News and Links

This section of the web site will be devoted to updating you on what's new locally as well as nationally. Also we will point out other useful web sites.

                                   VALUABLE WEB SITES

This site is a listing of all of the board certified reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialists in the U.S. The listing is geographic http://www.socrei.org

Resolve is the national organization for the support of the patient with infertility. They have fact sheets and contacts with local support groups: http://www.resolve.org

Serono laboratories which produces ovulation medication has supported 2 educational web site:  http://www.fertilityworld.org    and http://www.ferti.net .  Both sites have extensive educational material.

Ferring which produces Repronex has a web site which provides information on Repronex: http://www.ferringusa.com


An excellent spiritual support group: http://www.hannah.org

The American society for Reproductive Medicine has a web site with many fact sheets: http://www.asrm.org

Fertility Network has information about clinics, pharmacies and treatments at: http://www.fertilitynetwork.com

This is a fun new site that illustrates the function of the ovary: http://www.seronocycle.com 

                                                   News

October Of 2006:  Cincinnati Enquirer article appears with Dr Scheiber interviewed regarding IRH's shared risk program.  This program allows qualified candidates for a fee to undergo as many as 3 fresh and 3 frozen IVF cycles.  If live birth results, the fee is earned by the center.  If live birth does not result, the center refunds most of the initial fee thus "sharing" in the risk of the cost of the procedure.  IRH's program has been very successful.   Our goal has always been to provide as many contemporary options as possible.  

October of 2006:  IRH is represented by several speakers at the Ohio Resolve meeting.  Dr Awadalla and nurse West as well as Joyce Friedman spoke at the well attended meeting.  Channel 9's Tricia Macke was the key note motivational speaker.  She chronicled her experience with infertility and miscarriage.  The meeting was well attended.

July of 2006:  Dr Awadalla and Dr Robert Stephens are interviewed by the

June of 2006:  The Cincinnati Enquirer publishes an article about the research program at IRH about In Vivo Fertilization.  IRH was the only Ohio program participating in this study.  This involved incubating the eggs and sperm in a capsule placed in the vagina.  Fertilization happened in the human body.   The article featured and interview with Dr Scheiber our director of research and one of our patients who was pregnant from the study.

Spring of 2006:  The Cincinnati Enquirer publishes a program about IRH's innovative program for "single embryo transfer " ( SET ).   This procedure reduces the risk of multiple birth and is becoming a viable option due to improvements in technology.  The article featured  The Dolans who conceived with SET and were expecting a boy.

Spring of 2005:  IRH has experienced at this point several births from Preimplantation genetic diagnosis.  This technology allows couples who have had a child with a severe frequently lethal genetic trait to do in vitro fertilization and test the embryos.  Healthy embryos without  the disease are then transferred to reduce the risk of having a child with the same severe disease.   The PGD program is highly complex and involves our lab working in collaboration with one of several genetic labs.

Fall of 2004:  Channel 9's Tricia Macke follows a couple from beginning to end through In Vitro Fertilization.  Jamie and Andy are struggling with infertility.  Jamie needs to have a hysterectomy soon due to gynecologic disease.  They are in a struggle to get pregnant before this is necessary.  The couple is followed from the beginning of the treatment to the moment where they are waiting in the office with their physician Dr Awadalla for the news of the pregnancy test.  This was a 3 part series.  Jamie and Andy were taped live as they received the news that Jaime was pregnant!!!!!  Channel 9 was also there for Jamie's delivery at Christ Hospital. 

October 2003:  Many of IRH staff Members travel to San Antonio for the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.   This is our largest national meeting.  We shared in presentations as well as exchanged ideas with leading programs in the world.

August 2003:  Our annual IVF baby party was held at Kings Island.   Several hundred patients, babies and staff members were there to celebrate.   The weather was perfect.  After the picnic and group photo, those with courage and a strong stomach tried the Son of Beast and other roller coasters.  More than 2,900 babies have been born to date from IVF through the efforts of IRA staff.

July 2003:  Dr. Michael Scheiber travels to Spain to present data at the European Society for Human Reproduction.  This is the largest meeting in Europe dedicated to Infertility.

June 2003:  Hyde Park Magazine features the Institute for Reproductive Health in an article about Father's Day.

June 2003:  Our laboratory staff travel with Dr Erica Behnke PhD from our center to Denver for the American Association of Bioanalysis meeting. 

May 2003:  Dr. Scheiber is interviewed on the radio Show "On Your Feet" which was aired on WVXU NPR station.  He answered many questions from call in listeners.

April 2003:  Dr. Awadalla is interviewed by Ann Thompson on the radio show "Focus on Technology".  New infertility treatments were discussed.

November 25, 2002:  Congratulations to Channel 9's Lynn Gird who delivered triplet boys from IVF at Good Samaritan Hospital.  Lynn's exciting pregnancy and delivery were followed by channel 9 including video of the birth by Cesarean Section.  For more information go to http://www.wcpo.com .

August 2002:  The Institute for Reproductive Health hosts the annual IVF baby party.  The center has experienced more than 2,300 births from IVF.  More than 1,000 attended the event.  This included parents, babies, children, grandparents and staff.  We all enjoyed fun, food, door prizes and rides.

