Our Doctors
Medical Director
Nick Macklon
Professor Macklon is a Medical Director of London Egg Bank. He is a world-renowned expert in reproductive medicine. He has held professorships at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, the University of Southampton and the University of Copenhagen. He has published more than 200 papers, is a member of the British Fertility Covid Advisory Group and past member of the Executive Committee of the European Society of Human Reproduction.
Clinical Director
Shailaja Nair
Dr Shailaja Nair is Clinical Director and a founding member of London Egg Bank. She has more than 20 years' experience in fertility and assisted reproduction. Before joining London Women's Clinic, she worked in West London as an Associate Professor in a large teaching hospital and at the Cromwell IVF programme. Renowned for her passion, Dr Nair has extensive experience in all aspects of assisted conception, with a special focus in egg donation and cryobanking.
Scientific and Managing Director
Kamal Ahuja
Kamal Ahuja gained his PhD at Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Robert Edwards, which sparked his lasting interest in clinical IVF. The ethics of IVF and its cost effectiveness continue to be part of his research interests. Dr Ahuja is Chairman of Reproductive BioMedicine Online, an international medical journal, and the Scientific and Managing Director of London Egg Bank. He pioneered the concept of egg sharing in the UK and since 1994 has been at the forefront of many of the innovations in egg donation and cryopreservation.
Head Of Embryology
Elena Linara-Demakakou
Elena has 17 years of experience in embryology and is qualified in biomedical sciences, prenatal genetics and fetal medicine, and clinical embryology. Her interests span from oocyte and embryo vitrification, prenatal genetics, and quality management, and she has gained valuable decade-long experience in intrauterine insemination. Before joining London Women's Clinic she worked as an embryologist, andrologist, and Deputy Sperm Bank manager.
Deputy Clinical Director for the LEB
Marianne Vendola
Dr Vendola is a graduate from the University of Rome where she received her PHD in Prenatal Medicine, and is also a research scholar at the Thomas Jefferson University of Philadelphia. Prior to joining LEB and LWC she was a Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Hospital Fatebenefratelli in Rome. She has been working as a Consultant in Gynaecology and in Reproductive Medicine at London Women's Clinic since 2016. She has expertise in all aspects of infertility management and performs diagnostic and reproductive surgical procedures such as oocyte retrievals, embryo transfers and IUIs, hycosy and aqua scans. She is also an accredited trainer for those procedures. She specializes in working with various patient groups, including infertile patients, post menopausal patients, surrogacy couples, egg freezers and egg donors.
Consultant Reproductive Medicine, MBBS, MRCOG, DFFP, MRCGP
Priti Jain Maheshwari
Priti is a highly skilled clinician with extensive knowledge and over 10 years of experience. She underwent Fellowship in Assisted Conception at Edinburgh (EFREC). Subsequently, having worked in both NHS and Private Assisted Conception Clinics (Kingston ACU, Care Fertility & iTrust fertility), she has acquired extensive experience in all aspects including ovarian stimulation for IVF/ICSI using own gametes or donor gametes, Fertility Preservation, Egg Donation, Pre-implantation genetic testing. She is competent in all fertility procedures like Oocyte retrievals, Embryo Transfers, and HyCosy & Aqua scans.
Consultant in Reproductive Medicine
Mr Michael Summers MD., PhD., FACOG
Educated at Cambridge University and a member of King's College, Mr Summers has held staff appointments at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London; University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and many more. He is a Clinical Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Division of Reproductive Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Centre. As well as this, he holds an Honorary Readership in the School of Biosciences at the University of Kent. He is currently a Consultant in Reproductive Medicine at London Women's Clinic and London Egg Bank specialising in Fertility, Gynaecology and Genetics.
Deputy Clinical Director
Hemlata Thackare
Dr Thackare completed her clinical research fellowships in reproductive medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, the London Fertility Centre and The Cromwell IVF Unit, Swansea. She has a special interest in endometrial factors in implantation and polycystic ovarian syndrome and received"‘The Best Young Scientist" award from the British Fertility Society in 2004.
Consultant Gynaecologist and IVF Specialist
Timea Kovats
Originally from Hungary, Dr Kovats has been working in the field of reproductive medicine and assisted conception since 1993. Since 2012, Dr Kovats has been settled in the UK, becoming renowned for providing specialist care in fertility. She is highly experienced in all aspects of reproductive medicine, with a particular interest in the complicated cases and management of gynaecological disorders and eventually egg donation when she joined London Women's Clinic over six years ago.
