Southern California Reproductive Center Spreads Awareness During World Embryologist Day

Dr. Liesl Nel-Themaat, Lab Director at SCRC

Robyn O’Leary, Laboratory Manager at SCRC.

Southern California Reproductive Center, a fertility clinic in Southern California, is raising awareness and recognizing World Embryologist Day on July 25.

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, USA, July 25, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — Southern California Reproductive Center (SCRC), a fertility clinic with multiple locations in Southern California, is proud to announce on July 25 they are raising awareness and recognizing World Embryologist Day. Nearly 1 in 5 couples in the United States struggle with infertility, and SCRC wants to educate others and spread awareness on the important work of embryologists. July 25, 1978, was also the birth date of the very first IVF baby, Louise Joy Brown.

Dr. Liesl Nel-Themaat, Lab Director at SCRC, helped create the day of international recognition nearly 12 years ago. She is an industry leader and has been in the field of assisted reproductive medicine for more than 20 years, with the past 14 years in clinical IVF.

“Embryologists often work in the dark behind locked doors and out of sight,” said Dr. Nel-Themaat. “This became especially pronounced during COVID, since most meetings these days happen online and we see less and less of our colleagues. World Embryologist Day creates an opportunity to spotlight these silent heroes and spoil them with tokens of gratitude and appreciation for the incredibly stressful work they do each day.”

Robyn O’Leary is the laboratory manager at SCRC and has been in embryology for the past 15 years. She said although there are challenges with being an embryologist, the greatest reward is helping families achieve their dreams of growing their families.

“More than 15 years ago there was such a big stigma surrounding IVF and anyone who went through infertility often hid it from their family members,” said O’Leary. “Today, the stigma is melting away and it’s really helpful for people to not feel alone in their journey. World Embryologist Day is for us to say we’re proud to be embryologists and proud of the families we helped build. Most patients don’t get to directly interact with us often since our embryologists are behind the scenes, taking care of your embryos. We truly are their baby’s first babysitters and it’s very rewarding to play such a vital role in helping people build their families.”

SCRC has 22 staff members who work inside the ART lab at the Beverly Hills location, a state-of-the-art laboratory focused on patient care. With the help of incubators and microscopes, it is the embryologists’ responsibility to take care of the eggs, sperm, and embryos when they are outside of the body. Most days are spent collecting oocytes during retrievals, grading embryos, fertilizing the eggs, and transferring embryos back into the uterus.

“As an embryologist, the hardest part is riding the wave with the patients,” said O’Leary. “When our patients don’t get the outcomes and fertilization we want them to get, we get disappointed and carry that weight with us. In a perfect world, we’d have 100% fertilization and all of our patients would get to take home a baby. I hope that every patient knows they have a team of embryologists working seven days a week, 365 days a year, fighting to achieve the best outcomes possible. It all becomes worth it when a patient is pregnant. When our patients bring their babies back that first started in our lab as an embryo, it’s crazy to see them with 10 toes and 10 fingers”.

For those looking to learn more or interested in seeing a fertility specialist, go to scrcivf.com to book an appointment.

About SCRC:

Southern California Reproductive Center (SCRC) is an innovative fertility clinic that focuses on respect and compassion through its values of being inclusive and supporting a diverse patient population. Its doctors and fertility specialists are pioneers in the fields of assisted reproductive technology and endocrinology. For more than 25 years, the fertility specialists at SCRC have been a ranking choice in Southern California. Patients can visit offices in Beverly Hills/Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Pasadena and Ventura.

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Cutline: Southern California Reproductive Center Spreads Awareness During World Embryologist Day.

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