The University of California, Los Angeles has announced the launch of a new research center that will bring together students, scientists, educators, and physicians across a wide range of disciplines to support research and education initiatives designed to improve human reproductive health, promote healthy families, and to advance the well-being of society. The UCLA Center for Reproductive Science, Health and Education aims to fill a void in reproductive health knowledge while developing new technologies to improve reproductive health for all. The center’s work will include research into the reproductive and endocrine systems, contraception, infertility, and pregnancy — as well as the social science of reproduction and reproductive interventions.
“In the past several years, far too little of the dialogue and decision-making around sexual and reproductive health has been based in scientific research,” said Tracy Johnson, dean of the Division of Life Sciences at the university. “Yet, science is the foundation by which health and policy professionals can make rational, informed decisions on topics that impact everyone. The time has arrived for an internationally recognized center for research, education, and innovation in the reproductive sciences.”
The center’s inaugural director is Amander Clark, a professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology at the university, and an expert in the field of reproductive sciences. “Once established, this will be a home for innovative science and educational programs aimed at changing the national conversation around human reproduction and infertility,” Dr. Clark said. “We will develop new therapies toward promoting healthy parents, pregnancies, and families of all genders today and for future generations.”
Professor Clark earned a doctoral degree in cell and developmental biology from the University of Melbourne in Australia and completed post-doctoral fellowships at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the University of California, San Francisco.