ANN ARBOR—National Infertility Week, as declared by the nonprofit advocacy group RESOLVE, is Oct. 7-14. Reporters who would like to do stories about the many issues of infertility—a condition that affects an estimated 5 million people of childbearing age in the U.S.—should consider as a valuable source Nancy Reame, professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing.

Reame has studied various aspects of human reproduction, including infertility, menstruation, menopause and surrogate motherhood. At the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Reame will present findings from her study showing that the ovary is the source of some, but not all, newly discovered hormones believed to play a role in the loss of fertility with age.

Among the topics she can address are:

Her disgust at an insurance climate that refuses coverage for infertility treatments but will pay for the impotence drug Viagra.

Her concern that fertility drugs, less-effective means of treating infertility, are producing so-called “litter babies,” multiple, high-order pregnancies with enormous health care costs, when other alternatives exist. For example, in vitro fertilization, which is typically not covered, has a higher success rate than tubal ligation reversal surgery, generally covered by insurance.

Her advocacy work, including testifying at the national level, on the need for better government policies on infertility such as oversight of the private infertility industry and lifting the ban on federal funding of infertility and embryo research.

Reame is a board member of RESOLVE, the nearly 30-year-old national patient-advocacy group that sponsors National Infertility Week.

For more information about RESOLVE: http://www.resolve.org/

For Reame’s background: http://www.nursing.umich.edu/faculty/reame_nancy.html and http://www.umich.edu/~rspwww/FACULTY/reame.html

Print reporters: color photographs of Reame are available.

TV reporters: U-M has a professional studio and satellite uplink capabilities.

National Infertility WeekAmerican Society for Reproductive Medicinehttp://www.resolve.org/http://www.nursing.umich.edu/faculty/reame_nancy.html