RMANJ started 15 years ago today. The initial morning saw Drs. Drews, Bergh, and Scott moving boxes out of the way so we could do scans. Between scans we were moving furniture, connecting computers, and seeing as many patients as possible so they could enroll in the new system. We saw almost 1000 new patients the first month. The nurses were sitting on boxes and working with patients while trying to learn the new version of the database – which was still being written in one of the side rooms! The admin team was led by Lena Mignone, Kathy Petrone, and Nancy Niemaseck as they and their teams worked around the clock getting everything in place while the program was already operational. Between patients, Dr. Scott was accessioning specimens and running the endocrine assays on an original Immulyte (a primitive device compared to today’s machines) as we had no dedicated endocrinology or andrology staff. We had no senior embryologist (beyond Paul Kaplan). Our first retrieval was a patient of Dr. Drews’ who bravely followed him from Saint Barnabas Medical Center. That first retrieval was the second morning we were open. This patient became pregnant and delivered!
RMANJ has come a long way since those early days. Things are now well organized and calm most of the time. The program is respected around the world and is recognized as one of the elite clinical and research centers. We have our own fellowship which attracts the most talented young physicians to come and train with us. The database matured and became a powerful tool but is now being re-written to provide even greater functionality. Patients come from all over the world to gain access to the special care available at RMANJ. The program will do almost twenty times as many retrievals this year as we did during the fall of 1999.
Special thanks to the “Founders” who came with us to Morristown that morning and built the foundation for today’s practice. Thanks also to all of you who are on the team today and who make this a very special place. Great docs, nurses, embryology, andrology and endocrinology clinical and business support teams, finance teams, members of program development, and the research team all perform at the highest level. The teams excel in every area.
Having come so far, we still have goals for the future. RMANJ’s leadership team continues to pursue a vision of providing the finest reproductive health care with the best outcomes attainable anywhere in the world. It is exciting to think about where the next 15 years might take us….
For today, happy birthday RMANJ.
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