Fertility Forward

Today we are joined by two special guest speakers to discuss a very timely and engaging topic. Dr. Eric Flisser is our fellow reproductive endocrinologist and Paxton Maeder-York is the CEO and Founder of Alife Health . Alife Health is a fertility technology company that builds artificial intelligence tools to advance the IVF process. During our conversation today, we dive further into the topic of...

Surrogacy gives people with fertility struggles the opportunity to have a biological child. However, the idea can feel daunting beyond measure. Today we are joined by the founder of Newborn Advantage Surrogacy , Mindy Berkson . Mindy married her venture capital background with her industry experience, as well as her personal experience as a secondary infertility patient, to help intended families...

Today, we are excited to welcome Carey Cook to the Fertility Forward podcast. Carey is a holistic fertility coach for LGBTQ+ families who are spiraling into the anxious abyss of expanding their families. With an MA in Counseling Psychology, Carey helps people gain tools to navigate tough decisions, manage big feelings, and avoid common pitfalls. Having gone through her own fertility journey, she b...

What if there was a possibility that western medicine can’t do everything our bodies need to create a conducive environment for fertility? Joining us today on Fertility Forward is acupuncturist, Sharon McDermott to discuss how acupuncture and Chinese medicine can contribute to fertility treatment. Tuning in, you’ll hear all about how Sharon’s approach is different from traditional medicine, the im...

Regular exercise has many benefits for your physical and mental health, but women undergoing fertility treatment are often told that high-intensity activity can actually decrease their chance of becoming pregnant while increasing their risk of ovarian torsion. Fitness fanatics, rejoice! Because we’re here to tell you that there ARE ways to exercise safely throughout your fertility journey. Joining...

Stigma, shame, isolation, and a lack of patient education are commonly associated with the fertility journey. Today’s guest, Lauren Berson , knows this firsthand from the three years she spent going through failed treatments, a miscarriage, and being provided with false information. A combination of Lauren’s personal and career experiences inspired her to found Conceive , the solution to so many o...

Many people are under the impression that couples therapy is a last resort solely associated with divorce. Our guest today joins us to share the true goal of couples therapy and its role in helping couples achieve relationship satisfaction and a greater connection with themselves and one another. Dr. Stephanie Simon is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in perinatal mental health and co...

These days it’s easy to take for granted our ability to communicate instantly, often across vast distances, with people we’ve never met before. But back in 1981, without the internet or email to rely on, finding a like-minded community was far more challenging. And yet today’s guest, Jane Mattes, was able to do just that when navigating the intimidating territory of single parenthood at the start...

Today on Fertility Forward, the podcast, we have the honor of hosting Lindsay Nakash . She is a registered dietician who is renowned for optimizing patient health with accessible and convenient nutritional support. With extensive experience providing critical nutrition therapy to patients with a variety of different medical conditions including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, GI disorder...

We are taught that food should be our primary source of vitamins and minerals and while that is true, there is no shame in taking supplements to support your health; especially when pregnant or trying to conceive. Joining us today on Fertility Forward is the nutrition specialist, Casey Seiden , to discuss how supplements can fill gaps in your nutritional needs. Tuning in, you’ll hear all about why...

Finding balance and welcoming that balance into your life will help you create a lifestyle that leads to being a healthy person while also having room for the indulgences and other “good” parts of life you don’t want to miss out on. Our guest today is Katie Dewhurst , the founder, and CEO of Hello Balance , a health and wellness company helping millennial women optimize their health through food....

Our guest today is Regina Townsend , an award-winning youth librarian, infertility advocate, and founder of The Broken Brown Egg , an internationally recognized reproductive health blog and non-profit organization. She’s passionate about bringing light to the nuance of infertility in the African-American community, and the unique needs of teens and adults, and believes in connecting people to reso...

The health of your immune system can gravely affect your fertility and ability to become pregnant. Joining us today on Fertility Forward is specialist Dr. Daniel Stein, to talk about how immunology affects fertility care. In this episode, you will hear all about immunotolerance, how a functioning immune system is beneficial to pregnancy, when your immune system affects your ability to carry a preg...

