Carlo Alviggi earned his MD degree in 1994, from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Naples “Federico II” in Naples, Italy; he specialized in obstetrics and gynaecology in 1998, and gained a PhD in 2001, from the same university. During his career, he collaborated with: The Imperial College of London, in London, UK; the Laboratory of Immunology of the Italian National Research Council in Naples; and the Autoimmunity and Tolerance Laboratory of the University of California in Los Angeles, CA, USA. This network resulted in various publications, some of which concern new hypotheses on the pathogenesis of pelvic endometriosis. He is now an associate professor in reproductive medicine at the Fertility Unit of the University of Naples “Federico II”. Professor Alviggi’s current research interests are the role of luteinizing hormone (LH) in folliculogenesis; the use of LH-containing drugs in patients undergoing ovarian controlled stimulation for IVF; the pathogenesis of pelvic endometriosis; oncofertility; reproductive endicrinology and the genetics of human reproduction. He has participated in several national and international (phase 2 and 3) multicentric, prospective randomized trials. Professor Alviggi has published extensively and has been invited to lecture at over 200 international meetings dealing with reproductive medicine and gynaecological endocrinology; he is also starter and co-founder of the Poseidon group, an international collaborative network dedicated to low prognosis patients in Assisted Reproductive Technology and vice-President of the “Società Italiana di Fertilità e Sterilità – Medicina della Riproduzione”.
Sandro C. Esteves, MD., PhD. is a reproductive urologist who specializes in treating male infertility, particularly its connection with assisted reproductive technology (ART). He is the founder and medical director of ANDROFERT, a Fertility Center based in Campinas, Brazil, dedicated to male reproductive health. He is also a Collaborating Professor of Urology at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil, and an Honorary Professor of Reproductive Medicine at Aarhus University, Denmark.
He obtained his MD. degree in 1990 from the Faculty of Medical Sciences of UNICAMP, Brazil. Subsequently, he completed his Urology residency at the same institution and a postdoctoral fellowship program at the Glickman’s Urological Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in the United States. He earned a master’s in Surgery from UNICAMP and a Ph.D. in Urology from the Federal University of S o Paulo (EPM-UNIFESP). Dr. Esteves has contributed to our understanding of male infertility with over 25 years of experience in clinical and academic settings. He has emphasized the limitations of basic semen analysis, the importance of assessing sperm DNA fragmentation in male infertility evaluations, and highlighted the relevance of varicocele and its treatment in enhancing male fertility prospects. He has also published extensively on his clinical experience with microsurgical treatment of infertile men, as well as on hormonal therapy for improving sperm retrieval success of men with non-obstructive azoospermia. Dr. Esteves has helped design novel stratification systems for infertile men with testicular dysfunction, for whom fertility prospects may improve after hormonal therapy, and for low prognosis infertile women undergoing ART. Dr. Esteves is a prolific author, and his research comprises over 350 published papers, numerous book chapters, and textbooks. With a Hirsch index of 71 and a citation count of around 17K, he is ranked among the top 1% of global researchers by the Science-Wide Author Databases of Standard Citation Indicators (Elsevier). Prof. Esteves plays an active role in the scientific community as a member of the Faculty Opinions in reproductive endocrinology and infertility and as a founding member of the POSEIDON group for reproductive medicine. Additionally, he holds positions as Associate Editor/Section Editor in several journals, including Human Reproduction, Andrology, Reproductive Biomedicine Online, Frontiers in Endocrinology, and the International Brazilian Journal of Urology. He also serves on the editorial boards of many scientific journals, including Nature Reviews Urology. Dr. Esteves’ clinic has been at the forefront of implementing cleanroom technology in the ART laboratory and adhering to ISO 9001 quality standards in Brazil. The ANDROFERT team is renowned for its strict quality standards and remarkable success rates in treating couples with male factor infertility. As a seasoned speaker, Dr. Esteves delivers over 50 lectures annually in Brazil and internationally. He has received multiple research grants and awards from national and international societies and currently holds the position of head of the Department of Andrology at the Brazilian Society of Human Reproduction.
Professor Peter Humaidan is a specialist in reproductive endocrinology, professor at The Fertility Clinic Skive Regional Hospital, Aarhus University, Denmark and Honorary professor at Odense University, Denmark. During his scientific work he has primarily focused on developing individualized treatment protocols for the infertile patient. His doctoral thesis (DMSc) explored the role of LH during the follicular and luteal phases in controlled ovarian stimulation. His main fields of interest are triggering of ovulation with GnRH agonist, role of LH during the follicular and luteal phases, role of the female genital tract microbiota for reproductive outcomes, OHSS prevention, and role of sperm DNA fragmentation for spontaneous and assisted reproduction. He is the founder of the international society “The Copenhagen GnRHa Triggering Workshop Group” who introduced the GnRHa trigger in modern IVF, changing trigger policies worldwide. He is co-founder of the POSEIDON group which suggested a new stratification of the poor responder patient, and a past board member of the ESHRE SIG Endocrinology Group. Finally, he is also co-founder of the APHRODITE group which suggested a new classification of the infertile male into five sub-groups who might benefit from medical treatment in terms of spermatogenesis. He is in the Elsevier, Stanford global list of 2% top scientists, and he authored and co-authored 270 + articles (H-index 70, Google Scholar) in international peer reviewed journals as well as chapters in textbooks and the Danish guidelines for OHSS prevention. Peter Humaidan has a wide international scientific network and is frequently invited as a speaker at international conferences.
