At the IFFS World Congress in Tokyo, Dr. Marcos Horton was named the new president of IFFS. We talked to him about why he pursued a career in infertility and his plans for IFFS and the More Joy campaign.
Q. Congratulations Dr. Horton. What did you think of the World Congress?
MH: I thought the Congress was a big success in terms of the quality of the scientific talks and the networking. The IFFS booth was at the entrance where everyone came in; we had flags from all the countries and people picked up their flag and had their picture taken. We all made many new friends and acquaintances. The venue was amazing, and it was very well organized. Louise Brown sent a video message and joined the More Joy campaign, so that was very exciting.
Q. How did you become interested in working in fertility?
MH: When I was 13, in 1978, [first IVF baby] Louise Brown was born. I was on my way to school, and I saw the paper and thought it was amazing and decided that’s what I wanted to do when I grow up. When I finished high school and got into university I was interested in gynecology, and then I started working toward fertility. I did my residency as an obgyn at the British Hospital in Buenos Aires where there was a well-known fertility specialist. Laparoscopy was blooming in the 90’s and IVF was already practiced in Latin America. In 1994, I went to Pasadena CA for a fellowship in Assisted Reproduction, and when I returned to Argentina I started working as an IVF doctor.
Q. How did you become involved in IFFS?
I started working with IFFS in 2010 because someone proposed me to be the Argentinian representative. I was president of the Argentinian society at the time, so it was natural for me to be the representative from my country. Then I continued as part of the executive committee as treasurer for two terms, then president-elect and now president.
Q. What are the most urgent issues facing the reproductive health community?
Access is the main issue. In certain regions of the world access is very, very low. There was a resistance to reproductive medicine because of concerns about multiple births, which generated bad press for many years. Once we started transferring only one embryo and lab techniques got better, we lowered multiple births. Access remains an issue and needs to be a priority not only for low-resource countries but also for LGBTQ and people with genetic diseases who need ART/IVF even though they are not infertile. Europe and Asia have good access, but in other regions of the world, access to reproductive medicine care is still low.
Q. What exciting trends do you see in assisted reproductive technologies?
Automation in the lab is really exciting. It’s not only AI but the automation of procedures that are dependent on the operator. Lab technician’s performance can vary a lot so automation will improve efficiency and safety. Electronic witnessing systems, and technology in general is really improving safety and efficacy.
Q. What are your plans for IFFS?
Quite a lot. IFFS has grown, especially in the last 5 years. The pandemic presented a lot of challenges, but it was an opportunity for IFFS to rebrand, restructure, and develop and expand our online presence. We gained more visibility and this will continue. That said, in-person meetings like the Congress we just had and networking are really important.
We want to expand IFFS’ visibility in other countries and enhance our relationships with Africa and China. China is a big audience for us. We organized a World Congress in Shanghai in 2019 and that audience continues to join our webinars and was also a big presence at the Tokyo World Congress. We also want to expand involvement by the new generation, which started with [outgoing president] Edgar [Mocanu]. We’ve engaged new people in their 30’s and 40’s such as Elif Goknur Topcu from Turkey and Zahra Zaidi from Pakistan who are building a team with other young practitioners, and this will improve our outreach to the next generation. I also want to expand our work with the IFFS Academy online education platform, our nurses’ department and embryology team. It’s all very exciting.
Q. What’s next for the More Joy campaign?
We need to involve corporations and demographers. Demographers have been publishing research on the effects of pro-family policies in places like Singapore. We need to learn more about the results of these policies. We can’t just talk about fertility and access; we need to look at the social aspects of why people aren’t having children.
We’ll continue to fundraise and engage sponsors; and we need to engage companies that have fertility-friendly policies, like Google, Facebook and Mercado Libre in Latin America. They could be More Joy ambassadors, and strong advocates to raise awareness and spread our message. And they’ll be hearing from us soon.
