Past President Messages

2026 President's Message - Dr. Prati A. Sharma, MD

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It is with deep gratitude and humility that I assume the role of President of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS). When I began my journey as a newly trained reproductive endocrinologist in New York City, I could not have imagined the honor of leading this extraordinary community. I am truly thankful for your trust and inspired by the opportunity to serve our members and patients in the year ahead.

This year, we celebrate 72 years since CFAS was founded in Montreal—a milestone reflecting decades of dedication, innovation, and leadership in reproductive medicine. Throughout its history, the Society has advanced clinical care, fostered research, and promoted professional education, leaving a lasting impact on countless families across Canada. It is a privilege to carry forward this legacy and contribute to the continued growth and influence of CFAS.

We are at a pivotal moment for reproductive medicine in Canada. Our country is uniquely positioned to be a global leader in fertility care. Expanding public funding, growing recognition of equitable access, and increasing employer-supported and third-party coverage are transforming the landscape for patients nationwide. CFAS remains committed to inclusive, accessible care that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. Every individual deserves the opportunity to build their family, and we will continue to advocate for policies and practices that make this possible.

Innovation is thriving in Canada. Homegrown femtech companies, dedicated researchers, and world-class laboratories are advancing our field, improving efficiencies, elevating patient experiences, and enhancing outcomes. Canadian research is increasingly recognized on international stages, demonstrating the depth of talent and leadership within our community.

The strength of our Society lies in its members. CFAS thrives because of your expertise, commitment, and engagement. Leadership is never the work of one individual—it is about harnessing collective wisdom and building on one another’s strengths. I look forward to collaborating with our Board of Directors, Special Interest Groups, Committee Members, and Executive Director as we advance strategic priorities, expand educational opportunities, and foster continued innovation.

To our members—you are the heart of this Society. Your insights, perspectives, and passion drive our progress. I value your engagement and encourage you to share your ideas and expertise as we chart the path forward together.

Finally, I wish to thank the mentors, colleagues, and friends who have supported me throughout my career in Canada. Your encouragement and guidance have made this moment possible, and I hope to make you proud in the year ahead.

As we look to the future, I am excited to strengthen CFAS’s role as a national and international leader in reproductive medicine. Together, let us continue to foster innovation, champion inclusivity, and advocate for our patients. I am also delighted to invite you to join us in Calgary for what promises to be an exceptional 72nd CFAS Annual Meeting.

Thank you for your dedication and commitment to excellence in fertility care. I look forward to a year of collaboration, growth, and achievement as we build on the Society’s remarkable legacy.

Sincerely,

Dr. Prati A. Sharma
CFAS President 2025–2026

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2025 President's Message - Dr. Paul Chang, MD

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

As I step into the role of President of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS), I am filled with both gratitude and excitement for the journey ahead. This year, we proudly celebrate “70 Years Strong,” a significant milestone that reflects our unwavering dedication to advancing reproductive healthcare and improving the lives of individuals and families by helping dreams come true. As we enter our 71st year, we not only honour our legacy but also embrace the opportunities that lie before us.

At the heart of our mission is a commitment to equity and inclusion. It is essential that every patient, regardless of background, has access to quality fertility care. The introduction of government funding for IVF in British Columbia in 2025 is another step in the right direction. By fostering a culture of teamwork and mutual respect, we can ensure that diverse voices enhance our practice and ultimately lead to better patient outcomes. After all, we are a fertility society made up of past, present, and future doctors, nurses, embryologists, laboratory professionals, lawyers, ethicists, counsellors, geneticists, computer scientists, and more.

As our field continues to evolve, we must thoughtfully address the ethical questions that come with technological advancements. Innovation carries great promise, but it also demands responsibility. I encourage all members to engage in meaningful discussions on this important issue, ensuring our commitment to ethical patient care remains resolute.

Looking ahead, I envision CFAS once again playing a vital role in shaping legislation that impacts our field. With renewed purpose, we will advocate for policies that promote access to reproductive technologies and protect the rights of both patients and providers.

