IVF success, practices and approaches differ around the world, increasingly as I work with clients from different parts of the globe, this is becoming more evident.
It was a great pleasure to chat with Dr Shahin Ghadir, founding partner of Southern California Reproductive Center. Dr. Ghadir is double board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. He is currently an assistant clinical professor
Dr. Shahin Ghadir is a compassionate and caring physician who dedicates his career to helping people overcome their reproductive challenges and infertility issues to achieve their goals of having the family of their dreams, for both traditional families and the LGBTQ community. He is currently positioned as a top physician for egg freezing, sought out by women all over the world for his skill set in this highly coveted procedure.
Dr Ghadir is native Angeleno, his clinic based in Beverly Hills.
Dr. Ghadir is continuously voted as one of the “Top Doctors” in the USA by Los Angeles Magazine’s national poll and Super Doctors of Southern California.
We chatted about the difference in funding between here and the USA, and during the course of the interview, I am yet again reminded that our approach to IVF in the UK, could be better, although acknowledging that this is hugely impacted by cost and funding, but more so in terms of education.
Dr Ghadir discussed the IVF success rates at the Southern California Reproductive Center, Higher than the average in the US and much much much higher than those in the UK, for both pregnancy and live births, and the main reason for this her explained was.the use of Pre Implantation Genetic Testing (PIGT) of Embryos.
We discussed egg quality, sperm quality and it was great to hear him acknowledge how lucky we are in London to have access to Dr Sheryl Homer, leading Androloigist and developer of the Sperm Comet Test, used (not widely enough in my opinion) to detect sperm DNA damage. I discussed this in more detail with Barbara Scott in episode 14 of the podcast.
Others areas discussed were Surrogacy, which you may recall I discussed recently relating to Hawaii in Episode 35. We discussed what an incredible ‘voice’ Dustin Lance Black and Tom Daley have been regarding their surrogacy experience, and How Dr Ghadir worked with them.
We discussed Egg Freezing, age at conception for both men and women, How he has helped single women and single men and LBGTQ and heterosexual couples become parents and his view on pre conceptual care.
Dr Ghadir also has an undergraduate degree in psychology which I’m sure if you’ve listened to me before was great to hear and find out more about. He gave some examples of outcomes of treatment based on mindset.
What was interesting is how many people travel from not just the USA but worldwide to access treatment with him, and based on the results, it’s clear to understand why.
If you want to find out more about Dr Ghadir, his work and what is happening at the SCRC you can follow him on instagram @drshahinghadir and the YouTube Channel Fertility Talk
PIGT is not widely available in the UK, not unless there has been specific cause for its use and is available in only a few centres.
The implications of DNA fragmentation is huge, over looked in my opinion in relation to fertility and miscarriage in terms of the education we receive in the UK.
PIGT is not generally available and as ever it brings me back to the root cause and education about what steps we can take, especially with regard to male factors, which in some cases we can address.
I’d love to hear your comments, and subjects you’d like to hear more about.
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