Dr Ron Chang retires after 30 years at Queensland Fertility Group in Townsville

When Dr Ron Chang walks through shopping centres in Townsville, he sees the hundreds of families he helped have children. Now he’s passing on the baton.

Laura with her one year old son and four year old daughter and QFG Townsville, Dr Ron Chang. Picture: Shae Beplate.

After almost 30 years of helping hundreds of families, a Townsville fertility specialist is handing over the reins.

Dr Ron Chang is retiring after almost three decades of working as an obstetrician-gynaecologist and said it has been a privilege to help so many people fulfil their dreams of being a parent.

“It’s a very emotional journey,” he said.

“We still see families around town, in the shopping centres and they are very grateful and I am very lucky to be involved to help so many couples achieve their dreams.”

“We see couples trying for a considerable length of time, without any sort of success, we have a chat to them and sort out what needs doing. It’s also very much a team approach with nurses and scientists administrative start.”

Laura with her one year old son and four year old daughter and QFG Townsville, Dr Ron Chang. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Laura is one of many in the region who used Dr Chang’s services at Queensland Fertility Group’s clinic in Townsville.

She said without it, she wouldn’t have her 4-year-old daughter and 16-month-old son.

Laura and her husband started their IVF journey in 2019, after several years of trying to conceive naturally.

“Emotionally and physically, it's a lot. It’s not something that you would wish on anybody.”

She said when trying for her daughter, she underwent five transfers before she fell pregnant with her, and eight transfer before she got pregnant with her son.

“Dr Chang said there was very little chance of me conceiving naturally,” Laura said.

Much-loved QFG Townsville doctor, Dr Ron Chang retires, passing the baton to Dr Vanessa Lusink, local IVF specialist who now calls Townsville her home. Picture: Shae Beplate.

She said what made the process easier was the relationship with the staff, doctors and nurses at the clinic.

“Even on tough parenting days, we often reflect that we may not have ever been in this position, to be raising our children. “We are so grateful for the advances in science that have helped us and for Dr Chang’s expertise and the QFG team in enabling us to grow our family”.

Dr Vanessa Lusink will take over Dr Chang’s role, after she moved to Townsville five years ago to complete training in gynaecology surgery.

UNSW researchers have found Queensland Fertility Group Townsville has the highest pregnancy success rates in Queensland for women under 35, with 64.4 per cent of embryo transfers resulting in a baby.

QFG Townsville team Robyn Rattray, Linda Robertson, Clarissa Hammerton, Dr Ron Chang, Dr Vanessa Lusink, Justine Cheeseman and Melissa Chapple. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Dr Chang said he prided his work being a “holistic approach” and said the clinic at Hyde Park meant those considering IVF did not have to travel to major centres such as Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne.

In his time Dr Chang said he has seen remarkable changes in IVF technology including the ultrasound and time-lapse embryo incubators and the introduction of AI-assisted embryo selection.

Dr Chang said “more and more” people are turning to IVF as an option.

“1 in 20 births now are from IVF-assisted reproduction,” he said.

Seeing a bright future for the clinic in the hands of Dr Lusink, Dr Chang said it was time for him to move on.

“Dr Lusink has been with us for a few years now and she’s very able and capable so it’s good to be passing the baton on,” he said.

Originally published as Dr Ron Chang retires after 30 years at Queensland Fertility Group in Townsville