Jacques Cohen, PhD, HCLD

Jacques Cohen is a co-founder of Alpha Scientists in Reproductive Medicine, a pioneer in IVF, and a board-certified High Complexity Clinical Laboratory Director (HCLD). Jacques is a founding partner and Chief Embryology Director at IVF 2.0. He is also the Chief Scientific Officer of Conceivable Life Sciences in New York, USA, and an advisor to a number of forward-looking startups, aiming to lead in the next transformational changes in ART: automation, integration of artificial intelligence, and better models of care delivery to patients.

Jacques was born in The Hauge, The Netherlands. He completed his undergraduate work in Biology of Reproductive Science in 1978 at Leiden University in The Netherlands and earned his Ph.D. from Erasmus University in Rotterdam under the supervision of Professor Gerard Zeilmaker, in aspects of in vitro fertilization and male factor infertility. His postdoctoral studies (1982-1985) were performed at Cambridge University, UK, and Bourn Hall Clinic under the mentorship of Professor Robert G. Edwards. 

Jacques has played a central role in improving clinical outcomes of ART through development of a number of methodologies and devices in clinical embryology, promoting better quality control practices and drawing attention to air quality and embryo transfer methods. His contributions are numerous: cryopreservation, assisted fertilization, assisted hatching, preimplantation genetic testing, ooplasmic donation, single sperm freezing, VOC filtration (CODA), specialized embryo culture dishes, among others. He has also developed innovative software solutions to address the everyday challenges of quality control and data management in ART. He has authored and co-authored more than 300 scientific papers, several textbooks and 12 patents. He is Emeritus Chief Editor of Reproductive Biomedicine Online and a founding member of the International IVF Initiative.