Sam Abdalla, The Lister Hospital

Sam Abdalla, Clinic Director, Lister Fertility Clinic

Mr Abdalla is a Consultant Gynaecologist and Clinical Director of The Lister Fertility Clinic. He is a leading fertility expert and, under his direction, the clinic has grown into one of the largest and most successful fertility centres in the UK.

Mr Abdalla publishes and lectures on many aspects of assisted conception, having a particular interest in oocyte donation and in women with reduced ovarian reserve and high FSH. Mr Abdalla is a highly-experienced gynaecological surgeon and performs various operative procedures at the Lister, including laparoscopic and hysteroscopic surgery and the removal of fibroids (myomectomy). He is also a member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

Joanne Adams, Senior Andrologist, Manchester Fertility Services

Biography: Jo Adams has worked in the field of Clinical Andrology for fourteen years, starting off in Bristol (under the name of Jo Day) working with the late Professor Michael Hull in the University of Bristol’s Centre for Reproductive Medicine. In 1996 Joanne took over as Manager of the Diagnostic Andrology Laboratory which also included running the Donor Sperm Bank.

Since 2004 Joanne has worked for Manchester Fertility Services in a similar role, where she is responsible for managing the successful donor recruitment campaign as well as now training to be an embryologist. She is Secretary of the Association of Biomedical Andrologists and is involved in the training of Andrologists within the UK.

The last few years have been an interesting and challenging time in donor recruitment. Joanne passionately believes that removal of anonymity was a change for the better and as a result we are generally recruiting a better ‘quality’ of donor – an altruistic person who is giving because he genuinely cares.

Helen Allan

Biography: Helen is a registered nurse, registered nurse teacher and senior research fellow in nursing. Helen’s area of interests are: the management of emotions in nursing and health; reproduction and fertility; nursing role developments and their impact on caring. Helen is President of the Association of Psychosexual Nursing which provides training to nurses working in women’s health around psychosexual counselling. She has been a member of BICA for many years and is a newly appointed board member of BICA. She is also infertile and is now a mother of two daughters who she and her husband adopted in 2002.

Dr Sue Avery, Director of Assisted Conception, Birmingham Women's Healthcare Trust

Sue Avery is the Director of the Assisted Conception Unit at Birmingham Women’s Hospital. She has been working in the field of infertility for over 20 years, as a clinical embryologist. Sue has a degree in Zoology from the University of Wales, and wrote her PhD thesis on sperm physiology and fertilisation under the supervision of Professor Robert Edwards, and was subsequently Director of Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridgeshire. . Sue was the Chair of the Association of Clinical Embryologists from 2003 to 2005 and is the embryologist member on the British Fertility Society executive committee, as well as serving on the executive committee of the British Andrology Society. She was the first Clinical Embryologist to be appointed to the HFEA, serving on the authority for three years until November 2002, having previously served as an inspector for three years, and has been a member of the MRC Stem Cell steering committee, as well as being one of the first embryologists to be granted membership of the Royal College of Pathologists

Professior Adam Balen, Leeds General Infirmary

For many years has had a particular interest in the causes and management of polycystic ovary syndrome – covering the full spectrum from the effects of the syndrome during adolescence and adult life on the menstrual cycle, fertility, body weight and cosmetic aspects together with the fundamental effects that PCOS may have on quality of life and long term health.
Clinical work includes laparoscopic surgery, reproductive endocrinology and ovulation induction and a supra-regional multidisciplinary service for the management of intersex and developmental disorders. Person Responsible for the Leeds General Infirmary Reproductive Medicine Unit which performs approximately 1100 IVF cycles per year. Works as an NHS full time clinician and awarded personal (honorary) chair, University of Leeds, 2004.
Author of 10 books over 110 peer-reviewed papers, 74 reviews, 149 chapters in books, and has delivered 155 prestigious lectures. Books include: Infertility in Practice (3rd edition due 2008), Reproductive Endocrinology for the MRCOG and Beyond (2nd edition 2007), The Multi-Disciplinary approach to Paediatric and Adolescent Gynaecology (2004) and The Practical Management of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (2005).

Jacky Boivin, Reader, Cardiff University

Biography:Jacky Boivin, MA, PhD (Concordia, Montreal, Canada) is a Reader in the School of Psychology, Cardiff University and Honorary Fellow in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital Wales. Her most important contribution to the field of reproductive health has been to bring about a more systematic and research oriented perspective to the investigation of psychological issues in reproductive health. This more rigorous experimental approach has debunked popular myths, given credibility to longstanding claims about stress effects on reproductive health and provoked important changes in the delivery of psychosocial services to people with fertility problems. She received the Distinguished Lecturer award in 2006 from the Society for Infant and Reproductive Psychology for her outstanding contribution in this field. She is Associate Editor (Psychology) for Human Reproduction Update and Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation and Past Chair of the Psychology & Counselling Group, of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology as well as a member of the advisory board of numerous patient associations. Current projects expected to have important implications include identifying stress effects on male reproductive function, validation of an international fertility quality of life measure (FertiQoL), follow-up of children conceived with fertility treatment (especially among older mothers), the development of a fertility decision-aid and the evaluation of novel psychosocial coping interventions for people in fertility treatment.

