Teresa K. Woodruff is an MSU Research Foundation Distinguished Professor at MSU in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology in the College of Human Medicine and the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering. Photo by Derrick Turner.
Teresa K. Woodruff has been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, one of the world's oldest and most prestigious scientific institutions. With this distinction, she joins some of the most influential scientists in history, including Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. She has also been elected to the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States, founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin.
Woodruff is an MSU Research Foundation Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology in the College of Human Medicine and the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering. She served as MSU provost beginning in August 2020 and is currently president emerita of the university.
Reflecting on her election to the Royal Society and the American Philosophical Society, Woodruff said she was "surprised and humbled," adding that the recognition reflects the work of her lab and colleagues over many years, as well as the urgent need that led to her founding the field of oncofertility. She coined the term to describe the merging of cancer and fertility research and helped translate that work into an internationally recognized medical discipline. The field helps cancer patients preserve their ability to have families after fertility-threatening treatments.