In this episode, we speak with Dr. Fallon Durant, a Laboratory Supervisor in the embryology lab at Boston IVF. Dr. Durant shares the seven-year journey that she and her husband endured while trying to grow their family, a path marked by recurrent pregnancy losses. As a scientist with a PhD and a subspecialty in Molecular Cell Biology and Development, she found herself becoming her own case study as she searched for answers regarding her unexplained recurrent loss, which she theorized was linked to her rare autoimmune diseases. Through it all, she turned to creative outlets like teaching yoga and using aerial circus arts to express the “unfathomable grief” she carried, even performing an entire act centered on the hurtful things people say to those experiencing loss.
Driven by her personal experience, Dr. Durant decided to shift her research focus to fertility science, specifically studying regeneration and how it applies to fibrotic diseases like endometriosis and uterine scarring. She eventually moved into the clinic, wanting to apply her technical skills to help patients daily.
Describing embryologists as the “unseen warriors” and the “beating heart of the clinic,” Dr. Durant offers a glimpse inside the lab, from sharing the personal mantra she repeats during ICSI (injecting sperm into an egg) to remind herself and the team of the significance of the work to demystifying the complex process of embryo grading, clarifying that it is a snapshot in time based on expansion, the inner cell mass, and the trophectoderm, rather than a guarantee of success. And most importantly, Dr. Durant wants fertility patients to know that even if they never talk to or see the embryologists, their cases are never treated as “just another number” and that she hopes each patient feels “the positive vibes and all the love and care” that’s coming from everyone in the embryology lab.
If you are experiencing recurrent pregnancy loss and are looking for support, and/or are a professional looking for research opportunities, we recommend connecting with the Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Association.
When Dr. Fallon Durant began her graduate program at Tufts University, she had no idea that her pursuit of a PhD with a subspecialty in Molecular Cell Biology and Development would become a true calling, not only professionally, but personally in a fertility journey of her own. By the time she graduated, she suffered through multiple pregnancy losses while desperately trying to start a family of her own with her loving husband. While working as a postdoctoral scholar at Harvard University and continuing to experience further losses, she worked to shift her research in a direction to support patients experiencing fertility challenges. After many years of working with a large medical team and with the help of IVF, she became pregnant with her first daughter and made a career shift into the clinical setting with the dream of becoming an IVF lab director. Now working at Boston IVF as an embryology lab supervisor, she now has two beautiful daughters and is proud to have dedicated her life to helping others achieve their dreams of parenthood. She is proud to create an environment in the laboratory where patients can feel safe knowing that the talented scientists who are caring for their precious embryos handle them with love, understanding, and hope.
Interested in sharing your story? Get in touch here!