Kate Brian, Author of "The Complete Guide to Female Fertility"

Biogtaphy: Kate Brain is an author and journalist, and a member of the board of Infertility Network UK. Her most recent book, ‘The Complete Guide to Female Infertility’, was published last year by Piatkus. Kate worked a s a producer at channel 4 news for many years where she specialised in health and science. Kate writes a blog on fertility news at http://fertilityviews.blogspot.com
She has researched fertility tourism, and is currently writing a new book due out next year.

Clare Brown, Chief Exective Infertility Network UK & Chair National Infertility Awareness Campaign.

Biography; Clare discovered she had fertility problems in 1978 and over the next 8 years had three attempts at tubal surgery and 4 IVF attempts which all failed. In 1985 she was successful in adopting her two children, James and Holly, who are now aged 23 and 22 respectively.

Having been a member for three years, she joined the National Management Committee of CHILD, the national infertility support network, in 1984. Between then and 1989 she held the posts of Membership Secretary and Chair. In 1989 she became Executive Director working part time from home. From that time to December 2003, when CHILD and ISSUE merged to form Infertility Network UK, this developed in to a full-time post, office based with a staff of 9.

On the merger of CHILD and ISSUE in December 2003, Clare became Chief Executive of the new organisation Infertility Network UK.

Clare was appointed as a Member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in December 2002.

Clare is president of the National Infertility Awareness Campaign, previous Chair of the European Infertility Alliance, patient representative on the Management Committee of the British Fertility Society and was the consumer representative on the NICE Fertility Guideline Development Group.

Clare received the World Fertility Awareness Month Lifetime Achievement Award in July 2007 - an award which has historically been given to eminent clinicians working in the field of infertility.

Clare has written numerous papers and articles on infertility and its effect on sufferers, as well as taking part in equally numerous interviews for the media.

Tim Child, Senior Fellow/Hon. Consultant Nuffield Department of Obsetetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oxford

Biography: Tim is a Consultant Gynaecologist and Sub Specialist in Reproductive Medicine and Surgery in Oxford. He is Deputy Medical Director of the Oxford Fertility Unit and trained in Cambridge, London. Montreal and Oxford. In 2007 his team were responsible for the UK’s first babies born following oocyte in-vitro maturation (ivm). His research interests centre on PCOS.

Rachel Cutting, ACU, The Jessop Wing, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Biography: Rachel graduated from the University of Nottingham in 1995 before taking up a trainee embryology position at Sheffield Fertility Centre. She completed the ACE post graduate diploma in 1998. In 2001 she gained the position of Principal Embryologist at the new NHS IVF unit, the Centre for Reproductive Medicine and Fertility at the Jessop Wing in Sheffield. Rachel’s interests have involved developing a quality management system cumulating in the unit achieving ISO 9001 certification. In 2005 Rachel played a key role in the development of the laboratories to clean room standards. Rachel is a member of the HFEA’s licensed centres panel, a member of the ACE executive committee and an assessor for the Association of Clinical Scientists.

Mr Michael Dooley, The Poundbury Clinic, London & Dorset

Biography: Consultant Gynaecologist. Medical Director of The Poundbury Clinic which provides an integrated approach to infertility combining complementary treatment with conventional methods of diagnosis and treatment.

Author of book “Fit for Fertility” which provides a detailed explanation of this approach.

www.mdooley.co.uk

Professor Robert Edwards RBM Online

Biography: Professor Bob Edwards succeeded with colleagues in fertilizing the human egg
in vitro in 1969. Then he applied IVF clinically with Patrick Steptoe
working from Cambridge University, later establishing Bourn Hall Clinic. He
has been awarded numerous honorary DSc degrees and published many scientific papers and books, including A Matter of Life with Patrick Steptoe in 1980, and Conception in the Human Female. Recent awards include the Lasker
Clinical Medical Research Award (2001), Grand Hamdan Award for Clinical
Science (2002), and the Pioneer in Stem Cells Award from Pittsburgh
Development Center, USA (2004). In 2005 he won the highest award of the
RCOG, the Eardley Holland Gold Medal. In 2006 he received the 30th Joseph
Bolivar DeLee Humanitarian Award from Chicago Lying-in Hospital, as well as
an Honorary Doctorate of Medicine from the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. In
2007 he was honoured twice in France, becoming a Chevalier dans l'Ordre
National de la Legion d'Honneur, and winning the Jacques Salat-Baroux Prize.
He was also appointed Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Biology in the UK.

Professor Richard Flemming Glasgow Centre for Reproductive Medicine

Richard Fleming, scientific director at the Glasgow Centre for Reproductive Medicine, has worked in research and clinical service in reproductive medicine for more than 30 years. His principal interests are control of human ovarian function in the clinical setting, with more than 100 published papers. He has been responsible for a number of innovative developments, including the first use of ovarian ultrasound in gynaecology (1979), and also the first use of GnRH-agonists during controlled ovarian stimulation (1982). The method remains the most commonly used technique deployed in ART today. He has a long-standing interest in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), with publications concerning the roles of LH, hyperinsulinaemia and insulin sensitising agents in the disorder.

