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In the field of assisted reproduction, there are two distinctively separate components: reproductive endocrinology and reproductive (IVF ) laboratory. They each require a completely different education and expertise. Furthermore, whereas reproductive endocrinology is a practice of medicine, the reproductive laboratory is not. Reproductive endocrinology requires a physician to be certified as an OBGYN and then as an REI.  Directorship of reproductive laboratory requires M.D. or a Ph.D., reproductive laboratory experience, and HCLD certification by an American Board of Bioanalysis. This ensures that a very high level of expertise on both sides.

However, because the two fields are so different, in some cases there is a strong need for expertise that would bridge laboratory and clinical findings to help a physician in particular case management. This would require an individual to know both, in vitro embryology and reproductive endocrinology. To fulfill this need, about 10 years ago Peter Nagy, Ashok Agarwal, and I have founded the American College of Embryology (EMBCOL). The goal of the EMBCOL is to develop the knowledge base enabling qualified practitioners (M.D. or Ph.D.) to interpret observations made in the reproductive laboratory within the context of the patient’s history. EMBCOL also developed an informal certification process and there are practitioners around the world who became certified as Reproductive Embryologists (EMB). The certification benchmarks are continuously rising and at some point, it may become formally recognized, although this is not one of the current EMBCOL objectives.   

This site was originally started as IVF conundrums to address certain areas of knowledge for EMB certification applicants. However, at some point, I decided that making a solo online book, not formally connected to any organization, gives me more freedom in exploring my vision of reproductive embryology. It also gives an opportunity to open it up to other reproductive medicine insiders and anyone interested in a deeper understanding of assisted reproduction.

This site gives particular attention to egg quality, its decline with age, and approaches to improve it: Term Oocyte Maturation and Term Stimulation™. It also covers some other areas of human reproduction, including a new theory of ovulation, for physicians, embryologists, and anyone else interested in the subject. 

Even though I do consider myself an expert of reproductive embryology, I am also a signatory to “It ain’t so much the things that people don’t know that makes trouble in this world, as it is the things that people know that ain’t so.” — Mark Twain. Or, perhaps, it was not Mark Twain