Linking up with Fertilitat in Brazil

It was a great pleasure to link-up online with Dr Mariangela Badalotti and Dr Rafaella Petracco of Fertilitat in Brazil to talk about my mother and father and the early days of IVF.

Fertilitat is a pioneering reproductive medicine center that combines scientific innovation, sensitivity and ethics to make the dreams of thousands of couples in Brazil come true.

The doctors there are continuing the great work of Edwards and Steptoe by introducing the most advanced techniques in their modern research laboratory where they have the latest high-tech equipment and have assembled a skilled team of specialists to help people.

Importantly, they also like to give people information on all aspects of fertility treatment and  our online chat has been turned into a video that has been made available for people in Brazil.

Opened in 1991, Fertilitat began its journey in 1987, as an Assisted Fertilization Group. The result of this group's work was the birth of the first assisted reproduction baby in Rio Grande do Sul, in 1989. Álvaro Luís Santos – whose name is a tribute to the director of Fertilitat, Alvaro Petracco.

In the early 90s, through the work of Fertilitat, the first in vitro fertilization twins in Rio Grande do Sul were born. Four years later, the clinic was responsible for the first report of pregnancy using sperm removed from the epididymis in Latin America.

Fertilitat is also responsible for the first birth through egg freezing using a slow technique in Brazil, in 2002. In total, almost 7,000 babies have already come into the world through the work of Fertilitat.