Caroline Gallup, Personal Experience, Author Making Babies the Hard Way

During a career break as a Live Events Producer, Caroline and her partner of 6 years, Bruce, tried to start a family, but soon discovered that Bruce was unable to father children. Following 3 years of unsuccessful treatment using donor sperm, they ran out of money; Caroline’s health suffered and their relationship was under strain. Caroline and Bruce decided that for them, it wasn’t a baby at any cost, calling a halt to treatment when Caroline reached the age of 41 and was advised that chances of a successful conception were only 2 – 5%. After seeking support literature on male infertility and the effects of treatment on family, friends and work and finding resources sadly lacking, Bruce encouraged Caroline to write about their progress through treatment. Caroline’s book Making Babies the Hard Way details useful information for those trying to find their own way through this challenging process. It was written in consultation with couples, their friends, families and also clinical experts to provide a comprehensive, but very readable guide to making the right decision for you.
Jessica Kingsley Publishing was awarded the Van Tulleken Independent Publisher of the Year and Taylor Wessing Academic & Professional Publisher of the Year in 2007.
Making Babies the Hard Way received a 4 star rating in The British Medical Journal, and has been receiving 5 star reviews from a general readership since it’s publication in April 2007.
Caroline is a freelance writer and lives in North London with her husband and their two dogs, Barney and Guz – both adopted from Battersea Dogs Home! She has appeared as a guest on ITV’s This Morning, Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff as well as speaking on various local, national and European radio networks.

Dr Marilyn Glenville PHD (Nutritional Therapist)

Biography: Marilyn Glenville PhD is the UK’s leading expert in nutritional health for women. She obtained her doctorate from Cambridge University and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine a member of the Nutrition Society a psychologist, author and popular broadcaster.
For over 25 years Dr Glenville has studied and practised nutrition, both in the UK and in the U.S. She had had several papers published in scientific journals, frequently advises health professionals and often lectures at academic conferences held at the Medical Society, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons. She is also a popular international speaker. As a respected author on women’s healthcare she gives regular talks on the radio and has often appeared on television and in the press.
Dr Glenville is the President of the Food and Health Forum at the Royal Society of Medicine, patron of the Daisy Network (a charity for premature menopause) and a member of the British Fertility Society. She was formerly an observer on the Foods Standards Agency’s Expert Group on the safety of vitamins and minerals and is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Dr Glenville is the author of eight internationally best-selling books on health: Fat Around The Middle, The New Handbook for Women, Overcoming PMS the Natural Way and Osteoporosis – The Silent Epidemic. Her most recent book is Getting Pregnant Faster.
Dr Glenville runs her own clinics in London and Tunbridge Wells and also has a non-commercial website: www.marilynglenville.com.

Dr Mark Hamilton (Consultant Gynaecologist, Aberdeen Maternity Hospital & Chair British Fertility Society)

Biography: Dr Hamilton is a graduate of the University of Glasgow and his early medical career was based there. His interest in infertility started in the early 1980’s and he trained both in Glasgow and for two years in Singapore. He was appointed to his consultant position in Aberdeen in 1990 where he is now Person Responsible in Aberdeen Fertility Centre.

He joined the British Fertility Society committee in 1995, was treasurer of the Society from 2001 – 5, and became Chair in 2006.

Mark Henderson (Science Editor, The Times)

Biography: Mark Henderson has been reporting on science for The Times since 2000, and has been the newspaper’s Science Editor since 2006. While covering all aspects of science, he has a particular interest in reproductive medicine, and has broken many stories in the field – most recently concerning the HFEA’s approval of PGD for familial hypercholesterolaemia and the BRCA1 gene that raises the risk of breast cancer. He also writes the Junk Medicine column, which appears on Saturdays in the Body&Soul health supplement, which comments on a topical medical issue, and is a contributor to the op-ed page.

Laura Hughes, Personal Experience

Biography: I am a Trustee of the National Gamete Donation Trust, a Helpliner for Infertility Network UK and a member of the Donor Conception Network for whom I facilitate groups at National Meetings. I have had personal experience of most types of infertility treatment including 15 unsuccessful attempts at IUI, IVF with ICSI, frozen embryo transfer and donor insemination before finally becoming pregnant on attempt number 16 after 10 years.

I have had experience of infertility counselling from various sources and now as a Helpliner for INUK, offer a listening ear to others going through the turmoil of infertility.

I currently live in Devon with my family and work for the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

Lisa Jardine, Chair HFEA

Lisa Jardine CBE took up the position of Chair of the HFEA on 1 April 2008. She has said that her enthusiasm for the post came in part from her commitment to the health sector in general, in part from her previous involvement in the infertility problems of members of her own close family, including her sister, who had two unsuccessful cycles of IVF twenty years ago. She would like to help to give the HFEA a human face, and to place more emphasis, beyond regulation itself, on ensuring the quality of people's experience of treatment.

Lisa is Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters and Centenary Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, University of London. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge and Jesus College,Cambridge. She holds honorary doctorates from the University of St Andrews, Sheffield Hallam University and the Open University.

She is a Trustee of the V&A Museum, and a member of the Council of the Royal Institution, and Patron of the National Council on Archives. She was for ten years the Chair of Governors at WestminsterCity School in London (an inner-city boys' comprehensive), and is currently a governor and Chair of the Curriculum Committee of St Marylebone School (an inner-city girls' s comprehensive in central London).

She is a regular writer and presenter of BBC Radio 4's A Point of View. For the academic year 2007-8 she is seconded to the Royal Society in London as Advisor to its Collections and Archives.

Professor Jardine has written a number of best-selling general books, including Worldly Goods: A New History of the Renaissance, Ingenious Pursuits: Building the Scientific Revolution, and biographies of Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke. Her latest book, on Anglo-Dutch reciprocal influence in the seventeenth century, is entitled Going Dutch.

Helen Kendrew, Clinical Nurse Manager, Bath Assisted Conception Unit

Biography: Helen has worked as a specialist nurse at the assisted conception clinic in Bath since 1997. She is currently honorary treasurer of the British Fertility Society, which represents professionals working in fertility clinics in the UK. Helen is delighted to support National Infertility Day.

Mr Charles Kingsland, MD, FRCOG, Liverpool Womens Hospital

Charles, a graduate of the University of Liverpool, qualified in medicine in 1982.
Following junior appointments in the Merseyside Region, he moved to London to study reproductive medicine at University College and Middlesex Hospitals and worked for two years at the Bourne Hallam clinic.
On his return to Liverpool in 1989, he established what is now Britain’s largest NHS IVF clinic and completed his MD thesis in 1993.
He is now Clinical Director of the Hewitt Centre for Reproductive Medicine and Chairman of North West Fertility.
It was he who devised the concept of Transport IVF, now a nationally recognised treatment for infertile couples.
He is a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and an inspector for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

Liz Latarche, Senior Nurse Manager Centre for Reproductive Medicine, Barts and the London Hospital

Liz Latarche qualified as a registered nurse in 1973 after training in England and Australia, she gained a diploma in fertility counselling at Barts and the London NHS Trust, and has 21 years of experience in the field of reproductive medicine.
In 1996, was approached to set up and co-ordinate a nurse led assisted conception unit in Norfolk to service the local population and then in 1993 was appointed as the led nurse co-coordinator of the egg donation programme at the Lister hospital in Chelsea.
During that time she was chairperson of the British Infertility Counselling Association (BICA) from 1991-1993 and set up a number of patient support groups.
In 1995 was appointed as a senior nurse to set up an out reach fertility centre based in Norfolk on behalf of Barts and the London hospital to service a local NHS contract and in 1999 became the senior nurse manager for the centre for reproductive medicine at Barts and Norfolk.
As matron of the centre it is her aim to maintain the highest standard of nursing care and provide a supportive and sensitive counselling support for all couples during their treatment at Barts.

Robab Latifnejad Roudsari, PhD Student in Reproductive Health & Medical Sciences, University of Surrey.

Robab is a senior lecturer in Midwifery and Reproductive Health at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Her main area of research is reproductive health and she is very interested in psychological and emotional aspects of fertility and infertility. She has conducted several research projects in relation to psychological aspects of infertility, role of cognitive behavioural intervention for controlling the anxiety in infertile women undergoing ART, infertile women’s attitudes and practices on adoption and Shi’a Muslim scholars’ perspectives on assisted reproductive technologies in Iran.
She has recently completed her PhD at University of Surrey, UK. In her PhD, she has conducted a feminist grounded theory study to explore the experiences of infertile women in a religious and spiritual context in order to gain insight into how religious faiths and/ or spiritual beliefs influence women’s experiences of infertility and how these beliefs affect the strategies infertile women may adopt to handle their fertility problem. She has also published a paper in the journal of “Human Fertility” entitled: “Looking at infertility through the lens of religion and spirituality: a review of the literature” and has presented several papers on different dimensions of experience of infertility in the national and international conferences. She is a member of advisory panel for DIPEx research project on experience of infertility, Department of Primary Health care, University of Oxford.

Dr Lily, Acumedic

Biography: Dr. Lily Hua Yu, fellow of the Chinese Medical Institute and Register (CMIR); Consultant in Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture at the AcuMedic Medical Centre, London; Senior Lecturer and Clinical Director of DCMAc, DCHAc Courses organised by the AcuMedic Foundation and Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. Dr. Lily Yu is a leading specialist in Chinese Gynaecology and Infertility. Her clinical experiences, drawn from nearly three decades of practice, benefit many patients from all over the world. Her success rate on infertility has been more than twice the national average, including patients who have failed to conceive with IVF treatment. Her other specialty also include dermatology and women’s health problems. Her previous patients

Bill Ledger, Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Sheffield

Biography: Bill Ledger is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at University of Sheffield and HFEA Person Responsible for the Centre for Reproductive Medicine and Fertility at the Jessop Wing of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. He is an accredited subspecialist in reproductive medicine and surgery and a Member of HFEA. He has clinical and research interests in ovarian ageing and infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis and effects of cancer treatments on fertility. The Centre for Reproductive Medicine and Fertility is an example of how NHS supported clinics can provide high quality fertility treatment. The group specialise in use of GnRH antagonists in ART as a more user-friendly and low cost alternative to traditional approaches.

Dr Gillian Lockwood, Midland Fertility Services

I was a late recruit to medicine having first studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. I qualified in 1986 and trained in fertility medicine in Oxford. My research Doctorate was in markers of ovarian reserve and early pregnancy. In 2000 I moved to become Medical Director at Midland Fertility Services (www.midlandfertility.com) and have continued research into male factor infertility, fertility preservation and recurrent miscarriage. Midland Fertility Services (MFS) is a large independent fertility clinic in the West Midlands which treats NHS and private patients. I have a great interest in the social and ethical aspects of fertility treatment and organise the Ethics training for the British Fertility Society, act as a Parliamentary advisor on infertility issues and am vice-chair of the RCOG Ethics Committee. I recently co-authored ‘Fertility and Infertility for Dummies’ with an MFS patient.

