Alison Campbell

UK

BIOGRAPHY
Prof Alison Campbell is Chief Scientific Officer of the Care Fertility Group which currently consists of 18 IVF laboratories in the UK, Ireland, Spain and the US. Alison is a Consultant Embryologist, Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and has published widely in the field of clinical embryology.

Alison has a passion for the training and development of embryologists and has established a dedicated practical training centre for embryologists which is now home to the UK’s first university-industry joint Master’s degree in Clinical Embryology.

Alison is a developer, implementer and author of time-lapse algorithms to predict ploidy and live birth and her team have recently developed an artificial intelligence tool to support embryo selection across the Care clinics. This tool, called Caremaps-AI won The National Technology Award in Healthcare 2023 and a Royal College of Pathologists Achievement award.

Birol Aydin

Ukraine

EXPERIENCE

• 15 years working experience in embryology and andrology, practicing in 20 different countries including Australia, Sweden, Finland, and Cyprus.
• 10 years experience in donor egg banking and oocyte cryopreservation.
• Laboratory design and setup of 10 IVF centers around the world.
• Fresh and frozen ICSI/ET: > 70,000 cycles
• PGS and PGD: > 15,000 cycles
• IVF egg donation: > 20,000 cycles
• Spindle and nuclear transfer: 122 cycles, 32 official pregnancies, 17 live births

EXPERTISE

• IVF - In Vitro Fertilization
• Donor egg banking
• Biotechnology
• Cryopreservation
• Micromanipulation
• Cell culture
• Laboratory quality control
• Global standards in embryology
• Assisted Reproductive Technology
• Advanced fertility treatments

Carin Huyser (PhD)

Reproductive Biology Laboratory
Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
University of Pretoria
carin.huyser@up.ac.za

Carin Huyser become a junior embryologist in 1987 at the Reproductive Biology Lab, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Pretoria. She gained her PhD in 1996 on the relevance of various physico-biochemical properties of human follicular fluid and serum during assisted reproduction. She has published in local and international peer reviewed journals, with invitations as a guest speaker at conferences, symposiums and workshops.
She is currently the Acting Chair of the Committee for Medical Sciences, and a member of the Professional Practice Committee of the Health Professions Council of South Africa. She serves on the Special Interest Embryology Group of the Southern African Society of Reproductive Medicine and Gynaecological Endoscopy, and assisted in laboratory related aspects of the Guideline Development Group Diagnosis, management, and treatment of Infertility and Subfertility, of the WHO. She managed the ART Laboratory at Steve Biko Academic Hospital, University of Pretoria between 1997-2023, and currently acts as a mentor and supervisor of post-graduate research projects in Assisted Reproductive Technologies. https://www.up.ac.za/obstetrics-and-gynaecology/article/3020916/reproductive-biology-laboratory

Fabrizzio Horta

Australia

With over 15 years of experience in the field of reproductive medicine, Dr Fabrizzio Horta is a medical reproductive scientist who combines clinical and academic expertise in the IVF field. He currently conducts research on infertility, biomarkers and non-invasive methods of gamete and embryo quality, artificial intelligence, reproductive genetics, and technology innovation in assisted reproductive technologies at the Fertility & Research Centre, UNSW. Furthermore, he is a Scientific Supervisor of R&D at City Fertility, Australia, scientific advisor of the start-up company 23Strands and education coordinator of the Scientists in Reproductive Technologies, SIRT.

Dr Horta is passionate about advancing the field of reproductive medicine and improving the outcomes and experiences of patients and clinicians. His vision is to create a world where infertility is no longer a barrier to start a family.

Fernando Bronet

Spain

Javier Herrero

VF Consultant
Clinical Embryologist
Life & Executive Coach
Leadership Mentor

Passionate about embryology and people management. I have experience in international projects and large corporations. Great adaptability, global vision and optimization of resources. Extensive experience in teaching, scientific publication and presentation at congresses

View CV

Kelly Tilleman

Job Title: Director IVF lab and Quality Management Team member– Post-doctoral fellow in the G-FAST research team at UGhent
G-FAST = Ghent Fertility and Stem Cell Team
Academic degrees: Phd, Msc in Biotechnology
Institute: Ghent University Hospital
Town: Ghent Country: Belgium
Telephone: +32 9 332 04 38
Mail: Kelly.Tilleman@UZGent.be

My background is in the in the field of proteomics where I obtained a PhD in biomarker research in inflammatory arthritides at the University of Ghent in 2007. At that time, I combined my scientific enthusiasm with the responsibility of quality manager for an accredited DNA fingerprinting laboratory. I started a at the department for reproductive medicine in November 2009 where I combined the task of quality manager of the fertility centre with scientific research in the area of fertility preservation. During the years, I combined quality management with project and laboratory process management and research in fertility preservation.
Currently, I am responsible for the operational management of the IVF laboratory of the Ghent University Hospital IVF lab, where I have the privilege to work with a very dynamic and enthusiastic team.
I am the past-coordinator of the special interest group SQART at ESHRE, Belgian representative for EDQM at the Council of Europe and board member of international organization ICCBBA (ISBT-128).

