Over the past five years we have awarded meaningful honoraria to young investigators from North Carolina colleges and universities who have presented outstanding science at the Annual Meeting of the Triangle Consortium of Reproductive Biology held every winter. These individuals continue to pursue their scientific careers at places such as NIH, Yale and UNC. The Campion Fund judged honoraria awards will continue as a way to encourage scientists early in their careers. In addition, we supported two educational meetings for the public, two basic scientific conferences and contributed to the support of two international conferences. We have a wonderful and diverse Scientific Advisory Board that supports our efforts and gives us guidance on our programs. We are proud of what we have accomplished.
In 2018 we started production of a series of six videos by Sophia Tintori, PhD on Sex, Gender and Gender Identification based on a workshop we held in Durham, NC in 2017. These videos were filmed in Durham, Raleigh, Bethesda, Salt Lake City and Honolulu. They are designed to stimulate discussion and enhance understanding of the topic of transgender persons based on scientific facts. The video series and the study and reflection guide are complete and posted on http://campionfund.org, allowing the educational material to be available across the country and world-wide.
The Campion Fund has also funded and collaborated with Laura Manns-James, PhD, CNM, WHNP-BC, in the development of a continuing educational course on epigenetics for Frontier Nursing University. We know that this strong, detailed course bringing current reproductive science to alumni and faculty of FNU will impact the health care of those served by the nurse-midwives and nurse-practitioners who care for women and families in rural and underserved areas of the country. Five modules will show how epigenetic mechanisms effect many chronic health problems such as cardiovascular disease, asthma, cancer and reproductive conditions such as low-birth weight babies and pregnancy complications. With this new knowledge these health professionals will be better able to provide dietary advice, prevention of environmental pollution and other interventions that might prevent diseases and conditions caused by epigenetic mechanisms. When it is completed this course will be posted on the Frontier Nursing University website https://frontier.edu as well as linked to our website. Watch for this course in 2019.
Other up-coming events include two conferences. On June 1, 2019 the Campion Fund is convening a meeting “Air Pollution Harms Reproductive Health” to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Respected scientists will present current science on this topic for both scientists and the general public. Then on February 28, 2020 we will hold a conference at NIEHS, Research Triangle Park, NC on the fundamental science of uterine fibroids followed by a Gala Dinner Dance that weekend.
We are planning to be aggressive in our determination to support the understanding of fundamental reproductive biology. Our aspirational goals and plans are expensive to manage and implement well. In addition, we are always seeking to raise sufficient funds to begin to award small but financially adequate grants to qualified scientists for research projects. The Campion Fund aims to have increased programs over the next five years and to grow our impact on reproductive science that will help to ensure optimum reproductive health for all persons.