July 2002:  The first birth at IRH from laser assisted hatching.  This is a technique to thin the shell of the embryo prior to transfer.  Previously this was done by a mechanical technique.  Use of the laser is associated with higher precision.

March 8, 2001: Dr Sherif Awadalla is interviewed by Carol Williams of channel 9 news regarding In Vitro Fertilization.

November 12, 2001: The Institute for Reproductive Health moves into its new home in Rookwood Tower in Hyde Park. The new facility is a 10,000 square foot complete fertility center. It includes office and clinic space as well as state of the art sperm and embryo labs. An on site egg retrieval suite allows for complete state of the art care at one location. The clinic was designed to offer the newest technical innovations in a comfortable private warm setting.

September 2001: Dr Michael Scheiber, director of research, brings a new study of polycystic ovaries (PCOD) to the Institute. This study will examine two ovulation drug combinations for women with this disorder.

February 21, 2001: Channel 19 aired and interview with Dr Awadalla about AESOP. AESOP is a robot which assists in laparoscopic surgery. AESOP is voice controlled through an interactive computer. It responds to verbal commands. Robotic surgical assistants of various complexities are under development. AESOP is already on the job here.

October 21 - 25,2000: A staff of doctors, nurses and laboratory personnel attended the annual meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine in San Diego California. Our staff participated in meetings and panels and was involved in 2 formal presentations. Nurse West was responsible for the nurses' postgraduate course. Dr Scheiber spearheaded our research presentation efforts.

October 14, 2000: The Christ Hospital hosted a formal fertility seminar. Over 100 individuals attended. Drs Awadalla, Scheiber and Behnke made formal presentation.

October 7, 2000: The annual Columbus Resolve educational seminar was held at Ohio State University. Drs Behnke and Awadalla were invited to speak.

September 16, 2000: Our annual IVF baby party was held. We celebrated the 1,600 babies that have been born through our IVF program. More than 1,000 adults and children attended. This is our largest gathering ever! Channel 12 news covered our event which was timed to coincide with National infertility awareness week.

April 4, 2000: Our annual educational seminar was held at the Alliance Integrative Health Center in Kenwood. This patient seminar featured area speakers on topics ranging from male factor infertility to IVF.

March 3 of 2000: Dr Awadalla was interviewed by Tim Bonfield of the Cincinnati Enquirer about egg donation in the tristate. There is a severe shortage of egg donors. Candidates for egg donation need to be less than or equal to age 32, in good health and nonsmokers.

March 2 of 2000: Dr. Scheiber is interviewed by channel 5 regarding egg donation. The interview was prompted by a couple who advertised locally for a donor. As a result of the publicity we received many inquiries regarding oocyte donation.

February of 2000: Robin Williams of channel 12 interviews Dr. Awadalla and Nurse West regarding the donor egg program at the Institute. Egg donation has received a great deal of attention recently because of the high publicity cases where couples have been willing to "pay" large sums of models for "model donors".

January of 2000: Dr Scheiber is interviewed by Cincinnati Woman magazine regarding a range of infertility topics.

October of 1999: Our annual patient seminar entitled: "Infertility: What's the Next Step" was held at the Christ Hospital. The seminar featured a variety of speakers who discussed topics from IVF to stress management. The seminar was well attended and hopefully will be repeated on a yearly basis.

September of 1999: the annual "Baby Bash" picnic was held at Parky's Farm in Winton Woods. This is the annual IVF baby reunion. More than 1,000 babies and parents celebrated. The center has now had more than 1,400 births from IVF technology.



March of 1999: Dr. Awadalla is interviewed by Channel 9 news regarding in vitro fertilization and advanced embryo transfer. Two couples were interviewed. They each conceived through blastocyst transfer which is a promising technique.

February of 1999: The Cincinnati Enquirer publishes a story about the Greater Cincinnati Institute for Reproductive Health.

January of 1999: The U.S. birth of a set of octuplets raises new concerns about multiple births. The birth was as a result of ovulation inducing drugs in an extremely young patient. Naturally octuplets are extremely rare. The most common high order (more than twin) multiple pregnancy is a triplet pregnancy. We welcome the renewed concern over multiples. Particularly in the field of IVF, an unhealthy statistics race had developed. Transferring greater numbers of embryos may increase a center's pregnancy rate but can lead to unacceptably high multiple pregnancy rates.

September of 1998: A Fort Thomas couple, under Dr. Awadalla's treatment, is followed by channel 9 reporter Hagit Lamour in a 2 part series. She was followed in a donor egg cycle from beginning to end. The cameras were rolling as she received her phone call about her pregnancy test. Her test was positive, and she is doing well now in her second trimester or pregnancy.

August of 1998: After approximately a 2 year initial trial period, advanced embryo (blastocyst) transfer enters routine clinical practice at GCIRH. Routine protocols for fresh and frozen blastocyst transfer are available.

July of 1998: The wold's first test tube baby (Mary Louise Brown) celebrates her 20th birthday.

June of 1998: The birth of baby 1,000 from IVF at the Greater Cincinnati institute for Reproductive health is announced. This is a major landmark for any program. It was achieved in 6 years of operation at the institute.

cincinnatifertility.com:  your complete source for information on Ohio egg donation.