2008 Innovator Award Winner, Dr. Teresa Woodruff

Dr. Teresa Woodruff is the Thomas J. Watkins Memorial Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Feinberg School of Medicine. In addition, Dr. Woodruff is the Executive Director of the Institute for Women’s Health Research and Division Chief of the newly created Division of Fertility Preservation, and Professor of Neurobiology and Physiology, Weinberg School of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Woodruff serves as Associate Director for Basic Sciences in the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, the Associate Director of Center for Reproductive Science, and the Director of the Center for Reproductive Research.

She is also pioneering interdisciplinary research in an emerging new field in cancer and reproductive biology, which she has termed “oncofertility”. In fact, in addition to her many current positions, she is also the Director and Founder of the newly-formed “Oncofertility Consortium”, a national, interdisciplinary initiative designed to explore the reproductive future of cancer survivors and funded by an NIH roadmap grant.

Dr. Woodruff is definitely an innovator in many academic and clinical research areas but perhaps just as importantly, she has also been a supportive and enthusiastic mentor to students and colleagues both within her own lab and outside of it. It is for these key leadership roles as well as innovative science that we have selected Dr. Woodruff as the recipient for the 2008 AWIS-CAC Innovator Award.

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