watkins Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, the Vice Chair of Research (OB/GYN), the Chief of the Division of Reproductive Science in Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine and Professor of Molecular Biosciences at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University. In 2013, she was named to Time Magazine’s list of the Worlds Most Influential People, and was the only scientist on the list.

In 2006, Dr. Woodruff coined the term “Oncofertility,” which now refers to a unique and growing subfield that bridges the gap between the fields of oncology and fertility. As the Oncofertility Consortium’s website explains, her “interdisciplinary team of biomedical and social scientist experts​…have ​literally ‘written the book’ on Oncofertility.” Dr. Woodruff explains that the 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.”

If you’d like to learn more about Frank O’Hara Prize-winning poet Richard H. Fox, whose poetry is featured in C is for Courage, please visit Richard’s website.