The health of your immune system can gravely affect your fertility and ability to become pregnant. Joining us today on Fertility Forward is specialist Dr. Daniel Stein, to talk about how immunology affects fertility care. In this episode, you will hear all about immunotolerance, how a functioning immune system is beneficial to pregnancy, when your immune system affects your ability to carry a preg...

“The beauty of being a human is that you’re never done growing.” These are the words of one of our hosts, Rena. In this episode, we take a moment to pause and reflect before looking ahead.   We discuss how we’re going to approach the new year as we strive to grow, change, and evolve into better versions of ourselves. Tuning in, you’ll hear what we hope to achieve in 2023, from overcoming negative...

PCOS is a problem faced by many women today. Joining us in conversation is Nicole Holness , a registered dietician nutritionist, and an international board-certified lactation consultant with a focus on PCOS, fertility, pregnancy and postpartum, which has led to her own brand, Holness Nutrition . Join us to hear the story of how Nicole came to focus on fertility and PCOS before we dive into the fo...

The expense of infertility treatment is a costly one. It is even more costly when you are an underrepresented minority with minimal benefits and advocacy. Dr. Brent Monseur , an endocrinologist and LGBTQ+ community member, is here to discuss a fascinating and important topic by sharing some of their research, data, and findings. We hear the benefits of their research and how, despite being a small...

Transgender patients are still a largely marginalized group, but thanks to people like Dr. Atoosa Ghofranian, more and more research is being done to improve their medical experience. Dr. Ghofranian is a fourth-year obstetrics and gynecology resident at the Icahn school in New York with an interest in improving IVF outcomes and expanding access to ART in underserved communities. She joins us today...

Today we are joined by Dr. Chelsea Canon to discuss her latest abstract entitled “Reproductive Outcomes in Single Euploid Embryo Transfer Cycles is Independent of Whether the Embryo Originated from a Fresh or Cryopreserved Oocyte”. Dr. Canon will be presenting this research at the upcoming American Society for Reproductive Medicine Expo but feels it is important to share it with patients too. Our...

Welcome to the 100th episode of Fertility Forward! Joining us today is the award-winning Dr. Samantha Estevez to discuss her research and mission to make fertility care more accessible for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Dr. Estevez explains some gender terminology to us and talks about who falls within the gender diverse category before telling us why we need to be educated on how people expre...

Knowledge is power, and you are your best advocate. Sharing her story on the podcast today is former patient Caitlin Zikoyanis, who underwent genetic IVF to eliminate the BRCA 2 gene. Tune in today to hear her story of successfully removing risk from her children’s lives through fertility treatment with RMA’s Dr. Matthew Letterman. Learn from what she would do differently and where she found her b...

In this episode of Fertility Forward, we are joined by our newest member of RMA New York, reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Rachel Danis. Listening in, you will hear all about Rachel’s professional journey from her passion for how REI hits home for her as a woman, to why she chose reproductive endocrinology. Next, we delve into the new drug Elagolix, how it is helpful for women with endometriosis,...

Knowledge is power, so listen to your body. Ovarian cancer, one of the many cancers plaguing our society, is often hard to diagnose because of its range of different signs, symptoms, and risk factors. Our guest today on the Fertility Forward podcast is Pamela Esposito-Amery, the co-founder, CEO, and board member of Tell Every Amazing Lady About Ovarian Cancer Louisa M. McGregor Ovarian Cancer Foun...

Welcome back to another episode of Fertility Forward. Today we are joined by a very special guest who is both a reproductive specialist and someone who has struggled with infertility, Dr. Jenna Friedenthal. Tuning in you’ll hear about Jenna’s experience with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), her biochemical pregnancy experience, and how the treatment affected her partner. She also shares how she...

Gender identity is a biological phenomenon! Here to discuss transgender care today is the executive director of the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System, Dr. Joshua Safer. Tuning in you’ll hear about Dr. Safer’s illustrious career in health care, how he ended up in transgender care, and how the CTMS program started. We also discuss why gender identity falls unde...