Session 50: The Battle of the Banks

Session 50: The Battle of the Banks

Moderators: Dr. Peter Nagy and Dr. Maria Jose de los Santos

"From Egg Sharing to Egg Banking"
Dr. Kamal Ahuja  

“Disciplined Quality Initiatives to Drive Superior Outcomes “
Wayne Caswell

"Donor Screening During a Global Pandemic"
Corey Burke 

"Maximizing Donor Egg Efficiency - Artificial Intelligence & Genetically Certified Oocytes"
Birol Aydin 

DR. KAMAL AHUJA

After completing his PhD studies at the University of Cambridge with Professor Sir Robert Edwards, Kamal Ahuja moved to London to head the Cromwell Hospital IVF Programme as its founding Scientific Director, where he remained for over 20 years. 

In 2007, he founded the JD Healthcare Group that owns and runs all London Women's Clinics in the UK, as well as London Egg Bank and London Sperm Bank in central London.
Kamal is a member of the Development Board of St John's College Cambridge and the current Chairman of Reproductive Healthcare Ltd UK.

WAYNE CASWELL

Wayne Caswell currently hold the position of Senior Laboratory Technical Director for Donor Egg Bank USA which is part of Generate Life Sciences. In this position he is responsible for the training and quality operations of the oocytes vitrified and warmed as part of the Egg Bank. He served as an Army Officer for many years earning the Rank of Captain. He did his undergraduate studies at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and his graduate studies at Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole Massachusetts and Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Wayne has led multiple IVF and Andrology Laboratories in Boston, Maine and New York. He also was the first Technical Application Scientist with Irvine Scientific where he established himself as an expert in Human oocyte and embryo vitrification. Known as a strong leader who consistently delivers solid results. Wayne has spoken at conferences in the US, Europe and South America on the topics of Assisted Reproduction and Cryopreservation. He is currently also on the Board of Directors for the Society for Reproductive Biologists and Technologist as part of ASRM.

COREY BURKE 

Corey Burke has worked in the reproductive industry for over 20 years. Working as an andrologist and embryologist he has helped thousands of couples achieve their dream of becoming parents. Over the years he has run embryology, research, and diagnostic laboratories. In 2014 he joined Cryos International as Tissue Bank Director and established Cryos International’s first donor egg bank. As Tissue Bank Director, he is responsible for the safety and quality of donors and their gametes as well as the scientific direction and quality assurance of the Cryos International egg banks around the world.
In 2005, Burke was trained in the relatively new technology of vitrification of embryos and oocytes. This technology produced increased survival rates with embryos, and for the first time allowed oocytes to be effectively and efficiently cryopreserved. Over the next fourteen years he started several fertility preservation programs and worked as a training consultant for a large commercial donor egg bank. He has vitrified tens of thousands of oocytes resulting in hundreds of children. Serving on the American Association of Bioanalyst Legislative Committee, two FDA workshop committees, and the scientific advisory board of a large biotechnology company, Burke is an industry thought leader.
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BIROL AYDIN

Lab Director-Scientific Advisor at Ovogene Egg Bank
Birol has over 13 years of working experience in embryology and andrology, working in over 20 different countries in the embryology field. He had an active role in Australia, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Serbia, Republic of North Macedonia, Estonia, Georgia, Cyprus, Albania, Ukraine and others. He has designed and set up 10 embryology/andrology laboratories. He has 10 years experience of donor egg banking and oocyte cryopreservation

DR. PETER NAGY 

Dr. Nagy is the Scientific and Laboratory Director at Reproductive Biology Associates (RBA), in Atlanta, USA (since 2002). He obtained his MD (1986) and his Ob&Gyn specialty degrees (1996) at the Semmelweis Medical University in Budapest. He obtained his PhD at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) in 1997 on development of ICSI procedure. Dr. Nagy has acquired a distinctive knowledge and experience on embryo science, including novel viability assessment methods. He has also investigated the basic and clinical aspects of cryopreservation and, developed with his team a highly efficient, proprietary protocol in 2006 for oocyte vitrification that has contributed to the development of “My Egg Bank”, the first vitrification based and of the largest donor oocyte cryo-bank in North- America.
Dr. Nagy is member of several national and international professional societies, including ASRM, ESHRE, Alpha. He is also board member of the International Society for Fertility Preservation (ISFP) and of the Alliance for Fertility Preservation (AFP) and past Chair of Alpha Scientist in Reproductive Medicine (ALPHA). Dr. Nagy is a reviewer of several medical journals, and currently he is section editor of RBMonline, past Section Editor of Human Reproduction. He has been an invited speaker in several hundreds of meeting/congresses in over 50 countries across the world. Dr. Nagy is author or co-author of over 200 publications, including several dozens of book chapters and five books.

DR. MARIA JOSE de los SANTOS

Dr. Maria J. de los Santos started her career in 1991 in the IVF laboratory of IVI Valencia. She received her PhD in Biology from University of Valencia in 1996, and from 1996-1999 she carried out her postdoctoral fellowship in Reproductive Immunology at Fearing Research Laboratory at Harvard Medical School, under the supervision of Dr. Deborah Anderson and Dr. Joseph Hill. She also worked as clinical embryologist at the Brigham and Women´s Hospital under the direction of Dr. Catherine Racowsky.
As a clinical ESHRE and ASEBIR Senior Clinical Embryologist and researcher her main focus is study embryo quality, embryo development and in vitro embryo culture conditions. Currently, she is the Director of the Clinical Embryology Laboratory at IVI Valencia and designated participant from Spanish Government for the 3rd, 4th and 5th edition of “Guide to the Quality and Safety of Tissues and Cells for Human Application” of the European Council.
She has published over 50 original “peer review” articles in leading reproductive journals (Hum Reprod, Fertil & Steril, PLos One, etc.) and wrote more than 20 book chapters.
She has also participated as researcher in competitive projects funded by Generalitat Valenciana (IMPIVA) and Spanish Government (CDTI) and Instituto de Salud Carlos III.
Dr. De los Santos has been involved in teaching since his early career, imparting courses since 1996. Presently she is the Coordinator of two modules (The Clinical Embryology Laboratory and Improving Embryo Quality) from the Master's Degree in Biotechnology of Assisted Human Reproduction (former doctorate degree of the Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department of University of Valencia School of Medicine) given by ADEIT since 2001.
Dr. De los Santos represents the IVI Egg Bank