Recent News

Lt. Governor Sheila Simon proclaims Women's Health Day
May 21, 2013

Lt. Governor Sheila Simon participated in the city of Springfield's "Curb Your Car, Bike to Work" event on Wednesday.  Simon is an experienced cyclist.  She's participated in the event before and often commutes by bike to Carbondale.

Simon also proclaimed Wednesday, Women's Health Day in Illinois.  Lawmakers and officials from the state's Department of Public Health, Northwestern University and the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine joined her in the proclamation.

"From biking to work to accessing regular health screenings, there are simple things we can do to keep ourselves and our environment healthier," Simon said.

Impact of Diet, Nutrition Focus of Annual Women's Health Event
May 21, 2013

Apples and oranges may not be that different after all. 

To Holly Herrington, MS, RD, LDN, they’re really one in the same … especially when considering less healthy alternatives like French fries and Oreos.

“Women tend to look at nutrition as we age and think of things in postmenopausal terms,” said Herrington, a member of the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation Center for Lifestyle Medicine and keynote speaker during the third annual Celebrating Women's Health event at Northwestern University. “But what you do in your 20s will affect you at 50 and at 70.” 

Held in conjunction with National Women’s Health Week, the lecture on Tuesday, May 14, was bookended by more than 20 exhibits featuring women's clinical and community services and a scientific poster session highlighting the range of sex-based research at the medical school and beyond.

New Chemo Drug Gentler on Fertility, Tougher on Cancer
April 17, 2013

Cancer drug designed with fertility in mind using fast new test to predict toxicity

Can fertility be part of cancer treatment?
April 10, 2013

In 2010, while recovering from neurosurgery, Chicago advertising executive Nicole Torrillo was diagnosed with breast cancer, discovered she had a genetic predisposition for ovarian cancer and underwent a bilateral mastectomy. Today Ms. Torrillo, 38, is celebrating the birth of her first child, a daughter, who was delivered Feb. 13 via cesarean section.

As recently as 2005, Ms. Torrillo's story might not have had such a happy ending. Eight years ago, fertility and family planning did not have a place in the course of cancer treatment—in Chicago or anywhere else.

That Ms. Torrillo was able to have that difficult conversation is thanks in large part to the staff of the Oncofertility Consortium and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Clinic at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

Dr. Woodruff comments on impact of sequestration
February 28, 2013

The federal government is the chief source of financing for basic medical research, so fewer dollars leads to fewer jobs for scientists and technicians, fewer projects being completed and fewer treatments for people suffering from disease, said Teresa Woodruff, who runs a laboratory studying fertility treatments for women who undergo chemotherapy to treat cancer at Northwestern University in Chicago.

"Some of our science is going to be a little slower to get done," Woodruff said. "If we're simply filling in gaps, maybe coloring within the lines, then maybe we're not making sure that the next generation of medical breakthroughs are happening at the pace that I think we want them to happen."