Female age is the leading predictor of fertility success. The age-related decline in fertility is largely due to diminishing egg numbers (ovarian reserve) and the quality of the eggs. The ‘reproductive window’ for most women overlaps with their peak athletic performance, meaning athletes may choose to delay starting a family until later and could be more likely to experience difficulties conceiving.
Fertility preservation, in the context of ‘egg freezing,’ is a rapidly evolving area of reproductive medicine. This trend is driven by women seeking to defer their fertility until later and facilitated by an improvement in the freezing (vitrification) process. Social egg freezing is an invasive procedure, and long-term data on pregnancy outcomes are somewhat lacking. Nevertheless, it may provide women with a degree of reproductive freedom in the future.
Dr Jen Barcroft qualified from the University of Edinburgh with a Bachelor of Medicine, a Bachelor of Surgery and a Bachelor of Medical Sciences in Reproductive Biology in 2013. She has done her clinical training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Northwest London and is currently a Specialist Trainee Year 6.
She has recently completed a PhD at Imperial College London, examining the application of machine learning, specifically the use of Radiomics and Deep Learning models to automate the classification of adnexal masses on ultrasonography.
Jen is currently a Clinical Fellow in Reproductive Medicine at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and is passionate about the use of ultrasonography as a key diagnostic tool in Gynaecology. As a post-doc fellow, Dr Barcroft’s research interests are focused on the use of machine learning to predict gynaecological diagnoses and fertility treatment outcomes.
As a keen endurance cyclist herself, she is passionate about sports gynaecology, particularly how to support women and athletes in their reproductive journey.
