An article on infertility and religion in the context of Oncofertility came out today on the Medill Reports Web site. In “Reconciling religion and infertility,” Alina Dain uses the discussions from the Second Annual Oncofertility Summit to explain the different points of view various religions have on what is morally acceptable when trying to conceive after cancer.

The article covers Judaism, Islam and Catholism and includes quotes from Dr. Sherman Silber, Laurie Zoloth, Rumee Ahmed and Paul Lauritzen, all speakers at this year’s Summit.

A magazine in Brazil, “Isto É,” highlighted the Oncofertility Consortium’s research in an article entitled “Depois do câncer, a chance de ter filhos: Tratamentos de reproduçaõ assistida permitem aos pacientes realizar o sonho da gravidez” (A chance at having children after cancer: Assisted reproductive technologies allow patients to carry out their dreams of pregnancy) by Renata Cabral.

You can find the article in the “Medicine and Well-Being” section on page 17 of the July 15th issue of the weekly.

Click here for the online version of the article.

Check back soon on our blog for a video interview with Dr. Sherman Silber at the 2nd Annual Oncofertility Summit.

In case you missed the Virtual Grand Rounds from July 16th, you can watch the video of “The National Physicians Cooperative: Tales from the Front; Establishing a Comprehensive Fertility Preservation Program”on the Oncofertility Web site here.

The OSA counterpart in San Diego, the Be WiSE (Better Education for Women in Science and Engineering) Young Women in Cancer Research Oncofertility Academy, was highlighted in the Del Mar Times. Twelve young women representing 10 high schools were at the event on July 25 to learn about Oncofertility and to hear from an ovarian cancer survivor.

Read more about it in the article by Gina McGalliard here.

Last night was the world premiere of OSA: Sisters In Science, a documentary detailing the Oncofertility Saturday Academy. This documentary told the story of what happens when young women from a small South side Chicago high school gets introduced to an emerging science like Oncofertility.  The film documented the hands-on experiences, classes, and testimonies of the young women of Young Women’s Leadership Charter School as they spent their Saturdays interacting with the Woodruff lab and other resources from Northwestern in 2009. 

A very personal story was told about how these high school students, intrepidly took on challenging experiments dissecting mice, ovaries in the uterus, isolating follicles, embedding them in alginate, measuring hormones, fertilizing real mouse eggs, and spending exclusive time on the Da Vinci Surgical Robot. 

Most importantly, the documentary chronicled the evolution of the OSA students, from passionate young women in high school waiting to be sparked by inspiration, to JOSAS (Junior OSA Sisters) to SOSAS (Senior OSA Sisters).  It also told the story of these young women’s families and the role this experience had in reaffirming a relationship of empowerment through education.  It was clear that every parent thought their child capable of any achievement, and OSA gave that potential a shape and form that many parents can’t imagine.

Directors of the program, Megan Faurot and Teresa Woodruff held a panel along with the film’s creators; producer Harlan Wallach, director Stefani Foster, and the film’s editor Erin Kitzinger.  The panel was a source of reflection and enthusiasm for the whole audience, including OSA alumni, POSA (Parents in OSA), as well as attendees of the Oncofertility Consortium’s on-going Annual Summit.

“This is a story of expanding horizons…you all have the potential to be the next generation of leaders, of teachers of scientists and creative thinkers. You have the opportunity to pass on to the next generation a world more vibrant, more creative and with more opportunity than the world you inherited.” –From Teresa Woodruff’s opening remarks.

The program is in its third year and is continuing strong.

Coverage from yesterday’s summit can be found @tarainyoureyes.

Today you can see it on both that account and @oncofertility.

In case you aren’t following us on the live coverage on the post below (click here to get there) here is the schedule for today:

Economics Panel
9am-10:45am

Religion
10:45am-12:15pm

Break

Feminist Theory
1:30pm-3pm

Reproduction, Parenthood, and Sexuality
3:15pm-4:45pm

Hello, I’m Victor O’Halloran and I’m working as a summer intern for the Oncofertility Consortium.  My project this summer has been to research and summarize various religious perspectives and thinking on fertility, infertility and medical intervention.  I hope that this preliminary reasearch can be used to create a context in which to think about and discuss religious responses to Oncofertility as well as some of the ways patients of various faiths might approach their own treatment. The study includes perspectives from Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, Evangelical Christianity, Protestantism, Hinduism, and Buddhism.  I am an undergraduate at Eugene Lang College of New School University in Manhattan majoring in Religious Studies.

For now you can follow the Summit @tarainyoureyes or on the blog post below.