Session 65: RBMO LIVE: Episode II

Session 65: RBMO LIVE: Episode II

Interviews, discussion and showcase articles

Moderators: Professor Bart Fauser and Professor Laura Rienzi

Discussion paper:

“There is Only One Thing that Is Truly Important in an IVF Laboratory: Everything- Cairo Consensus Guidelines on IVF Culture Conditions“
Dr. Mina Alikani

Speed Round Papers:

“Collecting Semen Samples at Home for IVF/ICSI Does Not Negatively Affect the Outcome of the Fresh Cycle”
Dr Martin Stimpfel

“2008 Financial Crisis vs 2020 Economic Fallout: How COVID-19 Might Influence Fertility Treatment and Live Births”
Professor Fady I. Sharara

“Conception After Early IVF Pregnancy Loss: Should We Wait?”
Dr. Maya Sharon-Weiner

DR. MINA ALIKANI

Mina obtained her PhD in 2006 from Monash University under the mentorship of Professor Alan Trounson. She is certified as a High Complexity Clinical Laboratory Director (HCLD) and Clinical Consultant (CC). During more than 35 years as a Clinical Embryologist, she has focused on improving IVF laboratory performance and outcomes via meticulous practice, detailed observation, embracing of new and bold technologies, and teaching and training of others to do the same.
Mina has lectured worldwide on ART topics and has authored and co-authored more than 80 articles and book chapters on laboratory aspects of assisted reproduction. She is an editor of RBMO and an Editorial Board member of Fertility and Sterility. She serves on the Executive Board of Alpha Scientists in Reproductive Medicine and the Scientific Advisory Board of TMRW Life Sciences.
Mina lives in New York, and since 2019 has held the position of Senior Director of Laboratories of Northwell Health Fertility, where she runs a state-of-the-art facility that she helped design and equip. She is now keenly providing mentorship to the next generation of ART laboratory professionals.

DR. MARTIN STIMPFEL

Assist Professor, Martin Stimpfel, B.Sc. Biotechnology, PhD, is a head of IVF Laboratory at Department of Human Reproduction, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Slovenia. In the beginning of his career his research work was mostly focused on stem cells in reproduction, but currently his research is mainly focused on studying different sperm selection methods used in ART and on epigenetic factors
in sperm influencing their quality and the quality of preimplantation embryos in IVF. He is a member of ESHRE and currently a national representative of country on the position of basic scientist at ESHRE Committee of National Representatives and an editor board member of Journal of Men’s Health.

PROF. FADY I. SHARARA 

Medical Director and Founder of VCRM, Dr Sharara is a board certified Reproductive Endocrinology/Infertility specialist with extensive experience in all aspects of infertility, especially assisted reproductive technologies. Dr Sharara is a Clinical Professor at George Washington University and has more than 80 scientific publications and book chapters, and is the editor for “Ethnic Differences in Fertility and Assisted Reproduction” book published in 2013. He is the recipient of multiple academic, clinical, and scientific awards. Dr Sharara has given more than 250 invited lectures on all topics of infertility, and is a reviewer for multiple journals. Dr Sharara has been voted as one of the top doctors by multiple local and national magazines. He also published an App entitled “The Infertility Diet” to help infertile couples optimize their dietary requirements.

DR. MAYA SHARON-WEINER   

Maya Sharon-Weiner, MD is. Senior Staff Physician, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba, Israel. Currently, participate in Subspecialty Training Program in Fertility and Reproductive Medicine IVF Unit, Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba, Israel
Dr. Sharon-Weiner earned her medical degree from the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. Her research focus is obstetric ultrasound and fertility. She has published several papers in leading journals.

PROF. LAURA RIENZI 

Laura Rienzi is a Senior Clinical Embryologist and Laboratory Director at the GENERA Centres for Reproductive Medicine in Rome, Marostica, Umbertide and Naples in Italy. Since 2016, she has been adjunct Professor of Biotechnology at the University of Urbino, Italy.
Her clinical activity as embryologist started in Paris in 1994 with Jacqueline Mandelbaume and Michelle Plachot at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine, Hôpital Necker. In 1996, during one of the early workshops on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in Brussels, Laura met the gynaecologist Filippo Ubaldi, and together, in 2008, after 10 years of collaboration at the European Hospital of Rome, they founded the GENERA Centres for Reproductive Medicine.
Laura has been a member of the scientific board of the Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research (GFMER) Global Consultation on WHO Infertility Guidelines and President of the Italian Society of Embryology, Reproduction, and Research (SIERR), and held several editorial positions: an Associate Editor for Human Reproduction and Human Reproduction Update, a member of the editorial board of Focus on Reproduction, Editor-in-Chief of Current Trends in Clinical Embryology, and Editor for Reproductive Biomedicine Online

Laura's current areas of research interest include IVF; ICSI; the morphology of human gametes, zygotes, and embryos in relation to their developmental ability and chromosomal constitution (preimplantation genetic testing); and cryopreservation of sperm, oocytes, and embryos

PROF. BART FAUSER

Bart CJM Fauser, MD, PhD, FRCOG, is a gynaecologist, Professor Em. of Reproductive Medicine, former Head of the Department for Reproductive Medicine and Gynaecology and former Chair of the Division of Woman & Baby at the University of Utrecht and the University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands.

He is a Fellow ad Eundum of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG), Honorary member of European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), executive Board member and scientific director of the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS), international member of the (US) National Academy of Medicine, Editor in Chief of Reproductive Biomedicine Online (RBMO), Night in the order of the Netherlands Lion, past member of the board of the Dutch Medical Research Counsel (ZonMW), and past Editor in Chief of Human reproduction Update.
He previously held posts as a Fulbright scholar at the University of California, San Diego; visiting professorships at Stanford University School of Medicine (California, USA), Free University (Brussels, Belgium), University of Siena (Italy), University of Southampton (UK), and the University of Adelaide (Australia). He was a past chair of the World Health Organization (WHO) steering committee for infertility guidelines.
His major research interests include the pathophysiology of human ovarian function (including PCOS, and POI), ovarian stimulation, IVF and women’s health (including contraception, menopause and healthy aging). He has published close to 500 peer-reviewed articles (Hirsch factor > 100), is one of the most cited authors in reproductive medicine and his work has been widely covered in the national and international lay press. Laparoscopists.