MS-RSM Alumna Receives Prestigious Research Award

Dr. Dana Kimelman, an alumna of the first cohort of the MS-RSM program (2016) was recently awarded a prestigious research award in Uruguay for her proposal: Vitrification of Ovarian Tissue for the Preservation of Fertility.  While in the MS-RSM program, Dr. Kimelman did her thesis research with Dr. Mary Ellen Pavone and co-authored a book chapter and several important studies on Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Fertility Preservation.

This Project will be funded by the Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANII) and a private fertility center called Centro de Esterilidad Montevideo. (CEM). The project will carried out by an alliance between a private center and the Medicine University (Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República Oriental del Uruguay).

Here's what Dr. Kimelman had to say about her experience and how the MS-RSM program helped her achieve her goals:

As a Medical Doctor specialized in Obstetrics and Gynecology, I always had a special interest in the area of fertility preservation. After attending the Oncofertility Conference in 2015, I realized I wanted to work in Oncofertility and develop this field in my country. My interest in fertility preservation drew me into the field of reproductive endocrinology by doing the Masters program in Reproductive Science and Medicine. I owe the program everything I learned about basic science and translation from bench to bedside, the program and my clinical work now being back home drives my interest into research and developing fertility preservation options for our population. It´s always hard to balance clinical practice and research work. My personal goal is to be able to do research to put into practice everything I learned during my time at Northwestern University specifically in the CRS  and through the MS-RSM program .

During my first year back in my home country after spending 3 years in the US I wrote a grant with my colleagues at the Centro de Esterilidad Montevideo (CEM that was submitted to the “National Investigation and Innovation Agency (ANII). ” The main objective of this project is to standardize an ovarian tissue vitrification protocol using a sheep animal model. We set out to explore and to improve this technique to be offered to the pediatric population for fertility preservation. The project will start in April 2020, and we are thrilled to collaborate with Monica Laronda (CRS Faculty Member) and Jhenifer Rodrigues (Oncofertility Consortium member) in Brasil.

I feel honored and fortunate to be part of such an amazing field.