Our Lecturers
David Morroll PhD
David Morroll PhD
David has worked as a Clinical Embryologist since 1986, training in Manchester, where he also completed his doctorate studies. He has since managed laboratories in a number of UK IVF units including those in Nottingham, London and Leeds, and consulted to a number of clinics overseas. He before joined ORIGIO as Director of Embryology in November 2011.
He has previously served as Chair of the UK Association of Clinical Embryologists (ACE) and Association of Biomedical Andrologists (ABA), and was involved with several working groups, notably the HFEA Expert Group on Multiple Births after IVF.
David has a keen interest in quality management, including ISO certification and External Quality Assurance. He has also consulted to IVF units in Malta, India, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. In January 2019, David was appointed to the role of Director of Clinical Support, focusing on post-marketing clinical studies, QA/complaints and laboratory audits.
Steven Fleming PhD
Steven Fleming PhD
Steven is an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney and Director of Embryology for ORIGIO. Previously, he was the founding Scientific Director of Assisted Conception Australia, and a Senior Fellow at the University of Queensland.
After completing his doctorate in 1987, he undertook postdoctoral research at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, and from 1993-1997 he was appointed Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Nottingham in England, where he established the world’s first Master’s degree in Assisted Reproduction Technology with Simon Fishel PhD.
From 1998-2008 Steven was the Scientific Director of Westmead Fertility Centre in Sydney and appointed Senior Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Sydney. He is the recipient of numerous research grants, and an author and editor of several books, book chapters and peer reviewed journal articles. Steven’s research interests include cryopreservation, endometrial physiology, endometriosis and oocyte maturation, among others.
Inge Errebo Agerholm PhD
Inge Errebo Agerholm PhD
Educated in Denmark, Inge completed her doctorate at the University of Aarhus in 2007 after completing her Master’s Degree in Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology at Københavns Universitet. In 1996 Inge was appointed Laboratory Director at the IVF clinic, Hospitalsenheden Horsens. During this time, she also worked as a laboratory advisor and consultant for private IVF clinics in Denmark and Poland, and as a part-time Clinical Coordinator at Unisense FertiliTech (now Vitrolife).
Inge was part time Associate Professor at Aarhus University in Denmark for four years while working as Head of Department at Fertility Clinic Horsens Hospital. In 2017, she joined CooperSurgical Fertility Companies and currently is the Senior Director Medical Affairs, International . She has enjoyed teaching and training students, lab technicians and embryologists for over 20 years across the globe, and has lectured and given educational talks at national and international conferences and workshops. This included the supervision of PhD students between 2009 and 2017.
Inge has served as a member of numerous professional bodies including the Nordic IVF Laboratory Society and the National Representatives in ESHRE, Deputy Chair of the Danish Fertility Society (2001-2003) and Former Chair of NEAT (Nordic Embryology Academic Team) 2016-17. Inge is also an ESHRE certified Clinical Embryologist.
Martine Nijs PhD
Martine Nijs PhD
After obtaining her PhD in Medical Sciences at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, Martine has been working as a senior clinical embryologist and later as an IVF lab director. She is an author of numerous peer reviewed publications and book chapters and has presented hundreds of lectures as an invited speaker at meetings worldwide. She has been actively involved in organizing international conferences, workshops and one-to-one practical training.
Dr. Nijs is an ESHRE accredited senior clinical embryologist, and past Scientific, IVF and Andrology Lab Director in Nij Geertgen, Netherlands and the Genk Institute for Fertility Technology, Belgium and Senior Embryologist at the Schoysman Infertility management Team in Belgium. She was also the co-founder and past director of Embryolab Academy in Greece. Martine is member of the Editorial Board Faculty 1000 Research, and ad hoc board member of 10 international journals, and an active member of 8 professional societies. Martine is the Global Training Manager at CooperSurgical Fertility and Genomic Solutions.
Lodovico Parmegiani PhD
Lodovico Parmegiani PhD
Lodovico obtained his degree in Biology in 1996 at the University of Bologna, Italy, and his post-graduate specialization in Biochemistry and Clinical Chemistry in 2000 at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy.
He carried out his training as clinical embryologist at the Reproductive Endocrinology Center, S.Orsola Hospital in Bologna. Since 2002, Lodovico has been Laboratory Director at Reproductive Medicine Unit-GynePro Medical Centers in Bologna. In 2008 he received certification as Senior Clinical Embryologist from ESHRE.
Lodovico (aka Lodo) is currently Laboratory Director at the Reproductive Medicine Center, GyneProMedical Centers in Bologna, and advisor for many biotech companies. He has designed, developed and optimized devices and methods for human clinical embryology, and published almost 100 papers and book chapters in this field. He also acts as editor for numerous international scientific journals. Lodo is a Key Opinion Leader in Assisted Reproduction (AR) and a highly sought-after tutor for hands-on workshops and has organized and chaired many congresses. Lodovico’s current research interests are cryobiology, gamete selection and micromanipulation.
