TEDxNorthwesternU
June 19, 2012

Why is the mystery of life so complex? Why do we need chemists, biologists, ethicists and engineers to unravel this mystery? How do we facilitate relevant research that transcends the boundaries of established disciplines? This program will explore how multidisciplinary teams are working together to understand the complicated process of fertility.

To answer these questions, the Women's Health Research Institute hosted a TEDx Program to explore these complex issues. For more information about TED and TEDxNorthwesternU, visit the website.

To view the archived webast of this event, please click here.

Scientists Around Globe Peer Into One Microscope
May 16, 2012

CHICAGO --- A scientist in Austria or elsewhere in the world can now peer into a Chicago collaborator’s microscope in real time while an experiment is being conducted at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. 

iExperiment is a novel portal developed at Northwestern where scientists from around the globe can watch and participate in experiments in reproductive health for the Oncofertility Consortium, a National Institutes of Health-funded research project to explore reproductive options for cancer survivors.

“This is the first time researchers can look into a colleague’s microscope from anywhere in the world,” said Teresa Woodruff, director and founder of the Oncofertility Consortium and chief of fertility preservation at Northwestern’s Feinberg School.

The new application of technology will speed the pace of scientific discoveries, she said. “A better way to do science is to share it in real time and have people look at the data as it is collected and to apply that knowledge in their own laboratories,” Woodruff said. “And that is a real paradigm shift in science.”

Dr. Teresa Woodruff advocates for gender specificity in clinical trials
April 10, 2012

As a reproductive endocrinologist, Teresa Woodruff has spent the better part of her research career focusing on female reproductive health and infertility.

"What we're trying to ensure is that young people who have a cancer diagnosis and are going to be sterilized by that treatment or would have been sterilized by that treatment have options to protect their fertility for a later family that they might want to build,"she said.

As founder and director of the Institute for Women's Health Research, Woodruff has been an advocate for gender specificity in clinical trials, as a way to better understand the effects that various technologies and procedures have on women. As an educator and mentor, she encourages young women to pursue careers in the sciences, and helped develop the Oncofertility Saturday Academy to involve high school girls in college-level science.

To view the entire interview, please click HERE.

Sharon Green Talks about Rural Women's Health Issues on WBEZ radio
April 5, 2012

 We tend to think of rural women's issues in the context of the developing world. But in America rural women also struggle. One of the big factors in rural poverty is the lack of access to decent health services. On March 30,2012, Worldview, a weekly talk show on WBEZ radio, a PBS affiliate, explored rural women’s health issues and needs in the U.S. with Sharon Green, the executive director of Northwestern University's Institute for Women's Health Research. She tells us about the difficulties of attaining proper care and how the Affordable Care Act could improve or complicate the lot of rural women.  To listen to the interview  CLICK HERE

Minority Girls Graduate from Science Academy
February 22, 2012

CHICAGO --- The Northwestern University science mentoring program recently honored by President Barack Obama graduated 31 Chicago high school girls Feb. 18 at the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center on the Chicago campus.

The mentoring program, called Oncofertility Saturday Academy, offers high school girls the chance to research and conduct experiments in fertility and cancer research with scientists and doctors at state-of-the-art Northwestern facilities. It inspires and prepares the young women to go to college and pursue careers in science and medicine.

“Our goal is to train the next generation of female leaders in science and medicine,” said Teresa Woodruff, program founder and the Thomas J. Watkins Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Woodruff also is director of the Institute for Women’s Health Research at the Feinberg School.

Graduates of the mentoring program have gone on to pursue a variety of science and health-related career paths since the program was founded in 2006.

Northwestern University program gives high school girls a chance to work with scientists and doctors
February 22, 2012

Chicago teenager Teanna Thomas moved a step closer over the weekend to her dream of becoming a pharmacist, graduating from a Northwestern University program that gives high school students a chance to work with scientists and doctors on cancer research.

Thomas, 18, and 30 other Chicago high school girls on Feb. 18 graduated from Northwestern’s science mentoring program, “Oncofertility Saturday Academy.”

Honored by President Barack Obama, it gives high school students a chance to conduct experiments in fertility and cancer research with scientists and doctors at state-of-the-art Northwestern facilities.

“The graduation was fun,” Thomas said of the ceremony at the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center at 303 E. Superior St., on the university’s Chicago campus. “We did our speeches to reflect on what we learned.”

The Young Women’s Leadership Charter School senior said she learned a lot.

“The program was very helpful,” said Thomas. “It was a lot of hands-on.”

Institute wins Presidential Award for High School Science Progam
November 16, 2011

 CHICAGO --- A Northwestern Medicine program for mentoring urban minority high-school girls for college and careers in science and health was awarded the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring by President Barack Obama. The mentors will receive the awards at a White House ceremony later this year.

 The Women's Health Science Program for High School Girls and Beyond, a five-year-old program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, targets primarily African American and Latina girls from disadvantaged backgrounds in Chicago. The young women can study at four different Northwestern academies: cardiology, physical science, infectious disease and oncofertility. The girls’ science program is part of the Institute for Women’s Health Research at the Feinberg School.

Chicago Magazine Article--Chicago Researchers Discover Benefits of Hormone Replacement Therapy
October 20, 2011

TURN BACK THE CLOCK: With area docs studying the treatment's benefits for older women and men, youth may no longer be wasted only on the young. To read this article, please click HERE.

For the Health of Women---A mentor and her student advance women's health research locally and nationally
August 29, 2011

Ward Rounds, a publication of the Feinberg School of Medicine, recently featured the important role the Institute and  its director, Teresa Woodruff, play in mentoring and encouraging young women in science.   To read more, click HERE.

Health Researchers try to link up with more Hispanic women
June 29, 2011

Clinical trials might help determine why a third say they don't feel well, compared with less than a 10th of non-Hispanic white women

By Patty Pensa, Special to the Tribune

June 29, 2011

Illinois' number of Hispanic women reporting that they were in fair or poor health was the highest in the nation, according to a 2009 study, and efforts are growing to figure out why.

Researchers want specifics on why 34.3 percent of Latino women in Illinois said their health was not good, compared with about 8.5 percent of non-Hispanic white women, in the study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Hispanic women in the state also have higher rates than non-Hispanic white women of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity, according to the study.  But enlisting people to be studied can be complicated by a distrust of medical research and an inability to overcome language barriers and other concerns.