Prognostic Tool for ART Success’ for the British Anthology Society, Lewis’s aim is to develop a multi-centre platform to establish internationally accepted prognostic tests with thresholds of clinical relevance.

Professor Sheena Lewis, Queen's University of Belfast

Biography: Sheena Lewis was born and educated in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She completed her doctoral training in muscle physiology at Queens University on ‘Factors influencing neutral amino acid transport and protein turnover in skeletal muscle’ and was appointed as a British Heart Foundation Fellow to investigate developmental growth and ageing in cardiac muscle during her post doctoral training. At the end of the fellowship in 1984, she took a career break to have her family and raise them to nursery school age. During this time, Sheena read Robert Edward’s ‘The Matter of Life’, his autobiographical story of the world’s first test tube baby. She was inspired by his research and excited by the technique’s potential. She decided to take a change of career direction and was appointed to a research position in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1989. There she became a Lecturer in 1996, a Reader in 2000 and in 2003 was awarded a personal chair in Reproductive Medicine. At the same time, she was appointed an Honorary Consultant in recognition of the clinical Andrology services provided to the Royal Group of Hospitals.
Over the past decade, Sheena has led the Belfast Reproductive Medicine research group at Queens University, focusing in Andrology with twin aims: to understand the endocrine, cellular and molecular reproductive dysfunctions in infertile men and to develop novel prognostic tests to enhance assisted conception success. Within this framework, her group has centred on specific lifestyle (recreational drugs and diet) and disease factors (such as diabetes) that can exacerbate male infertility, particularly through damage to sperm DNA. The Belfast research group is inter-disciplinary with key players Drs Joanne McManus (Director) and Deborah Lutton (Senior embryologist) in Belfast’s Regional Fertility Centre. The Centre is one of the largest in the UK with 1000 cycles/year. By creating this symbiotic interface between university and hospital she believes that the opportunity and expertise to bring laboratory research to fruition in its clinical setting become possible.
Sheena is a founder member of the Gender Initiative scheme in Queens aimed at addressing the gender imbalance by advancing the profile and careers of all women within the university. She has been a mentor to women within the Gender Initiative mentoring scheme since its inception in 2002. In 2005 the Gender Initiative Team won first prize at the UK Athena Awards held at the Royal Institute of Engineers in London. This year they won the Swan Silver Charter Award awarded by the Royal Society for the recruitment, retention and promotion of women in Science, Engineering and Technology. She is the Swan Champion for the School of Medicine in Queens.
Sheena also has a major teaching commitment co-ordinating the Student Selected Component programme for medical undergraduates as well as running modules on Reproductive Technology. She is committed to raising ethical debate, particularly in issues relating to ART, within the medical and scientific undergraduate curriculum.
She reviews for all the reproductive medicine specialist journals and also research charities such as BBSRC and the Wellcome Trust. She is also a regular invited speaker at national and international conferences. She has a strong commitment to public engagement with research and regularly communicates her group’s latest research findings through international TV, radio and online interviews.

In 2004, Professor Lewis was Visiting Scholar and served on the Scientific Advisory Committee at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology and Development (Newcastle, NSW, Australia) at the invitation of Professor John Aitken. Currently she is Vice Chair of the Irish Fertility Society, Treasurer of the British Andrology Society and a member of the Practice and Policy Committee of the British Fertility Society. She also serves on the Northern Ireland Recognised Research Group (Endocrinology and Diabetes) Committee, Northern Ireland Forum for Health and Social Care Research and the Council for Ethics Forum, Northern Ireland.
She reviews for all the reproductive medicine specialist journals and also research charities such as BBSRC and the Wellcome Trust. She is also a regular invited speaker at national and international conferences. She has a strong commitment to public engagement with research and regularly communicates her group’s latest research findings through international TV, radio and online interviews. Having recently set up a working party on ‘Sperm DNA as a Prognostic Tool for ART Success’ for the British Andrology Society, Lewis’s aim is to develop a multi-centre platform to establish internationally accepted prognostic tests with thresholds of clinical relevance.
To fulfil her groups’ aims, Lewis has developed a number of key international collaborations. She is collaborating with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology and Development, Newcastle, NSW, Australia to determine effects of oestrogens on sperm DNA integrity. She is also characterising the endocannabinoid system in infertility in collaboration with Universities of Teramo, Italy and Aberdeen, Scotland.
Sheena is married to a lawyer, Paul and they have three children, Courtney, Adam and Cara. Courtney is currently the Conducting Fellow with the Boston Philharmonic orchestra and Adam and Cara are reading Medicine at Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities. At home, Sheena enjoys good food and wine and entertaining friends. She also has a passion for horse riding in the beautiful Mourne Mountains and for gardening at their country home. She enjoys attending scientific conferences, and especially meeting up with colleagues from the world wide family of reproductive biologists to debate hot topics in Andrology.

Dr Iwan Lewis-Jones, Liverpool Womens Hospital

I work as a Consultant Clinical Andrologist, dealing mainly with the treatment of infertile males, but also run the IUI and DI services for our Trust. I am also involved in sperm cryopreservation in Oncology patients. I serve on the British Andrology Society Committee and represent the Society on the Committees of the British Fertility Society, the Association of Biomedical Andrologists, and the National Gamete Donation Trust. I am heavily involved in the Quality Assurance Scheme in Andrology in the UK.

