Below is an excerpt from an article in the University of Colorado Cancer Center Fund E-News featuring Oncofertility Consortium member and Northwestern University alumna, Laxmi Kondapalli, MD, MSCE. To learn more about Dr. Kondapalli, read our three-part blog series, Training the Next Generation in Oncofertility.

By Jerry Sinning

Dr. Laxmi A. Kondapalli is a unique member of the University of Colorado Cancer Center. She joined the University of Colorado faculty in 2011 as Assistant Professor and Women’s Reproductive Health Research Scholar in the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. She came to the Cancer Center after finishing her education in the Northeast – receiving her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Michigan, her Medical Degree at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, and a Master of Science in clinical epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University and fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Kondapalli is the leader of the Oncofertility Program at CU Cancer Center. She does not see patients to discuss their cancer treatment options, but rather their family planning options as cancer survivors. Dr. Kondapalli’s program is one of only a handful in the country that provides an interdisciplinary approach to cancer treatment planning and care that includes clear family planning options for patients, community support services, research, education and outreach…

Read the rest of the article here.

The Northwestern Community (university, hospital, faculty foundation, etc.) is extremely comprehensive, and offers so much in the realm of cancer care. We like to think that we’re a one stop shop for anyone dealing with a cancer diagnosis – taking care of patients’ physical, mental, and emotional needs not only while in treatment, but also in survivorship. One of the great services that Northwestern provides is a forum for patients, caregivers, and survivors of breast cancer to meet and discuss treatment options, symptom management, exercise & nutrition and survivorship, in a supportive environment.

The Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Town Hall Meeting is a free event that takes place once a year for individuals who are looking for information on moving forward after breast cancer. If you have questions about treatment options, nutrition and physical activity, family history and supportive oncology services, this is a great place for you to come and learn, interact, and take in all the information that you need. This interactive discussion about breakthroughs in breast cancer is a unique opportunity to have any of your cancer-related questions answered by experts at Northwestern’s Lurie Cancer Center. Participants also can visit the extensive range of exhibitors to discover community breast cancer resources, and learn more about local and national organizations providing support. Some panel topics are:

• Nora Hansen, MD – Understanding Breast Cancer Surgery Options
• Virginia Kaklamani, MD, DSc – Cancer Risk & Genetics
• Virginia Nothnagel, MS, RD, LDN – Eating Well & Staying Active
• Timothy Pearman, PhD – Facing Forward: Life after Cancer

The Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Town Hall Meeting takes place Sunday, September 30^th from 1-4pm CDT, and is a free event open to the public. Learn more and register for the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Town Hall Meeting here.

Fertility Preservation (FP) programs are imperative to comprehensive cancer treatment plans, but not all providers are able to offer this level of care to their patients. Often, this is not for lack of want, but rather it results from a scarcity of resources or insufficient knowledge regarding FP.  Training hospitals often have the right people and networks in place to incorporate FP into cancer care, however smaller operations such as community cancer centers and local hospitals may have more challenges establishing an FP program for a variety of reasons, namely their size.

In an effort to assist providers, clinicians and healthcare facilities nationwide, the Oncofertility Consortium developed a one-day, small-group training course to give practitioners the tools to develop their own fertility preservation program from scratch or strengthen an existing program. The course is titled, Clinic 101: Building a Fertility Preservation Program, and includes the following:

• Welcome and Overview of the Key Pieces in a Fertility Preservation Program
• The Ins and Outs of Setting Up a Local Oncofertility Community
• Timing, Turnaround, and Practical Considerations
• Clinical Exercises: Discussing Fertility Preservation with Patients
• Pediatric Fertility Preservation
• One Case Study in Program Development: One Doctor’s Experiences
• The Oncologist’s Perspective

The next Clinic 101 is Wednesday, September 26, 2012 at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. The clinic will be held the day before the 2012 Oncofertility Conference: Dialogues in Oncofertility concurrent with our course for researchers, Oncofertility 101: A Training Course in in vitro Follicle Growth Using Alginate Hydrogels. Please sign up early if you’re interested as the class is filling up quickly. There is a $30 fee for the course which covers supplies, print materials, and lunch for attendees.

