Debate sessions

Jack Boivin

Jacky Boivin is Professor of Health Psychology and Practitioner Health Psychologist (School of Psychology, Cardiff University). She is recognised internationally for her systematic and research oriented perspective to the investigation of psychosocial issues in fertility heath. She has led many pioneering projects with a core aim of her to develop, evaluate and implement support tools for people with fertility problems and stakeholders involved in fertility care (practitioners, advocates, and policy makers). Together with her team she has produced the FertiQoL, Fertility Status Awareness Tool - FertiSTAT, Positive Reappraisal Coping Intervention – PRCI, Drawing-Out-Health [Thorns & Flowers], Cardiff Fertility Knowledge Scale - CFKS). Her research has been funded through the research councils, industrial partnerships, medical societies and charities in the UK and abroad, and has involved multidisciplinary collaborations with academics, fellows, postgraduates, and diverse stakeholders. She is Associate Editor for Human Reproduction Open, and on the executive committee of the British Fertility Society. Her current research is focused on fertility education and global fertility health.

Robert E. Brannigan

Robert E. Brannigan, MD is a Professor and Vice Chair of Clinical Urology in the Department of Urology at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine with a clinical focus on male reproductive medicine and surgery. He obtained his undergraduate and medical degrees from Northwestern University. After completing residency training in Urology at Northwestern, he completed a fellowship in Male Reproductive Medicine and Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Brannigan returned to join the faculty at Northwestern, where he is Head of the Division of Male Reproductive Surgery & Men’s Health and Medical Director of the Department of Urology’s Clinic. Dr. Brannigan is Director of the Andrology Fellowship at Northwestern. His research interest is in fertility preservation, with a focus on optimizing the delivery of this clinical care to adolescents and adults with an oncologic diagnosis. At Northwestern, he also serves as the Assistant Director of Student Affairs for the Feinberg School of Medicine, and in this role, he is extensively involved in medical student career advising and mentorship, as well as oversight of the medical school’s learning environment.
Dr. Brannigan has served in the leadership of several national organizations and societies. He is a Past President of the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction (SSMR) and the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology (SMRU), and he is currently the Vice President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). He is a former Assistant Editor for The Journal of Urology and Associate Editor for Fertility and Sterility, and he is currently on the Editorial Board of the AUA Update Series. He serves on the American Board of Urology Examination Committee, and in 2021, he was elected into the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons (AAGUS).

Antonio Capalbo

Chief Scientific Officer, CSO, Juno Genetics.
Adjunct Professor, Unit of Medical Genetics, Center for Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy.

Dr. Capalbo received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biotechnology from University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ and his Ph.D. magna cum laude in Human Genetics at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart of Rome in 2011. From 2008 to 2012 Dr. Capalbo has been working as a clinical embryologist, pioneering embryo biopsy approaches and applications. Since then, his research has focused on preimplantation genetic testing and on the development of novel molecular biology techniques to improve pregnancy and take-home baby rates in ART. His basic research has been focused on the mechanisms of aneuploidies in oocytes and preimplantation of human embryos. From 2012-2017 he was co-founder and Director at GENETYX, largest PGT program in Italy. Since 2022 he is Chief Scientific Officer at Juno Genetics. He is currently chair of th the ESHRE SIG in Reproductive Genetics and a member of the genomics-working group of the Italian society of human genetics. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and is currently a reviewer for many journals in the field of reproductive biology and genetics.

Thomas Ebner

Thomas Ebner, PhD, graduated from the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria, in 1992. Completing his doctorate and post-doctoral thesis, he became a university professor in Linz, Salzburg and Graz. He has published more than 160 papers and book chapters as first and co-author. Research interests include time-lapse imaging, artificial oocyte activation, non-invasive IVF selection processes, andrology, vitrification and culture media. He was certified as a senior clinical embryologist by ESHRE in 2008 and re-certified in 2012. He was Executive Board Member of ESHRE and ALPHA - Scientists in Reproductive Medicine.