Dian Shepperton Mills, The Endometriosis & Fertility Clinic

Dian Shepperson Mills Cert Ed. B.Sc. BA. Dip ION. MA. Chairs the Nutrition Special Interest Group for the American Society of Reproductive Medicine and speaks at their meetings. She is an invited speaker at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology. Dian is long standing a Member of both the ASRM and ESHRE attending their annual meetings and lectures and is a Fellow of ION. She Is a Trustee of Endometriosis SHE Trust UK and a Governor of The Institute for Optimum Nutrition and sits on the Nutrition Therapy Council. Her nutrition training was at the University of Manchester, The Institute for Optimum Nutrition and the University of Brighton. Her dissertations looked at fertility for preconceptual care and endometriosis. She has taught nutrition for thirty years and has specialised in nutrition and sub-fertility for eighteen years working with 20,000 women. She has a 52 per cent fertility rate and her research and papers have been published worldwide.
Dian has given lectures world wide, from Japan, Australia and New Zealand to Brazil and all over North America, In Europe in Italy , Finland, Netherlands and Sweden to name but a few. Dian is an Advisor to the International Endometriosis Association and to Foresight – The Preconceptual Care Charity.
Dian’s specialist areas include sub-fertility, endometriosis, poly-cystic ovaries, fibroids, male infertility, premenstrual syndrome, menopause, food allergies and intolerances, digestion problems, period problems and pains, and nutrition in pregnancy.
Dian has published in journals and has written book chapters. Her book “Endometriosis – a key to healing and fertility through nutrition” has sold thousands of copies world-wide. She is the Author of the Home study Nutrition Course for the Institute for Optimum Nutrition. She has published a DVD and CD interactive pack “Fit for Fertility” which allows readers to work on their diet plans and take charge of their own fertility plan. She works with tests from the Doctors Laboratory, Biolab and the Cambridge Nutritional Sciences Department. Her Clinics are at The Hale Clinic in London 0207 6310156 and Sussex 01323 846888.

Olivia Montuschi, DC Network

Olivia is a founding member, with her husband Walter Merricks, of the Donor Conception Network. They are the parents of two donor conceived young adults. Olivia is a counsellor, parenting educator, trainer and author. She is currently Manager of DC Network and in charge of a Department of Health funded project to run workshops helping parents to ‘tell’ and preparatory workshops for couples and individuals contemplating family creation by donor conception.

Dr Luciano G Nardo, Consultant Gynaecologist, Subspecialist in Reproductive Medicine and Surgery, St Marys Hospital, Manchester

Biography: Dr Nardo is a Consultant in Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester. He is an RCOG accredited subspecialist in reproductive medicine and surgery, and has clinical interests in pelvic pain, endometriosis, menstrual dysfunction, infertility, assisted conception, gynaecological endocrinology and endoscopic gynaecological surgery (laparoscopy and hysteroscopy). Dr Nardo has expertise in gynaecological ultrasound and management of early pregnancy problems, including miscarriage and ectopic pregnancies. He is an associate member of many international learned societies. He serves on the executive committee of the British Fertility Society and is chairman of the Mediterranean Society for Reproductive Medicine. Dr Nardo has an active research programme both in the UK and abroad focusing on polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, ovarian reserve and mechanisms of embryo implantation. He has published widely on many aspects of gynaecology, reproductive medicine and surgery, and has written a number of textbook chapters and journal supplements. He is co-editor of the peer-reviewed journal Reproductive Biomedicine.

Sarah Norcross, Director of Progress Educational Trust

Sarah Norcross was the editor of The Daisy Network Premature Menopause Support newsletter for seven years and wrote the content for their website. She is now the director of Progress Educational Trust which is best known for publishing the weekly news digest and commentary BioNews, it is a registered charity working to enhance public engagement with issues surrounding human genetics and reproduction. The basic objective of PET is to create an environment in which ethically sound research and practices in assisted reproduction and genetics can thrive. Their annual conference on 19th November is: ‘Is the Embryo Sacrosanct?:Multi-faith Perspectives and will examine the challenges for people of faith in accessing and offering treatment under the new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.

Carol O'Reilly, Surrogacy UK

My Name is Carol O’Reilly and I am one of the Co Founders of Surrogacy UK. I have 3 children of my own and a wonderful supportive husband.
I first came into the surrogacy world in 1994 and have now been a straight surrogate 5 times.
I met my first intending parents in 1994 and had a daughter for them in January 1996. It felt so good that I had the urge to do it again, so again I met a lovely couple, and I gave birth to their son Louie in June 1997.
I didn’t expect to do it again but with hearing so many sad stories on a daily bases I felt the need to help again. I offered to be a surrogate to a couple whose story I had been watching for over a year. I gave birth to their daughter Kitty in August 2002 and in March I gave birth to a son Archie for them.
In 2002 a friend and I decided that there was a need for an organisation that would deal with surrogacy how we believed surrogacy should be in the UK. It was to be a friend based organisation where people could support one another and share experiences.
I thought once I had had Archie that that would be the end of me actually carrying any more surrogate babies. However some very dear friends of mine who I have known for 5 years were looking for a surrogate and I could not resist in helping them. So on January the 3rd 2008 I gave birth to my 5th surrogate baby Julianna.

