The proposed R25 effort plays a significant role in organizing, communicating, and educating about the newdiscipline of oncofertility. By working as a member of the interdisciplinary team with all researchers on theproject, this R25 effort presents the emerging discipline to new members of the field and physicians andpatients whose work and life will be impacted and improved as a result.We plan to develop three types of learning resources: (a) patient- and parent-facing; (b) physician-facing;and (c) pipeline-facing. Each will provide learning tools appropriate to the needs of a particular audience.We seek to apply our insights into how learning takes place in classroom, online, informal, and professionalsettings to the challenges of educating practitioners in the newly emerging interdisciplinary field ofoncofertility, communicating the processes and practices of this discipline in lay terms to patients and theirfamilies, and supporting them through a complex and emotionally charged decision making processregarding fertility preservation.The effort proposed here plays a significant role in training the first generation of oncofertility scholars. TheOncofertility Consortium we plan to create will provide oncofertility grand rounds as well as customized elearningmodules to a nationwide (and international) audience of fellows, researchers, and health careproviders. The ability to communicate a consistent conceptual framework and foster a shared vocabularyare hallmarks of defining a community of practice within a field. This is a particular challenge given that weare attempting to do this communication simultaneously and interactively with the development of thediscipline itself.Finally, we will directly address the need to educate the public on this new field and the promise it holds forthe preservation of fertility in women and girls facing the challenge of cancer treatment. The Patient-Parent-Partner Education and Support Network will create a rich, web-based resource, informed by research on thepatient/physician decision making process, that will support patients and their families by explaining newoptions and supporting them in making the most informed decision regarding fertility preservation in the faceof a cancer diagnosis.
| Woodruff, Teresa K (2013) From the bench to bedside to babies: translational medicine made possible by funding multidisciplinary team science. J Assist Reprod Genet 30:1249-53 |
| Woodruff, Teresa K (2010) The Oncofertility Consortium--addressing fertility in young people with cancer. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 7:466-75 |