Click here to register for Clinic 101, or to get more information. We look forward to hearing from you!

Yesterday, April 26th, was Take Your Kids to Work Day and as always, the Woodruff Lab opened its doors to the future generation of white coats!  Woodruff Lab members brought their children in to take part in a day of activities to help them learn more about the research we do at the Oncofertility Consortium (and have a ton of fun while doing it)!  The kids ranged in age from 2 to 7, and we even had a 3 month old nearby refusing to nap as she could not keep her little eyes off of the fun experiments taking place around her.

Our morning activities included:

What is Alginate?

Mini-scientists learned what alginate is, where you find it in your every day life, and how we use it in the lab.  They made alginate beads, wrote a recipe for what they did, and drew their results in their notebooks.

Fun with dry ice and liquid nitrogen

Mini-scientists watched as a researcher used liquid nitrogen to freeze grapes and oranges. They got to feel and see the fruit before and after the freezing process and discussed how the process changed the fruits texture.

What Do you See Under the Microscope?

Mini-scientists looked at slides of oocytes under the microscope and drew what they saw in their notebooks.

What Does a Lab Mouse Do?

Mini-scientists got to meet and learn about how lab mice contribute to science. This was hands down, their favorite activity! 

After a long morning of scientific activities, our little lab members were treated to a nutritious lunch and a PBS broadcast of Sid the Science Kid, before heading home.  It was a great day and we love getting the opportunity to show children and young adults all the dynamic things we are working on in the lab to help cancer patients. Hopefully this will plant the seed in their young minds that they too can make a difference through science and innovative thinking.

In 2007, the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern began a program called Cancer Connections. Cancer Connections was a monthly event held for individuals affected by a cancer diagnosis, to learn about services, meet advocacy groups and get the tools needed to manage the disease.  Now in it’s fifth year, Cancer Connections is debuting a new format, location and time to better serve the cancer community!

Cancer Connections will now be a held three times a year, with the first event on Saturday, March 24^th at Prentice Women’s Hospital in Chicago. The new event format will provide ways for both survivors and caregivers to learn wellness strategies for the mind, body and spirit. Cancer Connections will introduce tools, techniques and services used to re-energize individuals living with a cancer diagnosis. What you can expect:

Learn simple strategies for eating healthier, move more, and manage the stress and sleep difficulties sometimes associated with cancer.

Connect with networking groups, peer support programs and other communities, including the Oncofertility Consortium, committed to ensuring no one fights cancer alone.

Renew the sense of well-being by sampling massage, acupuncture, guided imagery, healing touch and other integrative therapies

Cancer Connections will also have licensed massage therapists on hand and workshops/breakout sessions on topics including:

• Simple Strategies for Physical Fitness
• Introduction to Yoga
• The Secret of Support
• Caring for the Caregiver
• Conversation about Hope
• Guided Imagery / Meditation

For more details about Cancer Connections or to register for the March 24th event, please click here.

Please join us in congratulating Teresa Woodruff, PhD, Director of the Oncofertility Consortium and Thomas J. Watkins Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, on her election to the presidency of The Endocrine Society.  The Endocrine Society was founded in 1916 and is the premier organization whose mission is to advance scientific discovery, medical practice and human health in the field of endocrinology.  The society currently has more than 15,000 members, including clinicians and basic scientists, from all over the world.  Leading this organization is a very prestigious honor and a challenging job, but we know Dr. Woodruff is more than ready to take it on!

Dr. Woodruff continues Northwestern’s tradition of leadership in the field of endocrinology, and follows Neena Schwartz (1982-83), J. Larry Jameson (1999-2000), Andrea Dunaif (2005-06) and Kelly Mayo (2010-11) as Endocrine Society presidents from Northwestern University.

Congratulations Dr. Woodruff!

