Advisory Committee

Molly Moravek, MD, MPH, (RIAC Chair) is the Division Director for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the Department of Women's Health Services at Henry Ford Health and a Clinical Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology at Michigan State University. She received her BS, MD, and MPH from the University of Michigan where she also completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She then completed her fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Northwestern University where she earned an MSCI as well. In addition to her busy infertility practice, Dr. Moravek has a clinical and research interest in fertility preservation for both elective and medical indications, gender- affirming hormone therapy, and LGBTQ family building. She has an NIH-funded transmasculine mouse model to study the effects of gender-affirming hormones on reproduction and offspring, while also launching a multi-institutional database to track IVF outcomes in transmasculine individuals.

Sheree Boulet, DrPH, MPH, is an Assistant Professor and Director of Health Services Research & Epidemiology for the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine. In her current role, Dr. Boulet leads the Department’s Population Health Research Team where her work focuses on health disparities and how social and structural determinants influence maternal health behaviors and outcomes across the lifecourse. Prior to joining Emory, Dr. Boulet worked for over 10 years as an epidemiologist at CDC and conducted public health research and surveillance for a range of maternal and child health topics including preconception health, birth defects and developmental disabilities, contraception, and infertility. From 2012-2018, she managed all research activities for CDC’s National Assisted Reproductive Technology Surveillance System, including the redesign of the system in 2016 (NASS 2.0) and the development of the IVF Success calculator. To date, Dr. Boulet has authored over 140 peer-reviewed publications and 6 book chapters.

Sarah K. England, PhD, is the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Medicine and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University. Dr. England’s laboratory has three main lines of investigation: One focus is to determine how ion channels in the myometrium modulate uterine excitability and contractility during pregnancy. Second, her lab is investigating the role and regulation of the oxytocin receptor in controlling uterine excitability. Lastly, they are studying how disruptions in endogenous circadian rhythms affect pregnancy outcomes. Her laboratory has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the March of Dimes, and other federal agencies. Dr. England has authored many research and review articles and has reviewed for multiple journals in both basic science and clinical fields. She serves on review committees for multiple funding agencies including the NIH, March of Dimes, American Heart Association, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow and worked in the office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for one year working on policies related to maternal child health issues, women’s health, the healthcare workforce, and health disparities. In addition to running her translational research lab, she serves as the Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University and Interim Director for the Center of Reproductive Health Sciences.

Michael S. Bloom, PhD, MS, is a Professor of Global and Community Health at George Mason University, where he teaches graduate-level epidemiologic methods. His research characterizes the human health risks of exposure to environmental pollutants in the U.S. and abroad, especially impacts on human reproduction and fetal development, and disparate effects among vulnerable and minoritized populations. He is a member of several peer-reviewed journal editorial review boards, including Fertility and Sterility, for which he is a methodologic reviewer. Dr. Bloom is the co-PI of the Reproductive Development Study, a prospective investigation of birth outcomes and gestational exposure to environmental pollutants found in personal care products and plastics among a diverse population from Charleston, South Carolina, and the co-PI of the Study of Metals and Assisted Reproductive Technologies, which investigates the effects of trace elements on reproductive outcomes among a diverse population of couples using in vitro fertilization (IVF) in San Francisco Bay Area of California. Dr. Bloom’s work has been supported by the National Institutes Health and the Fulbright Association.

Leslie Appiah, MD, is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Chief of the Division of Academic Specialists in Obstetrics and Gynecology at The University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado. She is a fellowship-trained pediatric and adolescent gynecologist and Director of the Fertility Preservation and Reproductive Late Effects program at the Comprehensive Cancer Center and Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. Dr. Appiah received her medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and completed residency at Sinai Medical Center in Baltimore, MD. She subsequently completed a BIRCWH fellowship in reproductive genetics at Baylor College of Medicine and a clinical fellowship in pediatric and adolescent gynecology (PAG) at Texas Children’s Hospital. Dr. Appiah is an NICHD CREST Scholar through the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and serves on the ASRM Fertility Drugs and Cancer Task Force and Children’s Oncology Group Long-Term Follow-up Guidelines Ovarian Task Force. She has published 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters and given over 100 national and international lectures in her area of expertise. She is chair of the Female Oncofertility Scientific Committee of the Oncofertility Consortium and president-elect of the ASRM Fertility Preservation Special Interest Group. Dr. Appiah is a recent Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) alumna and fellow of the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society. Dr. Appiah’s clinical and research interests include team science and outcomes research in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult fertility preservation, reproductive late effects in cancer survivorship, and hormone replacement therapy in the medically complex patient. She is passionate about improving the health of girls and women so that they may pursue life, career, and education unencumbered by reproductive health concerns.

Dr. Monica M. Laronda earned her PhD at Northwestern University. She is the current Director of Research for the Fertility & Hormone Preservation & Restoration Program at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and runs the clinical gonadal tissue processing lab. Dr. Laronda is the Gesualdo Family Research Scholar at the Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute and Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her basic and translational science lab is funded by several National Institutes of Health awards to improve our understanding of foundational gonad and gametogenesis biology and to engineer regenerative techniques to restore fertility and gonadal hormones.

Dr. Charles Easley received his PhD from the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University and conducted his postdoctoral training in reproductive medicine in Dr. Gerald Schatten’s lab at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Department of OB/GYN and Reproductive Sciences. As an independent investigator at the University of Georgia, Dr. Easley’s lab focuses on developing novel stem cell-based therapies to treat male factor infertility, and his lab investigates how environmental exposures and lifestyle choices impact male fertility. His work is funded by the NIH and he has previously been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Easley currently serves as co-director of two NIH-funded international training courses: Frontiers in Environmental Science and Health (FrESH) through Morehouse School of Medicine and Frontiers in Stem Cells and Regeneration (SCARE) through the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. Dr. Easley is the Associate Dean for Research for the College of Public Health and is a member of the Regenerative Bioscience Center at the University of Georgia.

Shawn L. Chavez, PhD, is an Associate Professor and the Interim Chief of the Division of Reproductive & Developmental Sciences at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, where she has been a faculty member since 2013, with affiliate appointments in the Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Molecular & Medical Genetics, and Biomedical Engineering at Oregon Health & Science University. Her research interests focus on the use of real-time imaging and single-cell next-generation sequencing to investigate the genetic, epigenetic, and chromosomal requirements of early embryogenesis and placentation in humans, non-human primates, and other mammals. She has over 45 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals and her work has been honored, recognized, and supported through a series of distinguished awards and achievements, including the Abby and Howard Milstein Innovation Award in Reproductive Medicine and the Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine Young Investigators Achievement Award. Her research has been both federally and non-federally funded by several grants from the NIH/NICHD, the Medical Research Foundation of Oregon, and Collins Medical Trust.