Consultant Gynaecologist
Mohar Goswami
Mohar Goswami is a Consultant Gynaecologist and Sub Specialist in Reproductive Medicine, having trained at Newcastle followed by a successful period at the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust in London. Before joining LWC in 2018, for many years Mohar worked as a Consultant Gynaecologist and Fertility Specialist in the NHS. Holistic care and all aspects of fertility management are integral to her practice. She is available for consultations at London Egg Bank, Clementine Churchill Hospital, Harrow as well as at Harley Street, London.
Consultant IVF Specialist
Safwat Ashour
Since 2007 Dr Safwat Ashour has lead London Women’s Clinic’s clinical programme at the BMI Woodlands Hospital, Darlington. He has been a steadying influence on the development of London Egg Bank in the North East of England. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists London and is well known for his surgical skills, compassion and consistently high success rates. Pre-implantation genetic screening of embryos, egg freezing and egg donation are his areas of advanced expertise.
Genetic Counsellor
Baharak Mohammadi
Bahar is a Medical Geneticist and Genetic Counsellor specialising in reproductive and pre- implantation genetics with 10 years of experience behind her. She is much admired for her kind and sympathetic assessment of patient's needs, and is a very integral part of London Egg Bank and London Women's Clinic.
Our Labs
The IVF laboratory is the heart of any IVF clinic. It's our embryologists who work very hard to create, grow and look after all our embryos. Our laboratories are state-of-the-art and our scientists are highly qualified with excellent technical skills and great attention to detail.
We pay great attention to the laboratory environment and have very strict quality assurance as parameters such as temperature, airflow, and air quality to ensure the culture system that grows the embryos is excellent.
We also use time-lapse technology, which allows the embryologists to select embryos not only by their shape but also by their movement as evident in minute-by-minute pictures. This culture method improves implantation rates, reduces pregnancy loss and it gives a shorter time to pregnancy.
The laboratory, based at London Women’s Clinic, provides all scientific services for London Egg Bank. We are proud to have the best results in the country, and we offer personalised matching with London Egg Bank.
We are very pleased to be working in conjunction with London Sperm Bank as it gives us the opportunity to know information about the donor sperm to be used in the treatment and be able to offer it to you without any delays of transportation.
If you need frozen donor oocytes or if you wish to freeze and preserve your own, then you are at the right place. We are proud to have the best results in the country, and we offer personalised matching with the LEB team and consultation with our lead embryologists to ensure you identify the donor you wish but also to understand every single step of the process that will make you comfortable to go through your treatment.
Our processes are designed to not only offer excellent pregnancy results but also, with the use of an excellent electronic witnessing system, we can guarantee the ultimate safety and traceability of your eggs and embryos. This gives us an extra degree of reassurance and confidence for 100% safety.
Finally, we have a dedicated team to analyse our internal data and do research. This not only allows improvement of our techniques and protocols, but also gives us the confidence to explain our results and expectations based on our very own experience.
Our Research
Most of the research derived from London Egg Bank is conducted in collaboration with London Women’s Clinic and is based on the data we have accumulated in egg donation and social egg freezing. No other clinic group in Britain has the patient or cycle numbers of London Egg Bank, which provides a unique basis to assess the effect of treatments – in their success rates, their materials and methods, and their wider implications.
Some of this research has been performed with the Centre for Family Studies in Cambridge, which specialises in following up the many ‘unusual’ family formations that egg and sperm donation have allowed. It is no longer difficult for same-sex couples (male or female) or single women to have children of their own and the databases of London Egg Bank and London Women’s Clinic provide strong evidence of how children in these new families develop and with what questions about their background.
With such an emphasis on freezing at London Egg Bank, it’s no surprise that vitrification and its impact on everyday fertility treatments have featured in our research. It was from London Women’s Clinic's early analysis of freezing eggs by vitrification that the foundation stones of London Egg Bank were built, and this in itself would pave the way for the revolution of frozen egg donation in the UK, thus reversing the march of patients to overseas clinics for donor eggs.
Today, all medical services live an age of ‘evidence-based medicine', and here at London Egg Bank, we have strong evidence of the UK’s largest series of egg donation and social egg freezing patients. Each detail of their treatments is recorded, and it is the pattern of those details which gives us the clues to the improvements which are yet to come.
Egg Donation Has Come Home
Scientific Managing Director Dr Ahuja; and Medical Director Professor Macklon; discuss how the advances in egg freezing and vitrification technology have put an end to overseas egg donation in favour of UK-based clinics.
Egg Freezing FAQ
Our FAQ page explains in more detail the process of egg freezing, and answers some of our most frequently asked questions.
The revolution of vitrification in ART
Vitrification has catalysed a revolution in assisted reproductive technology that is disrupting models of care.
Get Started
Please contact us for your free initial consultation