Prof. Dr. Leen Antonio, MD PhD, is a medical specialist in Endocrinology and Diabetes. She works as endocrinologist and andrologist at the department of Endocrinology of the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium and as an assistant professor at the Department of Chronic Disease and Metabolism of the Faculty of Medicine, KULeuven, Belgium. As a clinician-scientist, her areas of expertise (clinical as well as research research) include andrology, reproductive endocrinology, male infertility, and steroid hormone measurements.
She holds the Clinical Andrologist Certificate from the European Academy of Andrology. She is a member of the guideline committee and male health awareness committee of the European Academy of Andrology and working group leader in COST action ANDRONET. She is associate editor for the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
Professor Barratt is Head of the Division of Post Graduate Medicine at the Medical School, Head of the Reproductive Medicine Group at the University of Dundee as well as a clinical scientist (Hon) with NHS Tayside. He graduated with an Honours degree in Zoology and then completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (University of Wales, Swansea). His PhD, also in Zoology, was under the supervision of Jack Cohen at the University of Birmingham. His formative post-doctoral studies and ART experience was gained at the University of Sheffield [with Ian Cooke] where they specialized in natural cycle IVF. From 1997-2005 he was the Scientific Director of the ART Centre at the Birmingham Women’s Hospital.
Professor Barratt has been awarded a number of honours for outstanding contributions to the discipline e.g. Young Andrologist of the Year, the Professor Sir Robert Edwards keynote lecture at ESHRE. He was awarded a DSc from University of Birmingham and has a h index of 54 (Scopus 2021). Professor Barratt is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is a regularly invited speaker at national and international scientific conferences/workshops. He was a member of the WHO Male Fertility Semen Analysis Taskforce (for both the 4th and 5th editions) and director of the WHO (2012-2017) Male Fertility Expert Working Group which devised a new system for the diagnosis and treatment of the infertile male. He was a member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for 6 years until 2009.
Professor Barratt has been appointed to editorial board of WHO for development of new Semen Analysis manual (6th edition, publication date late 2021). He recently published the global WHO guidelines for semen reference ranges.
He has been on the Editorial Board of Human Reproduction, Human Fertility, Biology of Reproduction, Human Reproduction Update, Journal of Andrology and was Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Human Reproduction from 2013-2018. Currently he is a member of the Editorial board of Physiological Reviews.
Professor Barratt is coordinating the Global Initiative on Male Reproductive Health. His life’s ambition is to see – live – Wales comprehensively beat the All Blacks.
Prof. Dr. med. Hermann M. Behre is Director and Chief Physician of the Centre of Reproductive Medicine and Andrology at the University Hospital Halle (Saale), and Full Professor at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. He also serves as the Head of the Fertility Center at the University Hospital in Münster,Germany. Professor Behre is a board-certified specialist in urology and andrology as well as in obstetrics and gynaecology, gynaecological endocrinology and reproductive medicine. He is currently President of the European Academy of Andrology and formerly held positions as President of the German Society of Andrology, President of the German Society of Reproductive Medicine and Presidentof the German Federation of Reproductive Biology and Medicine. Professor Behre has authored numerous scientific publications and contributed as co-editor and author to several authoritative national and international medical textbooks. His main research interests include the action and deficiency of testosterone, as well as maleand female infertility.
Since 1996 Niels Jørgensen has undertaken and coordinated Danish and international scientific projects focussing on the testicular function of more than 12,000 men from the general populations, selected fertile or infertile men. ). Besides describing the acutal testicular function (semen quality and endocrine function) these studies have also focussed on addressing the impact of exogenous exposures, life style and genetic factors on testicular function.
Current research
Impact of life style, genetic factors and exogenous exposures on testicular function.
Long term concequences of impaired testicular function
Methods for assessment of semen quality.
Treatments of male infertility.
Allan obtained his PhD from the University of St. Andrews in 1991 and after a Fellowship at the Universitié de Paris VI (funded by The Royal Society of London) he joined the University of Sheffield in 1992. He was appointed to Lecturer in 1997, Senior Lecturer in 2001 and Professor in 2015. Recently Allan joined the University of Manchester (UK) to take up the position of Deputy Vice President and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health.
During his career Allan has published over 250 research papers, book chapters and review articles on various aspects of male fertility. He has also delivered over 130 plenary lectures at national and international conferences as well as over 250 other lectures at various conferences, workshops and seminars.
He is a former Secretary (2005-2010) and Chairman (2012-2015) of the British Fertility Society and former Editor in Chief of the BFS journal Human Fertility (2015-2022) and now emeritus Editor in Chief. He is a currently a member of the Fertility Guideline Development Group for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. He is a trustee of the Progress Educational Trust and Chairman of the UKNEQAS Reproductive Sciences Advisory Group.
In addition, Allan is an accomplished science communicator and broadcaster. Recent television programmes include Me, My Brother and our Balls (2020), Alex Jones – Fertility and Me (2016), Britain’s Secret Code Breaker (2011), Donor Unknown (2011), The Great Sperm Race (2009), The Truth About Food (2007), Make me a Baby (2007) and Lab Rats (2004). He has also given over
In 2016 he was awarded an MBE by the Queen for services to Reproductive Medicine. You can follow his general musings about science, fertility and the life of an academic on Twitter and Instagram @allanpacey.
Dr. Daniele Santi obtained the medical doctor degree with Honors at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE) in 2008. He obtained with Honors the specialization in Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2014 and his PhD in Clinical and Experimental Medicine in 2017 from UNIMORE. Currently, Dr. Santi works as Assistant Professor at the Unit of Endocrinology of the Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences of the UNIMORE. He obtained the national scientific qualification as associate professor in Endocrinology (MED/13, 06/D2), in 2020.
He has published 135 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals (ORCID: 0000-0001-6607-7105), with 3200 citations and a H-index of 30 (Scopus).
In 2015, he obtained the ESE (European society of endocrinology) young investigator and the under-32 SIE (Italian society of endocrinology) awards. He is coordinator of the committee “Young endocrinologists” in both SIE and Italian society of medical andrology and sexual medicine (SIAMS). He is member of the executive committees of SIE and general secretary of SIAMS. He is associate editor a member of the peer-reviewed “Andrology”, “Frontiers in Endocrinology” and “Reproductive Medicine” journals. Moreover, he is the andrology section Editor for the new peer-reviewed journal “Reproductive, Female and Child Health”. He was editorial assistant of the peer-reviewed “Andrology” journal from 2018 to 2020.
Manuela Simoni trained as a clinical endocrinologist at the Endocrinology Unit of the University of Modena in Italy between 1982 and 1990, following this with training as a molecular endocrinologist at the Institute of Reproductive Medicine of the University of Münster in Germany. She was Professor for Endocrinology and Molecular Biology of Reproduction at the University of Münster from 1998 to 2008, being appointed to her current position as Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in 2008.
Professor Simoni’s research interests are in: gonadotropin and androgen action; testicular function; male infertility; and the endocrinology and pathophysiology of reproduction. She is a member of several societies, including the European Academy of Andrology (EAA) and the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE), serving as the ESE secretary until April 2018, and is active on the editorial boards of several journals in the fields of endocrinology and reproduction. She has been Co-Editor-in-Chief of Andrology, the official journal of the EAA and the American Society of Andrology (ASA), since January 2017.
Filippo Maria Ubaldi is Medical Doctor, Clinical Director at the GENERA Centres for Reproductive Medicine in Rome, Marostica, Umbertide and Naples, Italy. With academic degrees in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Masters in Andrology and Reproductive Medicine, PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Andrology and Reproductive Medicine, he is also intensely dedicated to educational, editorial and practitioner activities.
Co-author of 10 books on the topic of Reproductive Medicine, author and co-author of 146 scientific papers of which 131 are peer reviewed journals (PubMed 01/12/2018); author H-index is 43. Editor of the treaty on Reproductive Medicine ‘Medicina della Riproduzione Umana’ published in Italy in 2010. Invited as speaker at 422 National and International congresses on the topic of Reproductive Medicine and has been Scientific Coordinator of 74 congresses and courses. Member of the ESHRE Executive Committee during 2005-2009, he has been Chairman of the 26th ESHRE Annual Meeting held in Rome in June 2010. In 2014 he received the Italian National Scientific License as full Professor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and between 2014-2015 has been member of the technical advisory board established by the Ministry of Health on heterologous fertilization.
Alberto Vaiarelli is a Surgeon, specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, PhD in Experimental Endocrinological and Metabolic Sciences with a Master’s Degree in Andrology and Reproductive Medicine and National Scientific Qualification for First Level University Professor. For more than 15 years he has been dealing with couple sterility and PMA techniques.
Medical and Scientific Coordinator of the Genera Roma center.
National Secretary of the Italian Society of Fertility-Sterility and Reproductive Medicine
Teacher in the disciplinary field of Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine in various Level I-II University Masters and Specialty courses in the Medical area.
Member of the teaching staff for second level Master’s degrees at the University of Pavia.
