TasIVF clinical director Bill Watkins reflects on his 25-year career ahead of impending retirement

From the emotional highs to the incredible lows, widely respected fertility expert Bill Watkins reflects on his incredible 25-year career of making babies in Tasmania. HIS STORY >>

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IT would be fair to say there are thousands of Tasmanians whose very existence is a credit to the knowledge and dedication of Bill Watkins.

The TasIVF clinical director has announced he is retiring at the end of the month after 25 years and helping more than 5000 families.

Since joining TasIVF in 1996, the leaps forward in assisted reproductive services have been exponential, with new incubators and new techniques to the laboratory processes resulting in the Hobart clinic’s pregnancy rate almost doubling just last year.

Doctor Bill Watkins who is retiring from TasIVF after 25 years. Picture Nikki Davis-Jones

Dr Watkins said he felt like now was the right time to hand over the reins as he felt he was going out on a high.

“I’ve had a fantastic career, but it’s pretty tiring and all consuming – there’s the emotional exhaustion of dealing with emotional subjects on a daily basis,” he said.

“I feel sad, excited and a little bit guilty [to be retiring] because I’m leaving some patients who I haven’t succeeded with yet.

“When it works, it’s very rewarding work though of course the other side of the coin when it doesn’t work, it’s stressful for the patients and you take on some of that as well.”

The widely respected doctor, whose father started TasIVF in 1983, said along with the incredible medical advances, social norms had also changed, with the treatment of single women, same sex couples and surrogacy becoming accepted during his time.

Dr Watkins said he had many proud achievements and he would miss his patients and staff.

“I’ll always remember one patient Jane who had 23 egg collections before she got her first baby,” he said.

“It’s not necessarily the IVF successes that I’m most proud of – it’s the patients who managed to get pregnant without using the high tech and expensive treatments – I take pride in the fact that I’ve talked people down from invasive treatments.”

Seeing the introduction of artificial intelligence embryo selection where a computer program assists in choosing the embryo most likely to create a pregnancy was an unexpected and game-changing development for the field, Dr Watkins said.

“You never know when the next advance is coming – for years, I’ve been thinking there won’t be any more and then there are,” he said.

Bill Watkins with Marina Allen and son Lenny 4 months. Marina was a patient for 10 years. Doctor Bill Watkins who is retiring from TasIVF after 25 years. Picture Nikki Davis-Jones

Lindisfarne mum Marina Allen, 36, finally fell pregnant – albeit naturally – last year after almost 10 years of IVF treatment with Dr Watkins, giving birth to baby Lenny almost four months ago.

“Bill is a very special person to me – he’s like family, everyone at the clinic is,” she said.

“I miss coming here and I still often bring Lenny in to visit because I can’t stay away. It’s sad, but I’m happy for him.”

Dr Watkins said he planned to learn French and a musical instrument in retirement as well as going into clothing design.

Melbourne-based Manuela Toledo, who has worked intermittently at TasIVF for the past five years, will take over as medical director on July 1.