Colleen Lynch MSc
Colleen Lynch MSc
Colleen started working in the embryology field in 2004, following the completion of her undergraduate studies in Genetics and post graduate studies in Medical Genetics. She is currently working towards her PhD in Preimplantation Genetics under Professor Darren Griffin at the University of Kent. Having worked as a both a Clinical Embryologist and Genesis Genetics PGT Laboratory Manager, she joined CooperGenomics™ full time in 2017. Colleen joined CooperSurgical Fertility and Genomics Solutions as Training and Scientific Manager in 2018, with specific focus on training in trophectoderm biopsy and supporting lab teams on its introduction.
Colleen has lectured on PGT at many international conferences and has co-authored several scientific papers and book chapters. Additionally, she has extensive knowledge of ISO:15189 standards, works with UKAS as a technical expert, and is an honorary lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University on the Clinical Science MSc for the Scientist Training Programme (STP) in Reproductive Science.
Kelly Ketterson MSc
Kelly Ketterson MSc
Kelly currently serves as Vice President of Cooper Surgical’s Center of Excellence in New Jersey, USA, Medical Affairs – Americas. Kelly is a highly experienced clinical embryologist specializing in embryo biopsy techniques, routine IVF procedures, quality control and clinical research trials. She worked under the direction of Dr. Jacques Cohen from 1996-2004 at The Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science at Saint Barnabas Medical Center and alongside Dr. Santiago Munné in the development of PGT as a reference laboratory test. Kelly has served and as the Executive Director for several educational conferences specializing in the continuing education of reproductive endocrinologists, IVF nurses, embryologists, andrologists and administrative staff. Kelly has travelled throughout the world performing embryo biopsy procedures, improving laboratory standards and teaching micromanipulation techniques.
Prior to her role with Cooper Surgical, Kelly was the Chief Operating Officer/Vice President of Clinical Operations of Reprogenetics and Executive Director of Tyho-Galileo Research Laboratories. Kelly has also completed the Master’s Program in Biomedical Science at the Jones Institute at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia. Kelly is passionate about the IVF field and her experience includes R&D in the area IVF products and services, co-founding companies the genomics space as well as development of web applications to improve the quality control in the IVF laboratory. She enjoys educating IVF professionals, IVF support teams and IVF patients. Kelly has served on both ASRM exhibitor committee and the ESHRE genomics working group.
Rachel Chin MSc
Rachel Chin MSc
Rachel Chin possesses over nineteen years of knowledge in ART. This includes experience in guiding, leading and managing IVF laboratories within the Asian region. Rachel obtained several Dean List Award whilst preparing for her first class Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Biology Cell and Molecule at the National University of Malaysia She obtained her Master’s Degree in Clinical Embryology at the National University of Singapore in 2001.
In 2002 Rachel was appointed as Chief Embryologist of Damansara Fertility Center and later as Laboratory Manager for Victory Groups of IVF Laboratories. In 2013, she became the Laboratory Director for The Reproductive Medicine center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of KunMing Medical University. From 2007 onwards, she started offering visiting consultancy service in management of IVF laboratories, training and development in ART, troubleshooting as well as hands-on procedures for IVF Centers in the Asia region.
Rachel joined LifeGlobal LLC in August 2016 as the Asia Clinical and Technical Support Manager and later CooperSurgical Fertility and Genomic Solutions. She has keen interest in IVF laboratory quality control, culture system and condition, and embryologist training. Rachel is fluent in Malay, English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Olga Razina MSc
Olga Razina MSc
Olga graduated in 1999 as a MSc in Biology with specialization in embryology, from the Moscow State University in Russia. She has since worked as a clinical embryologist leading to over 20 years of experience in human IVF. Olga helped to set up several IVF Laboratories in Russia and collaborated in research activities in human embryology. Olga was Lab manager in the state IVF clinic in Moscow.
She before joined ORIGIO Russia in 2010 to assist embryologists in the setup of their laboratories, to perform audits and to advice on the flow of different laboratory processes. Olga organized multiple workshops at the Training Lab in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Olga has a keen interest in sperm selection, vitrification of oocytes, embryos and blastocysts as well as trophectoderm biopsy for PGT.
In 2019 Olga joined CooperSurgical Fertility Companies as the Embryology advisor for Russia, the Nordic and the Baltic areas.
Makoto Chiba BSc
Makoto Shiba BSc
Makoto graduated in 2010 as a BSc with specialization in Life Science and Agriculture, from the Hirosaki University in Aomori, Japan. After his graduation, he started to work as a clinical embryologist at the Hanabusa Women’s Clinic in Kobe, Japan.
In 2014 Makoto joined Origio Japan K.K. being responsible for Clinical support in ART.
Makoto assists embryologist in the setup of their laboratories, performs audits and advices on the specificities of the different ART laboratory techniques as well as on the flow of the different laboratory processes.
Makoto organized multiple theoretical and Hands-on workshops at the Cooper Surgical ART Training Lab in Yokohama and at different locations in Japan.
