Monika Ward received MS degree (1994) in Biotechnology from the Adam Mickewicz University, Poznan, Poland and PhD degree (2001) in Biological Sciences (Reproductive Biology) from the Karol Marcinkowski School of Medicine, Poznan, Poland. Her graduate studies were carried out at the Institute for Human Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, and involved investigations of human sperm and human male infertility. In 1999 Monika was recruited to join Ryuzo Yanagimachi’s (Yana) laboratory at the Institute for Biogenesis Research (IBR), John A. Burns School of Medicine, University in Hawaii, and worked with him briefly as a pre-doctoral and then as a post-doctoral Researcher pursuing studies aiming to develop unconventional methods for mouse sperm preservation. In 2003 she established her independent laboratory in the IBR. In 2006 she was hired as a tenure-rack Assistant Professor and rose through ranks obtaining tenure in 2012 and a Professor position in 2015.