International IVF Initiative Podcast

Welcome to episode 3 of the International IVF Podcast and today we’re sharing a re-mastered piece of history for you, an interview with the late great Bob Edwards which was organised by Thomas Elliott one of our I3 founders who you heard from in Episode 1 and 2 and it is hosted by embryologist Bryan Edwards. We have remastered the interview footage, which was taken from a video and the questions appear on the screen so, in this podcast, you will hear our host Giles Palmer asking them. We hope you enjoy this piece of history. 

What was discussed: 

• Thomas talks about getting the interview set up and how he made it happen via Dr Kay Elder
• Bryan shared his experience of going to Duck farm, how when Bob first opened the door to greet him he asked him to come and see the trees and the work he had been doing on his land and how Bryan, suited and booted ended up walking around the farm before sitting down to interview the great man. 
• Bryan talked about how fascinating Bob was talking about the studies he had been doing on mice and regeneration, how excited Bob was to talk about a hole in a mouses ear growing back without any scar tissue. 
• Bryan talked about how caring he was towards his wife, a got the impression that Bob was a real family guy as well as a superb scientist. 
• You can watch the video interview here 

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Welcome to Episode 2 of the International IVF Podcast and this is the first in our upcoming profile episodes where we speak to the greats of IVF, those amongst us who have been working in the field since the early days. Jacques Cohen is the CEO of the International IVF Initiative and has an extremely impressive CV. His postdoctoral studies (1982-1985) were performed at Cambridge University (UK) and Bourn Hall Clinic working under Prof Robert Edwards which is what we wanted to talk with him about in this episode. 

What we discussed: 

• When Jacques first met Bob in the late 70’s at a two conference in the Netherlands and the impact that Bob’s closing lecture had on him, as it was unlike anything Jaques had ever heard before. He had been looking forward to it as he was 12 months into a Masters in ART. Jacques went and spoke to Bob then and described how despite his fame, he was still happy to talk to people. 
• Jacques talked about meeting Bob some years later who remembered his time in the Netherlands fondly as he had returned back in the UK and received a call from Gene Purdy about Leslie Brown, the mother of Louise Brown the UK’s first IVF baby, who had a positive pregnancy test. 
• In 1982, Jacques applied for an embryology job, Simon Fishel had already been hired and Jacques talked about Jean Purdy and her role as a technician and her role was to make sure that the ‘Mad Science’ was in an environment like an operating theatre. Bob came from an animal science background and wasn’t used to sterile and organised laboratories. 
• Jean Purdy was the person who helped to organise Bob and his practice. 
• Jacques described what Lab life was like eg.how egg collection couldn’t be timed like it is today. 
• How they looked at LH’s collecting samples several times a day. 
• Bob was exhausted as the only embryologist, only being assisted by Simon Fishel and then after advertising in Nature magazine, Jacques and Carol Faheley were employed out of 200 applicants. 
• Jacques also describes what the patient's experience was like in the early days - being inpatients, which added financial pressures to Bourn Hall. Husbands were also having to be nearby either in a hotel or a room in the village. All of the studies were way before Ultrasound became a science - they had to rely on estradiol and LH. 
• Jacques talks about maternal serum - which was used in the procedure for Louise Brown’s birth, also using donor serem. 
• The consent procedure was mainly oral. 
• How Porta Cabins were used for the treatment rooms and parts of the clinic, meant to be used for 6 months and were used for 5 years. 
• Jacques described working with Bob and Jean when they were making culture media and what the process was like to witness, with all the checks and how much he learnt from it. 
• He talks about how the different labs were organised. 
• The daily meetings the team would have. 
• Bob's work running journals as Editor and then his decision to leave and then setting up RBM online and how he went on to make a career out of editing, sharing knowledge and publishing and how ahead of his time with the whole concept of ‘online’ information. 
• Not only was he a pioneer in IVF, but he was also a visionary in his editing and publishing of major journals for 25 years. 
• How Bob was consumed 365 days a year about publishing and sharing knowledge and was a big fan of the modern ways of sharing communication.  
• Media production and how they have changed and its impact on success rates. 

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Welcome to Episode 1 of The International IVF Initiative Podcast where we look forward to sharing our people, our conversations and our insight into the world of ART. In this episode, you will hear from the founding members of I3 about how they came together as the Pandemic saw our everyday life be put on pause. 

What was discussed: 

• Giles Palmer, Jacques Cohen and Thomas Elliott discuss how the IVF Initiative came to be, how quickly Thomas set up the website and 10 days later the first webinar with Dr Kay Elder called 
• ‘IVF in the Time of Covid-19’ 
• They found it so new and strange to have over 2k people signed up for first session and the feedback was instantly positive, so the initiative quickly grew from strength to strength. 
• Thomas Elliott explained how he was very early in developing websites and created an embryology website called The embryological resources website, along with web pages for Alpha
• and he registered the URL for www.IVF.net 
• You will also hear from the rest of the team with Dr Peter Nagy talking about his involvement and his favourite sessions so far. Peter shares how he loves the pure science and the best professionals on the topic are sharing their wisdom and in particular how they are reaching a new generation.
• Shaista Sadruddin continued to explain as she talks about her involvement and moderating the questions that come in during the session and what she is doing for young professionals. Shaista hosted the ‘Young Guns’ session 
• Finally, you meet MaryAnn Szvetecz who talked about her behind the scenes role and her involvement. 

The team mentioned some of their favourite sessions, which we have included here to make sure you can refer back to them: 

• Thomas mentioned the episode on ‘Getting it right on Social Media’
• He also mentioned ‘ The Curious Case of Lactate, a blastocysts and an endometrium’ 
• https://ivfmeeting.com/products/the-curious-case-of-lactate-a-blastocyst-and-an-endometrium?_pos=1&_sid=1319362bf&_ss=r
• Giles mentioned the Space sessions
• Giles also mentioned the ‘Beyond the Rainbow’ session discussing alternative routes to parenthood for the LGBTQ+ community 
• You can find out more about the I3 Team here 

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Welcome to the i3 Podcast from The International IVF Initiative.

After a jam-packed year of our hugely popular webinars attracting Embryologists, Reproductive Scientists and anyone working in the ART community from around the world, we are looking forward to launching our new podcast series to continue this important conversation.

You can find out more about our webinars and register for our final webinars for 2022 here

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