MenAlive | Revolutionizing Male Birth Control: Dr. Darlene Walley Offers Plan A For Men
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON: MENALIVE
Like most males, I have been concerned with birth control most of my life. When I was a teenager there were admonitions from my parents to “be careful.” Though rarely put into words, I knew what they meant was: “Don’t get a girl pregnant.” I still remember overhearing a high school girl telling her friends that she was pregnant and her feelings of excitement at the prospect of being a mother and her recognition that this would mean the end of many of her dreams for the future.
As a young guy in college my soon-to-be wife and I had sex for the first time when she announced that she was “on the pill” and so sex was now safe. But it was years before we realized that taking the pill had unexpected problems for her. We discussed a vasectomy for me, which scared me. The thought of having anything sharp touching my genitals was enough to make me run the other way.
After hearing about the procedure, I was still not reassured. I understood that the little tubes carrying the sperm would be cut, but exactly where the sperm would go was confusing. Although they told me the surgery could be reversed in the future if needed, it was clear that it would be expensive, with no guarantee that it would be successful. I went ahead and got a vasectomy, but it seemed there should be a better choice for men. Now there is.
Meet Dr. Darlene Walley, Chief Executive Officer of NEXT Life Sciences
My own interest in helping men and women has evolved through the years. I graduated from college in 1965 and went to medical school, with the hope of becoming a doctor so I could help others. But medicine at the time was so narrowly focused I knew it wouldn’t help me to solve the problems that concerned me the most. I transferred to U.C. Berkeley and earned a master’s degree in social work where I received a broader education that included addressing social and environmental issues as well as physical and psychological ones. After working as a clinician for many years I went back to school and completed the requirements for a PhD in International Health and later helped develop the emerging field of Gender-Specific Medicine for men.
As a leader in this emerging field, I often get announcements of breakthrough technologies. A recent email grabbed my attention: “Male Contraceptive Plan A Completes First North American Clinical Trial with 100% Success.” The announcement went on to say,
“Easily reversible, long-lasting male contraceptive Plan A continues to make its way toward FDA submission as it recently successfully completed its second clinical trial; this time in Canada.”