IVF, Fertility and Infertility Treatment by the London Bridge Fertility, Gynaecology and Genetics Centre

Director and Medical Director

Mohamed Menabawey MBBCH, FRCOG
Mr Menabawey qualified at Cairo University, completing his specialist training in the UK. He has held a Rockefeller Foundation Research Fellowship at The Department of Reproductive Physiology at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College and was subsequently appointed Lecturer and Senior Registrar at St Bartholomew's Hospital.

Mr Menabawey joined Bridge after ten years as Consultant Infertility Specialist and Gynaecologist at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust and Person Responsible for the Assisted Conception Unit services at The University Hospital of Hartlepool during which time he introduced the Quality Assurance System ISO 9002 to the maternity service.

Mr Menabawey has long experience in infertility management and IVF, is an accomplished gynaecological surgeon and an expert in fertility restoration surgery.

Deputy Medical Director

Miss Nataly Atalla MRCOG PhD MSc
Dr Atalla graduated in 1991, trained in obstetrics and gynaecology in Cairo and was granted sponsorship for a PhD in the UK in 1996. She practised as a senior registrar in the NHS and completed her MRCOG and PhD in 1999. This was followed by a five year period of specialised training in reproductive medicine in leading NHS and private centres in the UK - at St Bartholomew's Hospital, Lister IVF Unit, Bourn Hall, ARGC, London Women's Clinic and, finally, at Bridge.

Her experience in assisted conception is wide - with high skills in embryo transfer techniques, outpatient hysteroscopy, transvaginal scanning, management of recurrent implantation failure and recurrent miscarriage. She is an expert in managing egg donation, sperm donation and egg freezing programmes.

After a further period in the Public Sector, Miss Atalla has been accredited as a Consultant and has rejoined Bridge as Deputy Medical Director.

Consultant in Pre-implantation Genetics

Professor Alan Handyside MA PhD
Leading scientist in human embryology and the genetics of early human development who has pioneered the development of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) and Genetic Embryo Testing for chromosome aneuploidy - two groundbreaking techniques for identifying genetic abnormality and for assisting embryo selection which are both now available at Bridge.

Professor Handyside supports the Bridge team in all aspects of patient care and has led an international development team to a major breakthrough with the recent launch of Karyomapping.

Medical Team

Consultant in Reproductive Medicine and Infertility
Michael C. Summers MD PhD FACOG
Michael Summers is a leading international specialist in infertility and assisted reproduction. He was educated at Cambridge University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed a clinical fellowship in infertility and reproductive endocrinology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. In addition to his clinical interests, Dr. Summers also holds degrees in chemistry and structural biology. This has enabled him to pursue a wide area of research, gaining numerous awards and culminating in advanced studies in embryology and PGD.

Michael has held high-level teaching positions on both sides of the Atlantic and practised at several leading American academic institutions and fertility centres. His first love is patient care and he returns to the UK to be more closely involved with Bridge’s UK caseload and with our Donor Egg IVF programme in the USA.

Senior Fertility Specialist
Professor Martha Dirnfeld
Martha Dirnfeld trained as an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the Free University of Brussels and the Carmel Medical Centre in Haifa, Israel. She is a consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and has been the Director of Reproductive Endocrinology and IVF at the Carmel Medical Centre since 1985. Dr Dirnfeld spent a year as a clinical Senior Research Fellow at St Bartholomew's Hospital, is the author of many scientific papers in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technologies and has been a member of the Bridge team since 2003.

Senior Fertility Specialist
Dr Sami Al Shenar MBBS, MRCOG, DFSRH
Dr Al Shenar qualified as a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1999 and then worked in IVF in a very busy fertility centre in Jordan. After moving to the UK in 2001, he worked in obstetrics and gynaecology in NHS hospitals (Royal Blackburn, Wythenshawe, Royal Oldham, Darlington, Barts & The London) and, in 2007, gained the Diploma of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London. Dr Al Shenar has wide experience in minimal access surgery, ultrasound scanning and all areas of fertility treatment and joined the Bridge team in 2008 as a Fertility Specialist.

Associate Director

Mr Laurence M A Shaw MB BS (LOND) FRCOG
Laurence Shaw qualified at St Bartholomew's Medical School and held a consultant post at East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust until September 2005. He has served as Clinical and Medical Director in the NHS. His main interests are the diagnosis of infertility, menopause and endoscopic surgery. He maintains his links with Kent through regular surgeries in Thanet and Canterbury.

Consultants

Fertility Specialist (Male Factor)
Dr. Richard Balet MD
Richard Balet trained as an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the University of Paris. After ten years at the Polyclinique in Deauville, where he was responsible for directing the IVF programme, Dr Balet moved to London as Senior Research Fellow at the Royal London Hospital and subsequently joined Bridge as a specialist in Male Infertility. Dr Balet has published articles relating to infertility in men with spinal injuries, transport IVF and male infertility in general.

Fertility Specialist  
Mr Kamal Ojha MD FRCOG
Kamal Ojha trained in India and completed his MRCOG in Britain in 1995. He specialises in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and is currently a consultant at the St. George's Medical School in London. His specialised interest is in scanning and, in particular, the new 3D and 4D Doppler imaging techniques now available at Bridge.

Fertility Specialist  
Miss Dayo Abayomi, MB BS, MSc (Lond), FRCOG
Dayo Abayomi is a Consultant Gynaecologist with a special interest in fertility service management. She trained under Professor Lord Robert Winston at Hammersmith Hospital London where she also did a research fellowship with the WHO in 1982, and with Mr John Parsons in the Assisted Conception Unit at King's College Hospital, London, participating in the establishment of a fertility unit in Singapore which she managed for 5 years until 1991.

Scientific Director
Alan Thornhill BSc (Hons) PhD
State Registered Clinical Scientist, High Complexity Laboratory Director - (American Board of Bioanalysis)
One of the UK's leading specialists in diagnostic genetics who has joined Bridge as Scentific Director following periods as Director of the Andrology, IVF and PGD laboratories at Mayo Clinic, USA, and as Scentific Director of the London Fertility Centre. Author of over 100 articles on fertility and genetics.

Alan has a PhD in Genetics from the University of London, with post graduate training in single cell diagnostics at the Institute of Child Health.

Genetic Counsellor
Charlotte Emmerson BScH, MS
The UK's first Genetic Counsellor specialising in fertility, with a Master's Degree in Human Genetics (Sarah Lawrence College, New York). Charlotte supports all Bridge patients and all egg, sperm and embryo donors, translating medical and genetic information into knowledge that is useful and understandable. She has a special interest in Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis and works closely with patients undergoing this treatment.