Katrina Markoff, Founder & Head Chocolatier of Vosges Haut-Chocolat, hosted a chocolate tasting event at her Lincoln Park boutique on Wednesday, May 4th to support the Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Program at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and Hospital. The event, held just prior to Mother’s Day, brought together people who have struggled with recurrent pregnancy loss and their network of supporters. In fact, one mother flew in from Connecticut to attend the event.
Dr. Stephenson talked about funding priorities, including education, public awareness and research. Presently, the University of Illinois at Chicago has the only Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Subspecialty Fellowship in the country. Dr. Stephenson briefly discussed research priorities, including determining why recurrent pregnancy loss occurs and treatment strategies to improve pregnancy outcomes in couples with a history of RPL.
Katrina, a patient of Dr. Stephenson’s and proud mother of two wonderful boys, shared her personal story of recurrent pregnancy loss, speaking passionately about the need to create a community of support as well as give a voice to this often avoided topic. She is an advocate for raising awareness about RPL and funding research so that fewer people will know the devastation of losing a pregnancy. We thank Katrina for making a generous donation to the program, through contributing a portion of the proceeds of sales for the day. Several other attendees also contributed to the Garden of Love donor wall located in the Center of Women’s Health at UI Health.
For more information on how to support Recurrent Pregnancy Loss and Infertility research, please contact Heather Schuster, Director of Development, at (312) 355-5138 or hschust@uic.edu.