A Midland fertility clinic has appointed a new embryologist to help more couples realise their dreams of becoming parents.
Victoria Duffield has joined Midland Fertility Services, based in Aldridge, Walsall, as a trainee clinical embryologist.
Her responsibilities include the diagnostic assessment of semen samples, the in-vitro culture of eggs and embryos, and the cryopreservation of patients' sperm, eggs and embryos.
Miss Duffield, who lives in Lichfield, will complete her Certificate in Clinical Embryology by 2007 to become a fully qualified embryologist.
This will mean she is licenced to perform egg recoveries and embryo transfers, as well as injecting sperm into eggs as part of the IVF ICSI procedure.
The 24-year-old said: " Embryology is a fast-developing lab discipline and offers me constant variety.
"Working at MFS also gives me the added bonus of daily patient contact - it's very satisfying getting a positive treatment result and seeing happy patients." Su Barlow, the clinic's laboratory director, added: " Victoria joins MFS at a very exciting time.
"Our clinical pregnancy rate of 26.4 per cent per cycle started for IVF and ICSI for January to May shows an improvement of 123.7 per cent on the same period for 2004, as a result of constantly improving techniques and the skills of the embryology team at MFS.
"In addition we are currently awaiting the birth of the UK's first twins conceived from frozen eggs after the mother's treatment at MFS."
