BACKGROUNDThe fifth leading cause of cancer deaths among women is ovarian cancer (OC), which originates primarily in the ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) that surrounds the ovary. Permanent removal of the OSE could provide a novel strategy to substantially reduce OC risk, while retaining the benefits of ovarian function, including gameto- and steroidogenesis. It must be determined whether ovarian surface epitheliectomy (OSEx) carries deleterious side effects, including loss of menstrual cyclicity, infertility or scarring (e.g. adhesions), prior to any clinical application of this strategy. To achieve this, we selected the non-human primate, rhesus macaque, for long-term (12 month) studies on the effects of OSEx.