Makoto has a keen interest in in sperm selection and vitrification of oocytes, embryos and blastocysts.
Steve Levett PhD
Steve Levett PhD
After completing his PhD in Molecular Immunology in 1989, Steve obtained a position as Postdoctoral Fellow at York University. He then took up his first embryology role in the early 1990s at St. James’s University Hospital in Leeds, UK. He became Lab Manager soon after and then went on to manage other embryology labs in the UK and Canada, in the public and private sector.
From 2006-2014 Steve worked for Wallace, then part of Smiths Medical, becoming Global Business Director in 2010. He then joined Ferring in 2014 as UK National Business Manager for Obstetrics and Fertility and 18 months later joined Life Global as VP International Sales.
Steve has a keen interest in Lab optimization, QC procedures, optimization of results and supporting embryologists. His research interest has been in fertility preservation since working with Prof. Roger Gosden in Leeds. Steve Levett is Director of Clinical Application at CooperSurgical Fertility and Genomic Solutions.
Tim Schimmel BSc
Tim Schimmel BSc
Tim graduated from the University of Delaware (UD) with a bachelor’s degree in animal science in 1983. Upon graduation Tim immediately started his embryology career with a bovine ET practice before switching to clinical human IVF in 1986, first joining IVF Australia (which became IVF America) and subsequently IntegraMed. In 1995, Tim moved from the clinical human IVF field, joining Dr. Jacques Cohen and Dr. Santiago Munné as their Research Laboratory Supervisor at the Institute of Reproductive Medicine & Science of Saint Barnabas Hospital, Tyho-Galileo Research Laboratories LLC, Reprogenetics LLC. During this time he also consulted for numerous IVF clinics and commercial clients, participating in developing ART products, publications and patents as a research scientist. Tim joined CooperSurgical Fertility and Genomic Solutions in 2018 as the Director for the Center of Excellence Embryology Laboratory in the USA.
Seema Nair MSc
Seema Nair MSc
Seema Nair has an MSc in Bio-Analytical Sciences from the University of Mumbai. She is a Senior Embryologist with more than 10 years of experience as a practitioner at IVF laboratories across India, Africa and Europe.
She is an active member of the Indian IVF community, conducting workshops and presenting talks at various conferences. She participated in the inaugural Embryology Consensus meetings held by the Indian Society for Assisted Reproduction (ISAR) in 2019, for improving IVF standards and their implementation in India.
Seema joined CooperSurgical India as a Consultant in 2016 and has organized multiple theoretical and Hands-on workshops at the Centre of Excellence at CooperSurgical, Mumbai.
Seema has a keen interest in in vitrification techniques and protocols and assists embryologists in the training and implementation of specific IVF laboratory techniques.
Rajvi H Mehta PhD
Rajvi H Mehta PhD
Rajvi Meht started her doctoral studies at the ICMR’s Institute for Research Reproduction, Mumbai working with the team responsible for India’s first ‘scientifically’ documented IVF baby led by Dr. T.C Anand Kumar and Dr. Indira Hinduja in 1986. Her research focused on the studies on the oocyte and its follicular environment. She worked as a clinical embryologist and is now involved in teaching and training in ART. She has been the faculty on the special ART courses conducted by the IFFS in Esfahan, Iran. She has been the visiting faculty on clinical embryology at the Chettinaad Health University, Chennai, India.
She has received the Indian Society of Assisted Reproduction (ISAR) young scientists award in its year of inception and recently received the Champion of ISAR and the President of ISAR’s commendation Award. Rajvi has contributed to many chapters in textbooks on AR, she is the co-editor of the ICMR’s first manual on Human Semen Analysis and Human IVF. Rajvi is also an invited speaker at many conferences.
She is a member of the Executive committee of Academy of Clinical Embryologists, India. She leads the Special Interest Group on Holistic Medicine for the Indian Fertility Society. As an ardent practitioner of Iyengar Yoga she presented a lecture on yoga at the ESHRE annual meeting in Munich, 2015.
Rajvi Meht is currently the Academic Consultant at CooperSurgical, India
Feny Gadhia MSc
Feny Gadhia MSc
Feny Gadhia completed her BSc in Life Sciences and Biochemistry in 2015 and continued to pursue her Master’s in Clinical Embryology at the University of Oxford. She joined Nova IVI Fertility in India and mastered all the ART procedures carried out in an IVF Laboratory including ICSI and Vitrification. her She was promoted to an Embryologist position where she further trained in advance techniques like Embryo Biopsy and Oocyte Vitrification. During her 3 years tenure at Nova, Feny also supervised and trained Junior Embryologist for various procedures in the Laboratory.
In 2019, Feny joined CooperSurgical Fertility and Genomics as a Clinical Embryologist. She is responsible for Training at the Center of Excellence at CooperSurgical, Mumbai and is also involved in customer training and troubleshooting in Laboratory. Feny has a keen interest in Vitrification and Quality control in IVF Laboratory.