ASRM Today: Equity, Access, and Innovation, Episode Nine: Reflections

In this ASRM Today podcast episode, host Jeffrey Hayes reflects on the theme of Season 2, "equity, access, and innovation," in reproductive medicine. The season explores these ideas through personal, political, and cultural lenses, including an analysis of pop culture’s influence and discussions from the ASRM 2024 Congress. Hayes emphasizes the value of ongoing innovation, personal growth, and collaboration in advancing reproductive health. 

The final scene of Back to the Future is iconic. After successfully helping his parents fall in love in 1955 and returning to 1985, Marty McFly wakes up in his home to find that his life has changed for the better. His once struggling family is now thriving.

His father, George McFly, is a confident and successful author, and his mother Lorraine is happy and healthy. Marty's older siblings are doing well also. As Marty steps outside thinking everything is back to normal, Doc Brown suddenly arrives in the DeLorean, which is now equipped with new futuristic modifications, including a Mr. Fusion power source.

Doc is in a frantic rush and tells Marty that something must be done about his future. He insists that Marty and his girlfriend, Jennifer, come with him to the future immediately. When Marty asks how are they going to have room to blast to the future on the neighborhood road, Doc famously responds, Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.

I've admired Doc Brown's final line for quite some time in my adult professional life, not because of the flying car aspect at the moment, but because it can also be interpreted as a statement of freedom, a statement of possibility. This season has been a journey of possibility, and I'm wondering about some of the things I've been able to take away from it. I'm Jeffrey Hayes, and this is ASRM Today.

Welcome to ASRM Today, a podcast that takes a deeper dive into the current topics in reproductive medicine. While I can revel in the possibilities of a journey, I sometimes must remind myself that the beginning was not exactly easy. In designing Season 2, the ASRM Today podcast team mulled over many directions, ultimately choosing to go with the theme of our Congress, equity, access, and innovation.

But where do you go when the roads are infinite, even if you have a plan? That's why we decided to spend time digging into what could be the meaning of the theme in this challenging, rewarding field of reproductive medicine. Personal experience and insight has always been important to ASRM Today in bringing that deeper dive into this field. So we started with getting the perspectives of those who are in the day-to-day, those in practice, the educators, the patients, people that help shape the ideas of equity, access, and innovation constantly.

But we weren't just satisfied with that. We challenged ourselves by dissecting how pop culture looks at the field by breaking down the film Gattaca, continued to investigate the political with a Policy Matters episode, looked to the future by presenting the meaningful sessions at our ASRM 2024 Congress. Through the various worlds of experience of the personal, artistic, political, and educational perspectives we covered this season, I have come away with an augmented understanding of what equity, access, and innovation means to reproductive medicine.

I understand that there are new possibilities created every day through our interactions, whether that be amongst peers or with patients. Through research and education, innovation is possible. But that innovation extends to not just the creation of tangible objects, but creation of the innovations that come from personal growth and being open to change.

That equity, access, and innovation intersect constantly and present the new avenues to keep pushing reproductive medicine into the future. We want to hear your thoughts on what you walked away with this season as well. And you can share those with us by emailing asrm at asrm.org. We are going to take a short break after this episode, but we'll be back in November with new episodes while we work hard on Season 3 of the podcast, which will be coming to you in the first part of 2025.

Until next time, I'm Jeffrey Hayes, and this is ASRM Today. This concludes this episode of ASRM Today. For show notes, author information, and discussions, go to asrmtoday.org. This material is copyrighted by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and may not be reproduced or used without express consent from ASRM.

ASRM Today series podcasts are supported in part by the ASRM Corporate Member Council. The information and opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of ASRM and its affiliates. These are provided as a source of general information and are not a substitute for consultation with a physician.