Sangita Jindal

Sangita Jindal earned her PhD in Physiology from the University of Toronto, Canada and became a high-complexity clinical lab director in 1997. Dr. Jindal has served on the faculty at New Jersey Medical School-Rutgers, and for the last 21 years has been on the faculty at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York as Professor and Laboratory Director in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Women’s Health. She has mentored grant-supported translational research projects for a number of trainees at academic programs, and is also an off-site lab director of private and academic IVF labs across the country. Dr. Jindal currently serves as President of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) and serves on American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Practice Committee. She was the President of the Society for Reproductive Biologists and Technologists (SRBT) in 2011, and served as Research Committee chair for SART from 2015-2020. She is a member of the Editorial Boards of Fertility and Sterility Reviews, and the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, and is a reviewer for Human Reproduction and Fertility and Sterility. Dr. Jindal has published over sixty peer-reviewed journal articles and is regularly invited to speak at international meetings and conferences.

Jackson Kirkman-Brown

Angela Lawson

Dr. Lawson is a former Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Psychiatry at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is a clinical and forensic psychologist specializing in women’s reproductive health and sexual and other traumas. In 2024 she opened her private practice and provides clinical consultation as well as psychotherapy related to infertility and other reproductive concerns. She also conducts research on the psychological aspects of infertility and trauma. Dr. Lawson serves as a past Chair of the Executive Committee for the Mental Health Professional Group of the ASRM, past Chair of the ASRM LGBTQ Special Interest Group, is Chair of the Global Health Committee at ASRM, and is the Chair of the Mental Health educational track at the annual Midwest Reproductive Symposium International conference.

Nikolaos P. Polyzos

Prof. Dr. Polyzos is the Head of Reproductive Medicine Department of Dexeus Mujer, at Dexeus University Hospital in Barcelona Spain and a Visiting Professor in the Department of Reproductive Medicine in the University of Gent in Belgium. Since 2021, he is a member of the Executive Committee (ExCO) of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).
He has served as a Medical Director in the Centre for Reproductive Medicine in Brussels until 2017, as a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Free University of Brussels (VUB) until 2019 and as Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology in the Department of Clinical Medicine in the University of Aarhus in Denmark until 2020.
Professor Polyzos is the principal investigator in several large pioneering multinational trials and a key opinion leader in the field of Reproductive Medicine for the treatment of poor ovarian responders in IVF programs, prediction of ovarian response and premature ovarian ageing, with more than 200 invited lectures in international congresses.
He is a Section Editor in RBMO, member of the ESHRE guideline development group for ovarian stimulation and has served as an Editorial Consultant for the PIER (Physician's Information and Education Resource) of the American College of Physicians (ACP).
Professor Polyzos has published ~200 publications in peer-reviewed journals indexed in Pubmed with more than >8000 citations and an h index of 51 in Google Scholar. His research interests include reproductive endocrinology, ovarian reserve markers, poor ovarian response to stimulation and genetics of premature ovarian aging.

Catherine Racowsky

Dr. Catherine Racowsky is Professor Emeritus of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harvard Medical School and is currently a University Consultant in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine at the Hopital Foch in Suresnes, France. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Zoology at the University of Oxford, her Ph.D. in Reproductive Physiology from the University of Cambridge, UK and did her post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Racowsky is the Immediate Past President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), having served as President for 2019-2020. She has been a member of several committees including the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology Executive Council, the International Taskforce for Stem Cell Research, US government oversight committees including one for the Institute of Medicine and the ASRM Practice Committee.
Dr. Racowsky is a past Associate Editor of Human Reproduction and Fertility & Sterility and is currently a member of the editorial board of Fertility and Sterility and the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. Her research interests include investigating the effects of maternal and environmental factors on egg quality, studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying egg maturation in vivo and in vitro, expanding methodologies for assessing human embryo developmental competency, and improving quality control and quality management in the clinical IVF laboratory. She has authored over 170 peer-reviewed papers on various aspects of mammalian egg and embryo physiology, has published numerous news releases and book chapters, and has co-edited eight books.

Hugh Taylor

Dr Hugh Taylor is the Anita O'Keeffe Young Professor and Chair, Department of Obstetrics Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine. A board certified specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology and in Reproductive Endocrinology, his clinical research centers on uterine disorders including implantation, endometriosis, fibroids and menopause. Dr Taylor has published more than 500 articles in leading medical journals and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine.