Jacques Cohen, PhD

James H. Segars, MD

For many couples affected by infertility, the assisted reproductive technologies (ART) of in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection have provided a means to conceive and build families. Gamete and embryo storage have become essential to optimize the likelihood of conception from ART. New technologies such as vitrification and “freeze all” approaches to the practice have greatly augmented the percentage of couples incorporating cryopreservation during ART. In fact, based on 2016 data from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) in the United States, elective cryopreservation has increased threefold in the past years and over 50% of cycles in women younger than 40 involved frozen embryo transfer. Despite this remarkable shift in practice, there are few authoritative and comprehensive reviews of this critical aspect of assisted reproduction. This important topic will be thoroughly discussed in this issue of the Seminars in Reproductive Medicine by a world-renowned expert in assisted reproduction and gamete biology, Dr. Jacques Cohen.

I first met Dr. Cohen almost 20 years ago when he became the director and founder of the ART Institute of Washington, which runs the laboratory for the joint National Institutes of Health and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center IVF program in Bethesda, MD. In the interest of full disclosure, at that time I served as medical director for that ART program. It was through our professional relationship I became personally acquainted with his exceptional intellect and humble nature.

Dr. Cohen is uniquely qualified to serve as guest editor for this issue. He has a distinguished career as a reproductive scientist and innovator for IVF methodologies and devices in use in embryology laboratories. Jacques Cohen was born in The Hague, the Netherlands, and graduated in biology of reproductive science at Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands. He earned his PhD from Erasmus University in Rotterdam in various aspects of in vitro fertilization and male factor infertility. His postdoctoral studies were performed at Cambridge University and Bourn Hall Clinic under the guidance of the Nobel Laureate Sir Robert Edwards.

Dr. Cohen is product developer and cofounder of Althea Science, which develops software solutions for laboratories and clinics. He was cofounder of Reprogenetics, a preimplantation genetic diagnostic (PGD) service, now known as Cooper Genomics. He was a cofounder and product developer of Life-Global/IVF-Online. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, several textbooks, and 12 patents. He is Emeritus Chief Editor of Reproductive Biomedicine Online. He was one of the founders of Alpha – Scientists in Reproductive Medicine and one of the founders of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis International Society (PGDIS). Dr. Cohen still serves as president of the ART Institute of Washington in Bethesda, MD, and interim CEO of Althea Science Inc. in New York, NY.

As guest editor, Dr. Cohen has assembled authors who are recognized for their special expertise in gamete biology and embryo storage. The manuscripts are timely, but they also reveal timeless essential principles that govern both the biology and practice of gamete storage for the field of assisted reproduction. Readers will be provided with both practical tips and an up-to-date understanding of this important and crucial growing dimension of ART.