"Del comienzo al futuro" in Argentina
The theme of the 2026 congress by the Argentinian Society for Reproductive Medicine was "from the beginning to the future" and I had a fantastic welcome when I was invited to tell the story of my birth.
The main event was on stage where I showed film of my birth and its impact and then showed photographs from the early days as a tribute to my mum and dad, Robert Edwards, Patrick Steptoe and Jean Purdy.
But what was more exciting for me was meeting all the wonderful embryologists, nurses, psychologists, doctors, scientists and researchers that were there to share their knowledge of IVF for the future.
SAMeR 2026 was held at the Marriott Hotel, Downtown in Beunos Aires, which is a beautiful city that I was able to have a quick look around thanks to our hosts.
The President of SAMer and Congress President Dr Augustin Pasqualini was the perfect host and along with Dr Gabriel Fiszbajn (Chair of the Scientific Committee) and Dr Fabian Lorenzo (Vice President) is now a firm friend.
Of course I already knew Dr Cristian Alvarez Sedo from the scientific committee and it was lovely to meet up with him again and meet his family. Dr Florencia Inciarte (also on the scientific committee) also gave me the warmest welcome.
Argentina is the furthest south I have ever travelled and no journey like that goes without a hitch. I managed to break my glasses on the first day and I can't thank our hosts enough for the amazing way they organised a new pair for me.
The scientific and future discussions did not involve me but it was clear from everyone I spoke to that leading edge technology was very much on the agenda. I was told that my presence and input helped to bring a patient focus to the event.
It was amazing to receive a certificate from a representative of the Autonomous City of Beunos Aires, declaring me a guest of honour of the city and I was also pleased to meet, give a presentation and answer questions with a patients group called Concebir (conceive).
It was especially lovely to have questions from young people born through IVF who are now interested in what happened around my birth.
The whole event went smoothly thanks to the hard work of Fernanda Aleman, who had been liaising with me and Martin Powell for almost a year planning the event and her daughter Francesca, who were constantly supporting us throughout the week and always there to help things along.
There is some leading edge work going on in Argentina and it is great to see that the tradition that Bob Edwards started of sharing expertise and knowledge is still going on the other side of the world.