Passion for research on display at ob-gyn department’s signature event
The annual Research Day saw 320 participants share ongoing research and strengthen community ties
The Henderson Lecture: “Reproduction in a post-IVF era”
Siladitya Bhattacharya’s career as a reproductive medicine specialist has landed him in a remarkable headspace.
“After about 30 years in this subspeciality, I’ve begun to realize I’m not quite sure what reproduction is!” he said, addressing the listeners of his Henderson Lecture on IVF and reproductive technologies.
Bhattacharya, who is the Sir Dugald Baird Chair in Women’s Health at the University of Aberdeen, covered the history of assisted fertility from artificial insemination through to IVF and a host of other technological advances: elective freezing, androgen supplementation, endometrial scratching, assisted hatching, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, various immunology and genetic tests, among others.
“There’s a whole raft of things people can buy into, it’s like an extended menu,” he said.
Where IVF was once seen solely as a solution for infertility, its scope has now broadened to many other circumstances, such as prevention of genetic conditions, acceleration of genetic traits, family planning through cryopreservation, and sex selection (in some countries).
It was this “commercialization of reproduction” that troubled Bhattacharya. He asked whether we were we overusing IVF or taking IVF beyond its remit.
“Are we getting to a point where IVF will be the on-demand way to conceive?” he said. “Where does the scope of IVF end?”
Compounding this situation, he said, is that the evidence underpinning IVF’s efficacy is not overwhelming. Bhattacharya explained how we initially arrived at the standard definition of infertility, which is a failure to achieve a successful pregnancy after 12 or more months or more of unprotected sexual intercourse. However, couples who are labelled infertile, if left to their own devices, still “have a diminished but measurable chance of conception.”
While he determined, in the end, IVF has a slight edge over natural conception — in particular for the subset of couples with infertility that remains “unexplained” — it was the overtreatment that was cause for concern. He advocated for a prognosis-based approach to fertility with a better balance between assisted and natural reproduction.
“IVF is a great tool but we need to use it judiciously,” he said.
Trainees’ presentations evaluated by faculty judges
Medical students, graduate students, residents and fellows presented on their research and fielded questions from the audience. There were two types of presentations on offer throughout the day: either from the main podium given to the full complement of attendees, or in one of the 20 breakout sessions for smaller groups.
Graduate student Anuradha Baishnob presented her research from the main podium, on postpartum hemorrhaging. Her team found that a natural hormone called somatostatin could help the uterus contract more strongly after childbirth, in particular when inflammation is involved. Somatostatin would also avoid the side effects of oxytocin, the current gold standard treatment.
Hemorrhaging is a major cause of maternal death, especially in other parts of the globe.
“I’ve always been passionate about maternal health, particularly coming from a South Asian background,” Baishnob said after her talk. “I quickly learned growing up in Canada that South Asian women and other people of colour have different problems in the health care system.”
Presenting not only helped build her communication skills, it gave her a better understanding of how her research fit into what else is being studied.
“Sometimes I feel like you get cooped up in the work that you’re doing and you don’t know what everyone else is doing,” she said
Her Q&A follow-up also sparked some back and forth with her supervisors: “Right after I finished presenting, some of my collaborators and PIs, the senior members, were like, ‘Oh that was a good point! Did you do this? Should we do this?’”
Particularly valuable was the perspective of the clinicians in the room. It was as if she had widened her circle of collaborators — albeit briefly — to the community.
The breakout sessions had a wide variety of topics under the research areas gynaecology; gynaecologic oncology; maternal-fetal medicine; obstetrics; placental biology; ob-gyn education; and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. Fourth-year resident Cheyanne Reed developed an educational portal for patients undergoing caesarean or labour induction. Fifth-year resident Maryam Alkhanbouli explored the benefits of adding progesterone to menopause hormone therapy for cancer survivors treated with chemoradiation. Fellow Noa Glick Fishman looked at the benefits of integrating point-of-care ultrasound into clinical encounters for refugee women in Canada.
Throughout the day, surgical videos played on a display in the corridor, as well as in two dedicated breakout sessions.
Faculty judges sat in on presentations and scored them on originality, scientific merit, study quality and presentation. Winners were sorted by level of training for both podium and breakout sessions.
Just before the award ceremony, Sarah Ferguson, professor and vice chair of research, said her take-away from the day was how the general enthusiasm brought everyone together.
“We’re all physically separated in our different hospitals, and sometimes even if we’re next door to each other in an office. I think it’s really important that this is a day of reconnection.”
Pics from the day!