I am also eager to strengthen our international partnerships to enhance research, education, and collaboration. By learning from global counterparts, we can bring fresh ideas and best practices back to Canada. In turn, we can also share our experiences with them.

As we embark on this new chapter, I invite each of you to engage actively with the CFAS community. Your insights, expertise, enthusiasm, and love for the CFAS are the fuel and heartbeat of our organization. With this spirit, I humbly invite you to attend the 71st Annual Meeting: “Patient-Centered Fertility Medicine: Balancing Scientific Advancements, Best Clinical Practices, and Holistic Health.” We have listened to your feedback and are excited to bring back business meetings for our Special Interest Groups, along with round table luncheons.

I look forward to collaborating with our Board, new Executive Director, Special Interest Group Chairs, and all members in the year ahead. I am confident that with your support, we will navigate the future with innovation, compassion, and excellence.

Sincerely,

Paul Chang, MD

CFAS President 2024-2025

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2020 – 2021 President's Message - Jason Hitkari, MD

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

 

I am looking forward to serving as the 67th President for the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society ! I feel especially fortunate to take on this role as we develop our Strategic Plan for the next five years. I am thrilled to work alongside our Board, Executive Director, SIG Chairs, members, stakeholders, and Champion Sponsors to establish the main priorities of the CFAS. Throughout the past five years, we have done a tremendous amount of work to further our field of assisted reproduction. With your help, we can make CFAS even better.

 

As we enter a new CFAS year, I want to reflect on some of the challenges that arose over the course of 2020 and recognize how our society overcame them. When COVID-19 forced the cancellation,or postponement, of many of our events,including our 2020 Annual Meeting, the CFAS Board and team stepped up to offer extra virtual sessions; released a multitude of guidance and support documents, with the help of our Special Interest Groups; and even created fun challenges to keep members creative and engaged during the lockdown. I would like to thank every one of you for your commitment to supporting each other and all patients, while continuing to provide top-notch fertility care, even as the global pandemic raged on around you. I am impressed by your dedication to your work and the creative solutions you implemented to modify your offices, clinics, and labs to keep patients and staff safe as society gradually reopened. It is these very characteristics that I want to see reflected in our Strategic Plan surveys, focus groups, and interviews. You all have something to contribute. This year is truly your chance to let us know, as a Society, what direction we should follow to better serve as the voice of reproductive specialists in Canada.

Through collaboration with the Scientific Program Committee, I am working diligently at building a comprehensive, diverse, and sensational Annual Meeting program. With everything 2020 has thrown at our membership, I want to put my best effort into hosting a meeting that really celebrates our members’ work and contributions to this field. The theme of the meeting is “Thriving Through Change: From Virtual Medicine and Viruses to Technology and Techniques”. If anything, our experience coping with COVID-19 during the past months has certainly shown our ability to accept change, adapt accordingly, and ultimately thrive. I am so proud of what our Society has accomplished amid a pandemic and cannot wait to see what it will achieve this year and beyond.

There are many other goals I am hoping we can accomplish over the year, including improving governance within the CFAS; increasing connectivity and communication between SIG members; and continuing to help provide guidance through the pandemic.

I am looking forward to working with all of you!

Sincerely,
Jason Hitkari, MD
CFAS President 2020-2021

2019 – 2020 President's Message - Eileen McMahon, RN(EC), MN, PNC(C)

