We are entering the third month of COVID-19-induced restrictions to infertility practice and our daily lives. Even though, in an attempt to minimize risks to patients as well as staff, we are working with only a skeleton staff, clinical practice at CHR has continued uninterrupted and, likely, as a reflection of CHR’s patient population requiring urgent fertility care, the center has been surprisingly busy. Wherever possible, we have staff members work from home; in essential positions, we rotate weekly, so that, should a staff member be infected and, thereby, potentially commit other staff members to quarantine, we do not lose too many of our essential staff all at once.
So far, so good. We are also trying to minimize in-person visits to CHR for everybody. When office visits become necessary, we try to keep them as short as possible. Only patients are allowed into the center as of this point. Accompanying parties are asked to wait outside. Everybody who enters the building receives a mask and must wear it over nose and mouth while at the center. The good news is that parking on the street is much easier and the garage on the block is running a daily special. Services have thus continued at CHR with, at times, surprising normality.
We are hoping to be able to maintain services in this fashion until the situation in New York City normalizes. Please do not hesitate to contact us at 212-994-4400, should you have any questions.
In this issue of the VOICE, we are offering to our readers insights into some issues, often hidden behind veils of professional protection. One subject we are addressing is the surprisingly aggressive attacks against the current American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) leadership from some very powerful voices within the IVF community, which were closely aligned with the ASRM until very recently. We are also returning to a subject previously addressed in these pages, the quick industrialization of IVFaround the world, which in the last two years, especially in the U.S., has accelerated beyond even CHR’s expectations. Both of these subjects, interestingly, appear connected. That, unfortunately, does not necessarily speak well of the direction the IVF field is taking.
In this month's CHR VOICE, we cover:
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.
