Teresa Woodruff, who was recently named provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Michigan State University, received the Gerald D. Aurbach Award for Outstanding Translational Research from the Endocrine Society. The award highlights research that accelerates the transition of scientific discoveries into clinical applications to treat hormone-related diseases.
Coining the term oncofertility — the blend of oncology and fertility — Dr. Woodruff created a now widely-recognized medical field that strives to explore and expand the reproductive options of cancer patients and cancer survivors.
Before becoming provost at Michigan State earlier this year, Dr. Woodruff was dean of the graduate school and associate provost for graduate education at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She holds 14 U.S. patents and is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, the American Institute for Medical and Biomedical Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Woodruff is a graduate of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois, where she double majored in zoology and chemistry. She earned a doctorate in biochemistry, molecular biology, and cell biology from Northwestern University.