By Nadia Johnson, Co-Director of the Oncofertility Saturday Academy

On Saturday, February 18^th, 31 high school girls hailing from six different local Chicago high schools celebrated the culmination of the sixth annual Oncofertility Saturday Academy (OSA) with a family day and graduation event. OSA is the flagship academy of the Women’s Health Science Program, the award-winning science education program that aims to inspire high school girls from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds to pursue careers in science and medicine. OSA consists of a junior academy (JOSA) geared toward laboratory sciences, and a senior academy (SOSA) geared toward clinical sciences. Each academy includes weekly homework assignments, and three on-campus days filled with hands-on laboratory or clinical activities, workshops on such topics as sexual health and applying to medical school, and panel discussions with students or professionals in the field.

During family day, students demonstrate how much they have learned during the five-week program by presenting a capstone project, and rotating through stations that cover some of the academy topics with their families. For example, the SOSA students take their parents’ blood pressure (a skill they learned during the “Doctor for a Day” session) and the JOSA students show their parents how female fertility can be preserved through the use of follicle isolation and preservation in alginate beads (a technique pioneered by the Woodruff and Shea labs, that they learn about during the “Regulation of Ovarian Function” session).

Graduation follows family day, and is a chance for everyone – parents, siblings, and friends of the OSA students, and the over 100 OSA volunteers – to celebrate the accomplishments of the girls who were motivated and dedicated enough to complete homework assignments every week, and get up extra early on Saturdays to attend the on-campus all-day sessions. Each student gives a short speech before accepting her certificate and OSA patch. One student, a senior at Roberto Clemente High School, started her speech with: “I am very honored to be part of this program, this is the first year that it was opened to Chicago Public Schools [so] I am fortunate to be here.” Up until this year, the OSA program was only available to students from the Young Women’s Leadership Charter School. With the help of many teachers and advisors throughout the Chicago Public School system, the program leaders were able to offer the program to other qualified students this year; in addition to Clemente and Young Women’s, OSA student hailed from four other schools: Kenwood Academy, King College Prep, Lindblom Math and Science Academy, and Instituto Health and Science Career Academy.

Many other students commented on their favorite experiences during the academy in their graduation speeches. Several SOSA students remarked that using the da Vinci surgical robot, a $1.5 million system used for minimally invasive gynecologic procedures, during the “Oncofertility & Surgery” session, was their favorite part of OSA. Most of the students thanked their mentors – JOSA girls were partnered with scientist mentors and SOSA girls we paired with first year medical students. The girls were proud of what they had accomplished, and recounted their experiences during the program with a mixture of gratitude and amazement. One student, a senior at Young Women’s Leadership Charter School, concluded her graduation speech with a quote from author Sarah Caldwell: “Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can – There will always come a time in your life, when you will be grateful that you did.”

It may appear that the OSA program is designed to teach high school girls about cancer, reproductive biology, and oncofertility, but the program strives to teach so much more than that. It is a program designed to empower young women with knowledge about their own bodies; a program with over 100 university staff, student, and faculty volunteers, who serve as role models and mentors during the program; a program looking to change the face of science and medicine. OSA is a program that takes young women who are willing to learn, and hopes to turn them into the scientists, physicians and leaders of tomorrow.

Fertility sparing procedures which were once infrequent and under utilized, are now more commonly performed in young men and women facing a cancer diagnosis. A recent article in the February issue of the American College of Surgeons Bulletin, entitled Gynecologic Oncology Surgeons Spare Patients’ Fertility, Enhance Quality of Life,” by Jeannie Glickson discusses some of the technological advances in gynecologic oncology which have produced more favorable outcomes for young people facing a cancer diagnosis and fertility loss. Glickson talks to several heavy hitters in fertility preservation care, including Kristin Smith, Fertility Preservation Patient Navigator, and Oncofertility Consortium member Dr. Julian Schink, who maintain that it takes a multidisciplinary approach and team effort to treat young cancer patients.