Janet Owen

Biography: Janet lives in the North East of England and works in two Clinics one in the National Health Sector and the other which is a Private Clinic. Janet works with patients by offering Support, therapeutic and Implication counselling.

Jonathan Pearce, Adoption UK

Biography:Since 2002, Jonathan Pearce has been the Director of Adoption UK, a national membership charity for prospective adopters, adoptive parents and long-term foster carers, which provides information, advice, support and training.

He has a background in the voluntary sector, law and journalism. He worked for many years at the Legal Action Group (a charity campaigning for access to justice for disadvantaged groups) and also for Community Care magazine as a journalist specialising in adoption and children’s issues.

Vivienne Parry (Writer & Broadcaster)

Biography: Vivienne Parry is a writer and broadcaster. Her voice is familiar to many as the writer and presenter of a wide range of programmes for Radio 4 including the multi award winning ‘Am I normal’ and ‘Inside the Ethics Committee’ series. She has a weekly column in Body and Soul at the Times and contributes features to the Times and many other newspapers and magazines including Good Housekeeping where she is Science Editor.

In the past, Vivienne has presented Tomorrow’s World, reported for Panorama and had a column in the News of the World. Before that, she ran a mother and baby research charity at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists which started her interest in infertility. In one of her many other lives she opens her garden under the National Garden Scheme and makes a lot of cakes.

Dr Helen Picton, Reader in Reproductiion and Early Development, Leeds Institute of Genetics, Health and Therapeutics University of Leeds and Scientific Director, Reproductive Medicine Unit, Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust.

Dr Steve Roberts, Senior Lecturer in Medical Statistics, Biostatistics Group, University of Manchester

Biography: Steve Roberts is a biostatistician at the University of Manchester and Central Manchester NHS Trust. He is working on a number of projects around infertility treatment with colleagues at St Mary’s Hospital. His research interests include methods for analysing infertility data. He leads a Department of Health funded study looking at options around the increased use of single embryo transfer. This multidisciplinary collaboration between statisticians, a specialist in women’s health and clinicians from a number of UK IVF units aims to integrate predictive modelling of potential outcomes with an understanding of patient perspectives.

Dian Shepperson-Mills

Biography: Dian Shepperson Mills Cert Ed. B.Sc. BA. Dip ION. MA. Chairs the Nutrition Special Interest Group for the American Society of Reproductive Medicine and speaks at their meetings. She is an invited speaker at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology. Dian is long standing a Member of both the ASRM and ESHRE attending their annual meetings and lectures and is a Fellow of ION. She Is a Trustee of Endometriosis SHE Trust UK and a Governor of The Institute for Optimum Nutrition and sits on the Nutrition Therapy Council. Her nutrition training was at the University of Manchester, The Institute for Optimum Nutrition and the University of Brighton. Her dissertations looked at fertility for preconceptual care and endometriosis. She has taught nutrition for thirty years and has specialised in nutrition and sub-fertility for eighteen years working with 20,000 women. She has a 52 per cent fertility rate and her research and papers have been published worldwide. Dian has given lectures world wide, from Japan, Australia and New Zealand to Brazil and all over North America, In Europe in Italy , Finland, Netherlands and Sweden to name but a few. Dian is an Advisor to the International Endometriosis Association and to Foresight – The Preconceptual Care Charity.

Dian’s specialist areas include sub-fertility, endometriosis, poly-cystic ovaries, fibroids, male infertility, premenstrual syndrome, menopause, food allergies and intolerances, digestion problems, period problems and pains, and nutrition in pregnancy.

Dian has published in journals and has written book chapters. Her book “Endometriosis – a key to healing and fertility through nutrition” has sold thousands of copies world-wide. She is the Author of the Homestudy Nutrition Course for the Institute for Optimum Nutrition. She has published a DVD and CD interactive pack “Fit for Fertility” which allows readers to work on their diet plans and take charge of their own fertility plan. She works with tests from the Doctors Laboratory, Biolab and the Cambridge Nutritional Sciences Department. Her Clinics are at The Hale Clinic in Lonodn 0207 6310156 and Sussex 01323 846888.

Anya Sizer, Powerchange

Biography: Anya Sizer runs the power change infertility programme and has run her own coaching practice for over 5 years. She has 6 years experience of infertility and two children born from ICSI after odds of 1/123,000 of this ever working. She has written for Acebabes, appeared in various National press as well as being the subject of a Discovery Channel documentary. She sees clients individually and runs groups to encourage and support people through infertility.

Andre Van Steirteghem, Emeritus Professor, Honorary Consultant, Centre for Reproductive Medicine, UZB, Brussels.

