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.

WIRED magazine ran a story last week based on the research article published in the journal Human Reproduction received many comments.

“A Fertility First: Human Egg Cells Grow Up in Lab” written by Hadley Leggett has already gotten 18 comments on the WIRED Web site. People were interested to learn about the study from “In vitro grown human ovarian follicles from cancer patients support oocyte growth” by Min Xu, Susan Barrett, Erin West-Farrell, Laxmi Kondapalli, Sarah Kiesewetter, Lonnie Shea and Teresa Woodruff.

Someone was curious about how the alginate used in the study doesn’t actually make contact with the follicles but still supports them and other people asked interesting questions about religion, adoption and ethics. 

By the way, many of these topics will be discussed at the Oncofertility Summit this week.

My name is Lisa Campo-Engelstein and I am a new postdoctoral fellow in bioethics. I received a B.A. from Middlebury College, with a double major in philosophy and pre-med, as well as a minor in sociology. I did my graduate work at Michigan State University in philosophy with a focus on bioethics, feminist theory, and social/political philosophy. The title of my Masters thesis was “A Feminist Critique of Rational Democratic Deliberation for Health Care Rationing” and the title of my dissertation was “Contraceptive Responsibility: Trust, Gender, and Ideology.” I am now examining ethical issues surrounding Oncofertility, especially as they relate to gender and sexuality, justice and allocation, and philosophical understandings of disease.

Every summer, Teresa Woodruff sends out a summer reading list to the people in her lab. Because there isn’t much of a global perspective on Oncofertility yet, this year’s theme is “Global Perspectives on Reproduction” to prepare, hopefully, to create partnerships with the World Health Organization and other global health organizations.

The reading list will provide a foundation and an entry-point into the existing literature and includes some of the recent papers from the Oncofertility Consortium and, of course, the Oncofertility book by Teresa Woodruff (recently reviewed in the journal Fertility and Sterility — see blog entry dated June 4th).

Here is a copy of Teresa’s list:

1. Woodruff, Teresa K. and Snyder, Karrie Ann Sr.  Oncofertility: Fertility Preservation for Cancer Survivors.  Springer, 2007.

2. Inhorn, Monica C and Van Balen, Frank.  Infertility Around the Globe: New Thinking on Childlessness, Gender, and Reproductive Technologies.   University of California Press, 2002.

3. Ginsburb, Faye D and Rapp, Ranya.  Conceiving the New World Order: The Global Politics of Reproduction.  University of California Press, 1995.

4. Edwards, Jeanette; Franklin, Sarah; Hirsch, Eric; Price, Francis; and Strathern, Marilyn.  Technologies of Procreation: Kinship in the Age of Assisted Conception.  Routledge, 1999.

5. Ellison, Peter T.  On Fertile Ground: A Natural History of Human Reproduction.  Harvard University Press, 2001.

6. Runowicz, Carolyn D., Petrek, Jeanne A. and Gansler, Ted S.  Women in Cancer: A Thorough and Compassionate Resource for Patients and Their Families.

7. Heiney, Sue P., Hermann, Joan F., Bruss, Katherine V., and Fincannon, Joy L..  Cancer in the Family: Helping Children Cope with a Parent’s Illness.  2001.

8. Eyre, Harmon J., Lange, Diane Partie, and Morris, Lois B.  Informed Decision: The Complete Book of Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment, and Recovery.   Viking, 1997.

9. Shenfield, Francoise and Sureau, Claude.  Contemporary Ethical Dilemmas in Assisted Reproduction.  Informahealthcare, 2006.

My name is Shauna Gardino and I am clinical research coordinator at the Oncofertility Consortium. I manage the portfolio of social science studies related to fertility preservation for cancer patients. There are five current social science initiatives that provide a vital perspective of the social implications and considerations associated with oncofertiltiy in the lived world, including:
• An examination of the ethical, legal and religious issues associated with emerging fertility preservation technologies, including issues such justice and access to treatment, consent and disclosure, international perspectives and prospective ethics.
• A willingness to pay assessment spearheaded by the Kellogg School of Economics to understand the economic value of oncofertility technologies
• A shared decision-making study aimed at developing, implementing, evaluating and disseminating a shared decision making model for family, patients and health care providers to use in deciding what to do about fertility issues when a young girl has been diagnosed with cancer
• An examination of how breast cancer patients navigate fertility concerns and treatment options, looking at how doctors and patients discuss the topic of infertility and possible treatment options and identifying facilitators and barriers to this exchange of information
• A quality of life study aiming to assess reproductive concerns and psychosocial functioning in cancer patients and to compare longitudinally the overall psychosocial functioning in cancer patients referred for fertility consultation and cancer patients not referred for fertility consultation.

Additional information related to the social science initiatives can be found on the Oncofertility Website:
http://oncofertility.northwestern.edu/research/social-science-and-oncofertility

I am also currently conducting an independent study on adoption agency attitudes and perspectives on the potential to parent for individuals with a history of cancer. I also assist with administrative duties at the Consortium and will be in charge of the Annual Oncofertility Consortium Conference this September 14-16th in Chicago, IL. The conference is an opportunity for researchers and clinicians to disseminate knowledge and share progress and ideas in the field of oncofertility, and a testament to our growing network and emerging field. Mark your calendars!

Looking forward to sharing this exciting research with all of you!!

Shauna