One of the many things that Northwestern University is known for is pioneering collaborative fertility preservation care, oncofertility, at a time when many other institutions were treating fertility loss as a side effect of cancer treatment. According to Dr. Schink, “You need an oncologist who believes that the patients’ survival is the first priority, and you need a fertility team that respects some cancer patients’ desires to have children. You need strong players on both sides.” Specifically for these reasons, the Oncofertility Consortium was established – to respond to an urgent need for comprehensive fertility preservation care, incorporating clinicians, researchers and social scientists, all committed to ensuring that patients understand and can utilize fertility sparing technology.

Currently, patients interested in preserving their fertility may have some options that coincide with their cancer care, but other techniques not yet available to patients are being researched at the Oncofertility Consortium for potential future use. One of these techniques, a process called in vitro maturation, is performed by harvesting immature eggs from ovarian tissue strips which are cultured outside of the mother’s womb, treated with hormones until they mature and then fertilized with sperm to create an embryo. This would be particularly useful to patients who are not candidates for ovarian tissue transplantation such as leukemia patients or those with ovarian cancer.

As a result of the efforts of the Oncofertility Consortium and its members, patients can now receive comprehensive fertility preservation care at several sites across the country and internationally. At Northwestern, there has been a slight decline in the demand for fertility preservation services because patients no longer need to travel to Chicago for their treatment – they can find an institution, with the help of our Fertility Preservation Patient Navigator, in their own areas and according to Dr. Schink, “that’s a good thing.”

To read more about Northwestern’s pioneering efforts in oncofertility in Gynecologic Oncology Surgeons Spare Patients’ Fertility, Enhance Quality of Life, please click here.

A recent study was just published by oncofertility researchers examining the effect of establishing a formal fertility preservation program on the number of male cancer patents who received a fertility preservation consultation and pursued sperm cryopreservation. Established sperm cryopreservation has been available at Northwestern University since 1999 but it wasn’t until 2005 that an oncofertility program was established.

The paper, “Improved Fertility Preservation Care for Male Patients With Cancer After Establishment of Formalized Oncofertility Program,” describes the Northwestern program that consists of a variety of tools to increase fertility care for young cancer patients. Seminars and grand rounds educate physicians and nurses in oncology and reproductive endocrinology. Provider knowledge gaps, logistical constraints, and economics concerns, which have previously been identified as barriers to fertility preservation, were addressed in the trainings. Patient materials in English and Spanish, as well as a hotline also provide information to the non-medical community. The hospital’s electronic medical record system was modified to ask physicians of new oncology patients whether fertility preservation was discussed. Interested patients could then be referred to the fertility preservation patient navigator and a subsequent consultation.

For male cancer patients, such as those identified in the study, a fertility preservation consultation occurs with a urology specialist who discusses the potential reproductive and sexual health impacts of cancer treatment. Options to preserve fertility, which include sperm cryopreservation, are also discussed. The patient navigator at Northwestern shepherds each patient throughout the fertility preservation process and integrates it within the oncology treatment.

In the study, Sheth, Sharma, Helfand, Cashy, Smith, Hedges, Köhler, Woodruff, and Brannigan reviewed cases of male cancer patients age 18-55. The number of fertility preservation consultations and procedures were identified between 2002 and 2012. Though the number of patients remained relatively constant across this time period, an average of more 22 patients per year were offered consultations prior to the implementation of the program compared with more than 64 per year afterwards. In addition, of male cancer patients age 18-40, the percentage offered a consultation increased from 23.4% to 43.3% during that time. Furthermore, the percentage of consulted patients who chose to undergo sperm cryopreservation increased from 77.9% to 90% after implementation of the program.

Prior to the onset of the program, male patients with leukemia/lymphoma or testicular cancer were most likely to bank sperm and the number of these patients increased between 2002 and 2010. However, patients with other types of cancers, such as those with brain, gastrointestinal, head and neck, prostate, and bone or soft tissue malignancies, were most increased after the oncofertility program began at Northwestern, indicating that the program successfully educated new oncology professionals to discuss fertility in the cancer context.

Though significant headway has been made in the past decade, the authors of the paper in the Journal of Urology, stress the need for continued efforts to further increase the numbers of young cancer patients that receive a fertility consultation. Read the entire article.