@article{77cc0d5aa6c24e459aa9aaa63029d4d8,
title = "From the bench to bedside to babies: Translational medicine made possible by funding multidisciplinary team science",
abstract = "Purpose: In 2005, The National Institutes of Health (NIH) called upon the scientific community to identify the most intractable problems in science and medicine and describe how we would solve these problems using teams. Methods: Our group was one of 8 research communities awarded an 'interdisciplinary research consortium (IRC) grant.' Using the infrastructure of this large, multi-institute grant and a team science approach, we set out to solve the problem of fertility loss in young female cancer patients - work that was not easily funded through other mechanisms. Results: The word 'oncofertility' was coined specifically for the IRC to reflect the intimate partnership between oncology care and fertility care for these patients - two disciplines that would no longer function at arms' length, but as an integrated unit. Catalyzed by the IRC funding mechanism, interdisciplinary teams worked together in unique ways to create a 'bench to bedside to baby' outcome. Conclusions: The grant has now ended, and remarkably, so have the most intractable parts of the original problem. As we look back on what worked and look forward to tackling the next set of fertility-related questions, we are confident that this very special NIH funding mechanism made a meaningful difference in the lives of women and their future children. NIH and the public would be well-served by supporting clinical problem-based, multidisciplinary team science approaches to catalyze fundamental biomedical breakthroughs and create new intellectual environments in which changes in clinical practice and standard of care can be implemented.",
keywords = "Cancer, Fertility, Multidisciplinary, Oncology, Research funding",
author = "Woodruff, {Teresa K.}",
note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgments This article is presented on behalf of the Oncofertility Consortium, whose leadership includes R. Jeffrey Chang, MD; Christos Coutifaris, MD, PhD; Clarisa R. Gracia, MD, MSCE; Lonnie D. Shea, PhD; Richard L. Stouffer, PhD; Mary B. Zelinski, PhD; and Teresa K. Woodruff, PhD. This project was funded by the National Institutes of Health Roadmap for Medical Research, grants UL1DE019587, RL1HD058293, RL1HD058294, RL1HD058295, RL1HD058296, PL1EB008542, PL1CA133835, RL5CA133836, TL1CA133837, RL9CA133838, and KL1CA133839. Funding Information: By funding science through ordinary grant mechanisms linked together in extraordinary ways and by providing space for physician development programs and non–hypothesis-driven humanities research, the NIH Common Fund can support discovery that will ultimately change lives. NIH and the public would be well-served by continuing support of clinical problem-based, multidisciplinary team science approaches to catalyze fundamental biomedical breakthroughs and create new intellectual environments in which changes in clinical practice and standard of care can be implemented. Funding Information: Projects linked by the IRC grant to create the Oncofertility Consortium Funding Information: The Oncofertility Consortium also built the National Physicians Cooperative (NPC) as a coordinated national presence; creating a network of collaborating clinicians is difficult to support through standard NIH funding. The NPC now includes 55 clinical reproductive endocrinology sites, 10 oncology or {\textquoteleft}allied sites,{\textquoteright} and 10 global partners. The NPC definitively demonstrated that when oncologists and REI specialists work together to ensure readiness of REI practices for cancer patients, clinicians are more likely to recognize that, for many patients, there is time to provide conventional fertility treatments before the start of cancer therapy. The members of the NPC share their cases and outcomes in a way that continues to move the field of oncofertility forward. For this reason, the NPC is one of the most important and enduring achievements of the work supported by the IRC grant.",
year = "2013",
month = oct,
doi = "10.1007/s10815-013-0082-2",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "30",
pages = "1249--1253",
journal = "Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics",
issn = "1058-0468",
publisher = "Springer New York",
number = "10",
}