We aim to advance the understanding of the impacts of radiotherapy on sexual function in women and female-bodied cancer patients across the lifespan.

The objective of this study is to define novel dosimetric predictors of female sexual dysfunction and to identify quantitative imaging and microbiome-based biomarker indices associated with radiation damage to specific sexual organs using a classification of sexual dysfunction structured on functional anatomic domains (dermatologic, vaginal and erectile).

Towards this end, we will conduct an observational prospective cohort study of female patients treated with pelvic radiation at institutions in New York City, Atlanta, and Houston.

Our results will rapidly provide data and inform innovative, personalized interventions to preserve female sexual function or mitigate the effects of radiation in this understudied population.