The scrotum is a feature of the male reproductive system that hangs from the body at the front of the pelvis, between the legs. It is a sac of skin divided into two chambers, and it sits next to the upper thighs. The two compartments of the scrotum are distinguished externally by a middle ridge called the raphe. Internally, the raphe connects to a muscular partition, the septum, which serves to divide the scrotum into its two areas.

​Hello, my name is Edward Morris, I am a Public Health Education student at North Carolina Central University.  I am a non-traditional student who had a prior career in the United States Army as a Bradley Commander and a Chemical Operations Specialist. I served 2 tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom. I wanted to continue to serve the American people and advocate for better health for underserved communities.

When we hear “male birth control,” the vasectomy may be the first thing that springs to mind for many of us. Despite this, there’s a lot of confusion out there surrounding this procedure: Is it permanent, or reversible? Does it fulfill all of men’s contraceptive needs? To get to the bottom of these questions, I did some research and spoke with Dr. Alex Koper, a urologist at Sansum Clinic with 40 years of experience performing and counseling for vasectomies.

Male Contraceptive Initiative condemns in the strongest possible terms any and all acts of violence perpetrated against any group or individual. The most pressing reason for asserting this today is the unconscionable rise in attacks on people of Asian descent in America over the past year, with at least 3,700 individual acts of violence reportedly committed against this community since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are saddened and distressed by this violence and the way it affects Asian American communities.

Male Contraceptive Initiative provides funding and advocacy support for the development of non-hormonal, reversible forms of male contraception. But what does “non-hormonal” mean? How do these methods differ from “hormonal” contraceptives? In this post, we share a primer on the difference between hormonal and non-hormonal contraception. (Please note that there is a mini-glossary at the end of the post that provides definitions for key terms featured in the post. Please visit the Glossary page on our website for additional terms and definitions.)

A mandate for all physicians far and wide is “Do No Harm.” A mandate in which the health of the patient is prioritized above all else, and the health benefits of any treatment should outweigh the risks of that treatment. This creates a situation in which life-saving therapies with powerful and sometimes dangerous side effects are easily justified, because without treatment a very serious diagnosis could kill the patient entirely.

​I’m pursuing a B.S. in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology with a Minor in Society and Genetics at UCLA. My goal in college is to gain a deep understanding of human health, from the complex molecular mechanisms underlying disease to the broader social and political implications of the latest bioengineering technologies. Most of my background is in biological research and healthcare. Most recently, I conducted research on a pathogenic protein associated with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases at the UCSB Neuroscience Research Institute. I currently serve as a scribe for a primary care physician at UCLA Health.

Male Contraceptive Initiative’s mission is, “to empower men, and couples, to fully contribute to family planning goals by providing them the resources they need for reproductive autonomy.” It is how we articulate our most hopeful vision of the future: one where there is reproductive autonomy for all people. This vision and associated mission directs our daily activities, which encompass financial support to the male contraception research community and advocating for the development of additional male contraceptives.

The drug development process is often presented as a linear process: you achieve one milestone before moving on to the next, with progress taking the developer ever forward. The Food and Drug Administration defines this process as such:

• Discovery & Development: research for a new drug begins in the laboratory
  
• Preclinical Research: drugs undergo laboratory and animal testing to answer basic questions about safety
  
• Clinical Research: drugs are tested on people to make sure they are safe and effective 
  
• Food and Drug Administration Review: FDA review teams thoroughly examine all of the submitted data related to the drug or device and make a decision to approve or not to approve it
  
• FDA Post-Market Safety Monitoring: FDA monitors all drug and device safety once products are available for use by the public

Based on the way that this information is conveyed, you might expect the process to visually represent something like this: