With summer behind us, and the Holiday Season quickly approaching, CHR is entering what, every year, in different aspects represents the busiest quarter in all three major activity areas: clinical care, research and education. Clinically, the last quarter is always the busiest. Everybody still wants to conceive before the new year rings in.
For CHR’s research, the quarter is important because most of the preceding year’s new research is usually presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). This year, the meeting started already on October 6, with CHR’s Medical Director, Norbert Gleicher, MD, asked by ASRM to participate in a “Journal Club” (see photo, from left: Richard Paulson, MD; Glenn Shattman, MD; Norbert Gleicher, MD) among experts on preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A). An oral CHR presentation by CHR’s Associate Scientist and Director of the Fertility Preservation Program, Vitaly Kushnir, MD, on Monday, October 8, was chosen by ASRM for promotion to the media. In this study CHR investigators report that oral supplementation with the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in many premenopausal women greatly improves female sex drive and other parameters of sexual function. A manuscript reporting the same study in more detail is already accepted and in press. Moreover, CHR has filed a U.S. patent application.
CHR investigators presented a total of eight abstracts, either orally or in poster format. This quite remarkable number reflects the very active research effort at CHR during 2018, and required participation of a number of CHR’s investigators in this year’s meeting. Only three-quarters into the year, and CHR investigates have already authored or co-authored 20 peer reviewed publications, a new record for the center.
The real “traveling season,” however, only starts by the end of October: The annual Ovarian Club meets at the beginning of November in Paris, France; between November 15 and 18, CHR co-hosts the annual Foundation for Reproductive Medicine Conference (FRMC) in NYC (which this year also has a half-day component for the lay public (Clinical Fertility Day for the Public), which we strongly recommend for all couples facing infertility problems. London is on the schedule for the last week of November, where the annual COGI conference takes place this year. And, finally, the Asian Ovarian Club meets again in mid-December in Hong Kong.
Many members of CHR’s clinical and research staff are, of course, participating in the FRMC. CHR’s Visiting Senior Scientist, David Albertini, PhD, and CHR’s Medical Director and Chief Scientist, Norbert Gleicher, MD, are invited speakers at both Ovarian Clubs, while Dr. Gleicher was also asked to give a number of presentations at this year’s COGI. Dr. Gleicher is then in February of 2019 invited to give a series of lectures in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.
Our lead article in this issue of the VOICE addresses the increasing utilization of genetic testing in routine medical care provided by physicians and in direct to consumers sales by the laboratory testing industry. Though genetic testing has made great advances and has made groundbreaking contributions to medical care, increasing penetration of genetic information on individuals into society, also has its distinct dangers and, as our article will demonstrate, also affects reproductive medicine in important ways. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal that addressed some of the potential abuses of genetic testing in reproductive medicine, indeed, delayed publication of this newsletter by a few days since we wanted to incorporate its message.
In this issue of the CHR VOICE, we cover:
Read the October 2018 CHR VOICE in PDF.
Norbert Gleicher, MD, leads CHR’s clinical and research efforts as Medical Director and Chief Scientist. A world-renowned specialist in reproductive endocrinology, Dr. Gleicher has published hundreds of peer-reviewed papers and lectured globally while keeping an active clinical career focused on ovarian aging, immunological issues and other difficult cases of infertility.
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