I am very pleased to invite you, as the first Nurse President of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society, to the 66th CFAS Annual Meeting in September 2020 in Toronto – home of the NBA Champion Raptors!
The Annual Meeting is a 2.5-day event attracting over 700 Canadian and international attendees. The Meeting’s goal is to bring together bright minds to provide talks that are focused on the conference theme of Quality and Safety in Assisted Reproduction: Adopt, Adapt, or Discard. This theme was chosen because whether you are new to the field of fertility or a seasoned veteran, there are always opportunities for learning, exploration and improvement. The meeting will include posters, plenaries, panels and concurrent sessions with a variety of speakers and topics to inform and inspire you.
September is a wonderful time to visit Toronto as there are fewer crowds than in the summer and the weather is still quite pleasant. Canada’s largest metropolis has so much to offer, from historical sites to culinary delights and lots in between. Please see this Toronto Visitor Guide for more information: https://www.seetorontonow.com/maps-and-guides/toronto-visitor-guide/
If you would like to tweet about this event, please use #CFAS2020.
Looking forward to seeing you all at the Annual Meeting!

2018 – 2019 President's Message - Clifford Librach, MD

Dear CFAS Members and Colleagues:

2017 – 2018 President's Message - Jason Min, MD

It is an honor to be in service of the CFAS, our unique society which represents a diverse group of professionals dedicated to the safe and effective delivery of reproductive care to our patients.

Through the countless hours put forth by many of our dedicated members in the execution of our strategic plan, the CFAS is being recognized as the authority in reproductive medicine, and is in a position to help influence the future of reproductive care in Canada. The primary objective during my presidency is to continue to strengthen our partnership with governments, provincial medical colleges, the public at large, and other stakeholders, in order to help shape policy and regulation to the benefit of our patients. We will continue to engage with the federal government and Health Canada, produce timely Position Statements, and direct our resources towards the development of high quality Clinical Practice Guidelines.

In the interests of self-determination, the CFAS will continue to support the initiatives originating from the Special Interest Groups: the ART Lab and Andrology SIGs in their efforts towards implementing a certification examination and maintenance of competency program, and the Nursing SIG’s plan to establish fertility-specific nursing competencies.

Finally, we will continue to provide educational opportunities to our members through web-based learning, select regional meetings and workshops, the Administrative SIG’s inaugural Leadership Program being offered through York University, and an interesting and thought-provoking 2018 annual meeting in Montreal: Controversies in Assisted Reproduction.

Yours truly,

Jason Min, MD
President 2017 – 2018

2014 - 2015 President's Message - Dr. Neal Mahutte

President’s Greeting

It is truly an honor and a privilege to be the CFAS President. Now comprised of over 700 members the CFAS represents physicians, scientists, embryologists, andrologists, nurses, ethicists, attorneys, psychologists, administrators and other professionals focused on reproductive medicine in Canada.

My main goal this year as president will be to create value for CFAS membership. We will be revamping our website and updating our strategic plan. A number of new CFAS Position Statements are in the works. In addition, several small regional CFAS meetings will occur in the coming year to address various subjects such as the provincial funding in Quebec, best administrative practices, and some of the ethical issues surrounding access to fertility treatment. The embryology and andrology Special Interest Group is continuing its efforts to establish objective criteria for accrediting new members and keeping laboratory credentials up to date. Finally, the Clinical Practice Guideline Committee will continue to develop practical documents to guide reproductive care.

In addition, during this presidential year we hope to introduce a platform that will facilitate prospective multicentre randomized clinical trials. In Canada we now perform over 25,000 IVF cycles per year. Given that these occur across approximately 34 IVF centres, wouldn’t it be great if we could use this capacity to help answer salient questions in our field? The CARTR-BORN database already collects comprehensive information about all our IVF cycles, and the CFAS should be able to create a structure for formulating hypotheses, establishing inclusion/exclusion criteria and sharing protocols/consents. It would then be up to individual IVF centers to decide for themselves if they wish to participate.

In 2015 our annual meeting will take place in Halifax at the Marriot Harborfront Hotel from October 1-4. The theme of the meeting is State of the Art Fertility Care- the Quest for Excellence. The program for this meeting was constructed using direct feedback from our 2014 membership survey. An exciting array of subjects will be addressed by an elite group of internationally renowned speakers, and I hope that all CFAS members will be able to attend.

Sincerely yours,

Neal Mahutte MD
CFAS President 2014-2015