‘Baby Whisperer’ and Embryologist Cecilia Sjoblom reveals what Australians must know about IVF

Embryologist Cecilia Sjoblom is called in to help failing IVF clinics. She reveals little known secrets to success and where Australia needs to lift its game.

When IVF clinics around the world are struggling with their success rates, it is this Australian “baby whisperer” they turn to for help.

The University of Sydney’s Associate Professor Cecilia Sjoblom, the Scientific Director and Embryologist at Westmead Fertility Centre, is a 26-year veteran in the industry and regarded as a global expert.

Originally from Sweden, she trains embryologists and IVF lab workers here and abroad.

She is an expert in the laboratory conditions needed for successful IVF and she helped develop a culture medium for IVF.

And she reveals something few couples trying for a baby realise – “70 per cent of the outcome in IVF depends not on the doctor but the performance of the clinics embryology laboratory and the training of its embryologists”.

Cecilia Sjoblom, Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and Scientific Director of the Westmead Fertility Centre. Picture: Supplied

She said Australia has no formal training standards for embryologists, in contrast to other parts of the developed world.

In the UK, an embryologist must train for three years and obtain a masters degree to qualify as an embryologist. A further six years of training is required before they become a senior embryologist.

In Australia, an embryologist only has to do a general science degree before they can get a job in an IVF clinic and there is no formal requirement they have a masters degree or a PHD.

“Here in Australia, the risk is if you start training this year, and the person who is more senior than you moves on from their job and that leaves only you, then you may get assigned to be a senior,” she said.

That means, breathtakingly, a senior embryologist in Australia could have much less experience than the 6-7 years required to sit exams and qualify as a senior Embryologist in the UK, Europe, or US.

The Reproduction Technology Accreditation Committee (RTAC) code of practice was recently upgraded and now requires someone to have a master’s degree if they lead a laboratory.

Laboratory practices, standards and equipment standards are also vital and if they are not good can be a major contributor to IVF failure.

“Embryos are primitive cells, if you stress them, they’re not going to survive and obviously then they’re not going to get anyone pregnant,” said A/Prof Sjoblom.

“The laboratory can’t just be a room in your clinic. It has to be fitted with these very specific specialised fans and filters which is very important here in Australia where we have negative

environmental factors such as bushfires effecting outcomes. You need to be able to isolate

your air into the laboratory.”