Mathew Tomlinson

UK

Matt obtained his PhD (male infertility) in Sheffield in 1992 and his first job was in establishing a small fertility unit in a district general hospital. He went on to become clinical scientist at Birmingham Women’s, developing region-wide andrology services (diagnostics, sperm banking) in a more academic setting. A move in 2004 to Nottingham University Hospital saw this interest develop, particularly in education, cryopreservation and more latterly automation in semen analysis (CASA). He became the HFEAs person responsible for the Fertility service in 2018, which provided an important role as ‘gatekeeper’ to fertility services and had to maintain a careful balance between public and private sector units. During this time, he continued with a number of research interests and delivered teaching on the (University of Nottingham) Masters course in Assisted Reproduction. Matt had roles in a number of professional bodies and societies and was a founder member of the UK Association of Biomedical Andrology where he played a lead role in developing andrology training logbooks. He was also on the British Fertility Society and Association of Clinical Embryology committees, organised national/international meetings and has over 60 papers and book chapters published. Matt left Nottingham in 2022 and is now semi-retired but continues to develop his interest in CASA, provides consultancy, and acts as reviewer for a number of international journals.

Santiago Munne

USA

Ph.D. in Genetics from Pittsburgh University. In 1993 he developed the first Preimplantation Genetic Test for Aneuploidy (PGT-A) (1994, 1995 SART prizes) and PGT for translocations (1996, SART prize), and demonstrated that PGT-A reduces miscarriages and increases implantation rates (1998 SART prize). Santi has published >260 scientific publications, received SART and ASRM prize papers in 1994, 1995, 1998, 2005, 2015, 2016, 2020, SRBT in 2022 and the ASRM Star Award consecutively for 2011-2022.

In 2001 founded Reprogenetics with Jacques Cohen and David Sable, and as its CEO Reprogenetics became the first commercial US PGT laboratory, performing over 100K procedures. Reprogenetics was sold in 2016 to Cooper Companies (NYSE: COO).

In 2011 he co-founded with Alex Bisignano Recombine, which offered genetic carrier screening and was bought by Cooper Companies in 2016. These companies became CooperGenomics and Dr. Munné became its CSO. In 2017 he co-founded MedAnswers with CEO Alice Crisci, an infertility telehealth platform. In 2017 he joined Martin Varsavsky and Joson Horcajadas to co-found Overture Life, a company focused on automating the IVF Laboratory, which in 2023 published the first babies conceived with automated ICSI. Santi is a co-founder and president of HoMu Health Ventures, an incubator for early-stage biomedical research specialized in reproductive medicine, which has invested in SAMA, Butterfly Bio, GenEmbryomics among many other companies. He serves in several Advisory Boards of companies in reproductive medicine.

As of January 2024 he is the scientific director of Progenesis.

Professor William Ledger MA, DPhil, FRCOG, FRANZCOG, CREI

Australia

Professor William Ledger is Head of Discipline of Women’s Health, Faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales, Director of Reproductive Medicine and Senior Staff Specialist at the Royal Hospital for Women and a fertility specialist at City Fertility in Sydney. He founded the Fertility and Research Centre (FRC), a joint venture between University of New South Wales and South East Sydney Local Health District as a centre for translational research in reproductive biology and reproductive medicine. The FRC has Government funding to provide a Statewide service in oncofertility: preservation of sperm, oocytes and embryos for young people prior to gonadotoxic chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The centre is unique in Australia and is currently running three randomised trials, two observational studies and an early stage translational project to improve techniques for in vitro maturation of human oocytes. The work of the centre has generated two patents.

He is Chair of the RANZCOG Research Committee and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Fertility Society of Australia. Recently, he was a member of an NHMRC Working Party to review national guidelines on ethics and ART and Chair of the MBS Working Party on costs of ART.

He is Chair of the Postgraduate Board of the Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, which manages Masters programs in Reproductive Medicine and in Women’s Health Medicine. He is a member of the Editorial Board of 8 scientific journals. His h-index is 50 (Scopus) and 48 (Web of Science). He is author of 344 journal articles and 17 books (6 authored, 11 edited). He supervises Honours and PhD students and is actively involved in clinical training of junior clinicians.

Professor Ledger graduated in Medicine and holds a D.Phil (PhD) from University of Oxford. Before moving to Sydney in 2011 he was Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Sheffield from 1999, before which he was Reader in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Oxford. He was a Member of the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, Chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Examinations and Assessment Committee and a Member of Council and Vice President of the RCOG.

His research interests focus on in vitro fertilisation and assisted reproduction, impacts of reproductive ageing and disorders such as endometriosis, premature ovarian failure and polycystic ovary syndrome on fertility and quality of life, reproductive effects of cancer treatment and onco-fertility and health economic and demographic aspects of infertility.