How IVF works, and how Genetic Testing and Fertility Extension will impact family building with Dr. Amber Cooper

Today our guest is Michelle Valentine. She is the Co-founder and CEO at Anrok. We cover lots of ground, discussing her experience founding Anrok and how it compares to her prior career as an investor (with a few investing tips discussed). She also shares her experience using Orchid and how it was a critical part of her eventual path to parenthood.

Today our guest is Dr. Amber Cooper. Dr. Cooper is Chief Medical Officer-Genomics and Laboratory Sciences, and Medical and IVF Practice Director at Kindbody in St. Louis. She is also one of Orchid's Medical Advisors. First she gives us a crash course on IVF and debunks a popular misconception about it. Then we talk about how egg quality changes over time, what egg freezing is, how many eggs someone should freeze based on how many babies they’d like, and what excites her about the future of IVF.

Today our guest is Dr. Roohi Jeelani. She is board certified Reproductive Endocrinologist and Infertility Specialist at Kindbody, and one of Orchid’s Medical Advisory Board members. Dr. Jeelani shares her path to becoming a fertility doctor, and how, due in part to her own PCOS diagnosis, she became the patient herself as she sought fertility treatments to have her first and third child. Dr. Jeelani also debunks myths surrounding birth control, miscarriages, and breastfeeding, and shares her advice for others on their fertility journey. 

Today our guests are Brandon Schram & Aimee Gupta, who opted to use IVF and genetic screening to reduce their future child’s risk of hemophilia, a blood clotting condition that runs in Aimee’s family. They share their IVF journey, as well as how beneficial genetic testing became for them when they later discovered their daughter had a rare genetic mutation that was causing her to have seizures as an infant. We also talk about the stigma that IVF can have and how to overcome the common feeling of guilt for passing on genetic mutations to your children.

Today we speak with Dr. Holly Pederson, Staff Physician and Director of Medical Breast Program at the Cleveland Clinic and associate professor at Cleveland Clinic, Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Pederson explains the genetics of breast cancer, the differences amongst available testing, and who should seek out testing. We also talk about how results from genetic testing can help inform your family planning, and Dr. Pederson shares how critical it is for patients to advocate for themselves when seeking out testing. 

Today we are joined by Julia and Kevin Hartz, Co-Founders of Eventbrite. Julia is now Eventbrite’s CEO and Kevin is a Co-Founder and General Partner of A*. Julia and Kevin join us today to talk about how they built Eventbrite, how they built their family at the same time with the birth of their two daughters, and how they are planning to expand their family more than a decade later with the help of Orchid’s embryo screening. We also talk about their parenting philosophy, how that may change for their future children, and the advice they have for people who are thinking about having children.

Our guest today is Dr. Jerry Lanchbury, PhD. He's the previous chief scientific officer at Myriad Genetics. He led teams that were responsible for major molecular diagnostic innovations across oncology, urology, rheumatology, and neuroscience. He has had an incomparable track record in driving molecular genetic discovery from ideation all the way to translation into some high value clinical diagnostics. Dr. Lanchbury shares the historical context and evidence supporting polygenic risk scores (PRS), helping us understand how PRS made its way into clinical practice to fight against various cancers. He also shares why he is excited about polygenic screening of embryos and gives advice for patients seeking genetic testing.

Today we have the pleasure of speaking with two incredible guests: Noah Smith, economic writer, and Stephanie Sher, Investor in AI and data infrastructure. Noor, Noah, and Steph tackle one of today's toughest issues, modern dating. They discuss why it is so difficult, the difference in women's and men's desired timeline to start a family (and the resulting complications of that misalignment), and things we can do to make modern dating and finding one's match easier. Tune in for a fun and insightful  discussion.

Today our guest is Barry Behr, Ph.D., H.C.L.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility), Emeritus. Barry takes us behind the curtain, walking us through the process of IVF, including how eggs are retrieved from ovaries, how they’re fertilized with sperm, and how genetic testing is performed with the resulting blastocyst. He shares insights into the big advancements in IVF that have made the process so reliable, and what excites him about the future of IVF. Orchid is proud to support the critical fertility care that Dr. Behr and hundreds of others provide every single day.

Today we welcome Tim Urban on the show! Tim is the author of the wildly popular blog Wait But Why, author of the book What’s Our Problem, and is in the process of writing a new book. Tim shares insights about his Life Calendar, becoming a parent, procrastination, and some details about the book he is currently writing. We even talk a bit about why AI is such a challenge for our primitive hunter-gatherer brains, and his predictions about AI spouses.