Open Letter

Submitted by admin on Thu, 05/14/2009 - 19:04
Fellow Embryology practitioner,
 
 
Profession is defined as an occupation requiring special education. The vast majority of embryology practitioners do not have a single credit hour in Embryology. The first clinical PhD program in Embryology in the United states has only been accredited in 2009 (University of Kentucky, Dr. Doris Baker). Because Embryology is acquired through on-job
training, today cannot be considered a profession in a conventional sense.

Furthermore, the lack of differentiation within the discipline prevents embryology from becoming a specialty, dilutes the value of education, impedes the incentive for professional growth, and makes it impossible to assure the minimum standard of quality of care provided by reproductive laboratory personnel.

The College outlines on its web site both its mission and plan for molding a diverse group of individuals into a professional force. The College has an exclusive agreement with Dr. Doris Baker to develop and deliver educational activities to the College.

The American College of Embryology is not an elitist organization of Ph.D.s. In fact we have more non-Ph.D. members than Ph.D.s.

However, everyone needs to recognize the reality of the value of education. It would not be in anyone's best interest if everyone called himself a doctor. The concern is not only the skills required to do a specific procedure, but is also about specialized expertise based on educational and training level.

Furthermore, as in any profession, there are technical and non-technical professional capacities, which have to be recognized with the respective level of certification.

The College examination should not be looked at as an attempt to impose one more hassle on an already busy community. This is a necessary step in creating our profession and elevating its prestige, because, unlike other medical specialties, we all have very different educational backgrounds and an exam followed by specialized continued education is the only way to assure a uniformed level of relevant knowledge within respective level of certification.

In general, during a grand-fathering period, the vast majority of current reproductive laboratory professionals with almost any level of education, will be able to qualify for one or another level of examination, subject to application review by the education and practice committee: http://www.embcol.org/acce

The College is also working on creating an embryology residency program.

We urge you to join the College and take our profession to a new level. www.embcol.org

 

 

 

 

 

Dmitri Dozortsev,

 

Ashok Agarwal,

 

Peter Nagy,

 

Doris Baker,

 

Denny Sakkas,

 

Ryuzo Yanagimachi,

 

Iqbal Khan,

 

Bhushan K. Gangrad,

 

Klaus Wiemer,

 

Michael Vernon,

 

Michael Stahler,

 

Gianpiero Palermo,

 

Christopher De Jonge

 

You may become active in the College by becoming a member, http://embcol.org/node/25 or joining one of the committees by emailing to contact@embcol.org

 

General inquires must be emailed to contact@embcol.org

 

Please note that College will primarily use its own newsletter for communication and therefore we are asking you to forward this email to others who may be interested to receive it.