André Van Steirteghem is since October 2005 Professor-emeritus at the Medical School of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He is currently honorary consultant at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine of the Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel. Since January 2007 he is Editor-in-Chief of Human Reproduction.
He obtained his MD and PhD degree at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and did a residency in pediatrics and clinical pathology. He spend two years as a paediatrician in Congo and three years as a visiting scientist at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, USA). At the Vrije Universiteit Brussel he had an academic career ending as full-time Professor and a clinical career at the University Hospital where he was the Laboratory Director of the Centre for Reproductive Medicine. He served during is career as Chairman of the Medical Board, Vice-Rector for Education of the University and Dean of the Medical School.
During the last thirty years the clinical and research groups directed by André Van Steirteghem, Paul Devroey and Inge Liebaers have been actively involved in all new developments in Assisted Reproductive Technology and Reproductive Genetics. These developments include intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), preimplantation genetic diagnosis, novel developments in reproductive endocrinology, cryopreservation of embryos, prospective follow-up studies of ART children, embryonic stem cells. He authored or coauthored more than 500 publications. He received several awards including the National Franqui Chair, Honorary Degree from Aristotelean University of Thessaloniki, Honorary Membership of ESHRE, Fellow ad eundem of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists….
He is a Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine and is Chair of the Federal Commission for the protection of the human embryo in vitro.
He has been actively involved from the beginning in the activities of ESHRE as Chairman, Executive Director and now Editor-in-Chief of Human Reproduction.

Alan Thornhill, PHD, HCLD, Scientific Director, The London Bridge Fertility, Gynaecology & Genetics Centre

One of the UK's leading specialists in preimplantation genetics and clinical embryology, Dr Alan Thornhill joined Bridge as Scientific Director following periods as Director of the Andrology, IVF and PGD laboratories at Mayo Clinic, USA, and as Scientific Director of London Fertility Centre. Alan is a state-registered clinical scientist, HFEA recognized human embryo biopsy practitioner and board-certified high complexity laboratory director (American Board of Bioanalysis). Alan has authored over 100 articles on fertility and genetics and his current areas of research interest are the genetics of male factor infertility, preimplantation genetics and reproductive pharmacogenetics.

Mr Simon Thornton, CARE Fertility

Biography: After general Gynaecological training in the UK and South Africa, Simon Thornton trained in IVF and Fertility in Melbourne and Sheffield before being appointed a Consultant in Nottingham. In 1997, with colleagues Dr Simon Fishel and Dr Ken Dowell, he established CARE, which has expanded to become the largest independent provider of IVF and related services in the UK. His main areas of interest lie in Optimising Outcomes from Fertility Treatments and Egg Donation.

Mr Geoffrey H Trew, Consultant in Reproductive Medicine & Surgery, Hammersmith Hospital, London

Biography: I qualified in 1984 at St George London, started my infertility training at Guys Hospital, then lecturer at the Royal London, finishing up at the Hammersmith Hospital in 1993. I was appointed consultant there in 1995. I have written over 50 paper and 10 book chapter in the area of infertility.

Dr Stephen Troup (Scientific Director Hewit Centre for Reproductive Medicine Liverpool Womens Hospital & Chair of Association of Clinical Embryologists).

Zita West, The Zita West Clinic

Zita West is a practising midwife, acupuncturist and nutritional advisor. She has worked in the NHS for over 20years, and in 1993 set up a clinic within the Warwick Hospital , offering acupuncture for pregnancy within the NHS. Following that she set up the Zita West clinic in London in 2002. One of the first of its kind in the UK, the clinic is a multi-disciplinary practise, that uses evidence based complementary therapies for fertility and pregnancy. The clinic provides a unique integrated approach and works closely with many of the leading IVF clinics, gynaecologists and consultants.

Jani White, Naturechild

Jani White is the Chair of the Acupuncture Childbirth Team (ACT) London and a long term member of ACT Oxford. She is national coordinator of the Acupuncture Fertility Network (AFN) and is faculty for Brookes University MA Acupuncture – Obs&Gynae. Jani is the Director of Naturechild, a company providing seminars and conferences for integrated teaching in the subjects of Fertility and Obstetrics.

Dr Scott Wilkes, PhD, General Practitioner, Coquet Medical Group, Northumberland

Scott Wilkes is a general practitioner, clinical research fellow and is a member of the Northumberland Local Research Ethics Committee, the Northern and Yorkshire Research Network, the Society for Academic Primary Care, the British Fertility Society and is a member of the Northumberland Tyne and Wear Comprehensive Local Research Network (CLRN) Executive committee. His principal research interest is the management of infertility in primary care. Additional research interests include smoking cessation, complex interventions, introducing new technologies into primary care and fertility preservation for cancer survivors. He has recently completed his PhD entitled ‘Evaluation of open access hysterosalpingography in the initial management of infertility in primary care’. His research experience includes the use of multiple research methods in health care evaluation including managing a complex cluster randomised trial and conducting focus groups and in-depth interviews. He is also involved with an independent multidisciplinary working group tasked with the implementation of a fertility referral blueprint and also the Department of Health 18 week fertility care pathway.

Dr Simon Wood, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Countess of Chester Hospital

Having qualified from Liverpool University in 1990 I undertook training in Obstetrics & Gynaecology in Merseyside initially before moving to Manchester.
My interest in fertility was founded when In 1997 I became a research fellow in reproductive Medicine in the Reproductive Medicine Unit (Now the Hewitt Centre) at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
Following this I was appointed as the first Sub specialist trainee in reproductive Medicine in Mersey in 1999, completing training in 2002
My special interest was in Andrology and I completed my MD thesis into the Scientific & clinical aspects of Surgical Sperm retrieval, under the mentorship of Dr Iwan Lewis-Jones.
I have been author of numerous papers mostly in the field of Andrology, and continue my research and teaching after appointment as a Consultant at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2003.
I continue to work in the field of Reproductive Medicine and have overseen the expansion of transport IVF at the Countess of Chester Hospital and the redevelopment of the Fertility Unit.