The Education and Outreach Core of the SCCPIR Center for Reproductive Health After Disease will provide Reproductive and Endocrine Awareness to Diverse Communities. It will create a process to communicate the research activities and emerging data of the Center to two important audiences: (1) the clinicians who treat patients diagnosed with diseases or undergoing treatments that threaten their future reproductive health, and (2) the public, who should have a general understanding of their own reproductive and endocrine health and the risk of disease-related or iatrogenic reproductive dysfunction. The Education and Outreach Core will convey information to the clinical community regarding the reproductive and endocrine damage caused by specific diseases and treatments. To disseminate clinical information and emerging Center research findings to providers across the United States, the Core will host quarterly Telesynergy Grand Rounds, through which attendees can view and listen to experts in the fields of disease, reproduction, endocrinology, and fertility preservation and interact with presenters in real time. Many fertility providers and health care clinicians have detailed questions regarding how to implement a comprehensive fertility preservation program, thus the Core will work with Core C to provide an annual small-group training course to give providers the resources and tools to develop their own fertility preservation and endocrine health program or to strengthen their existing program. The Core will also disseminate educational materials and informational patient brochures to clinicians in order to facilitate provider-patient discussions in disease specific contexts. Input from the clinical community (e.g., via Center Co-director Dr. Jeruss, Project IV findings, and Core C) will guide the content and implementation of these professional educational programs. A solid understanding of reproductive biology is important to ensure that all people can make fully informed decisions about their future reproductive health. Thus, public education will also be a critical function of the Core. Building on the web-based resources of the formerly funded Oncofertility Consortium, we will expand them to disseminate information to male and female patients, their partners, and their parents. In addition, outreach to children and teenagers is necessary to provide them with a basic understanding of reproductive biology, and a basis for conceptualizing advanced reproductive and endocrine concepts as the future researchers, clinicians, and patients of tomorrow. To ensure these concepts are taught to young people. Core B will develop and implement animated video training modules targeted to young boys and girls, with content input from Center researchers (Projects l-IV). By providing reproductive education and outreach to this diverse set of stakeholders providers, patients, partners, parents, and the public we can be assured that, together with their physicians, patients and the public will have the ability to make complex decisions about their reproductive and endocrine health that will affect the rest of their lives.
Understanding basic reproductive health is critical for members of the public to understand their own bodies and wellness. In addition, health care providers are tasked with communicating advances in reproduction and endocrine health to their patients, including information about diseases or treatments that may leave them infertile. The Education and Outreach Core B of the Center for Reproductive Health After Disease will provide a basic understanding of fertility and hormonal health to the public, and standards of care and emerging fertility and endocrine interventions in the disease context to clinicians to facilitate dialogue with patients facing reproductive impairment due to disease treatment.
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