Epidemiology of male and female reproductive disorders and impact on fertility regulation and population growth

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has conducted a series of vision workshops to set an ambitious but tenable broad agenda, transcending traditional organizational and disciplinary boundaries. This presentation sets forth a vision regarding how the aspects of a woman’s reproductive lifespan are interrelated, likely starting from childhood all the way to the later reproductive years. As a woman propagates, this circular interaction is then transmitted to the next generation. We need an understanding of the clinical processes, the time course, the natural history, and disruptors of these processes. With that understanding, we can then bring tools to bear to assess these issues, whether these tools are epidemiology, demography, social science, molecular biology, proteomics, genomics, or epigenomics. Our future research agenda should investigate how reproduction affects health and how health affects reproduction.