Gillian joined MFS in 2000 as medical director after working in fertility medicine since 1991, initially at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where she also completed her Doctorate. Her research interests include polycystic ovarian syndrome, age-related sub-fertility and recurrent miscarriage. Under her guidance, MFS was the first UK clinic to use the hormone inhibin B to assess ovarian reserve, a precursor to AMH testing.

She is ethics spokesperson for the British Fertility Society, former vice-chair of the RCOG Ethics Committee and was a special advisor to the Parliamentary Select committee reviewing the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. In 2009 she was asked to join a Working Party of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics - ’Give and Take: Human Bodies in Medicine and Research’ considers the ethical issues that arise in the provision human body materials, from organs, gametes, corneas, blood etc, with a particular focus on the role of the person providing the ‘material’.

She lectures and broadcasts on ethical and social issues in reproductive medicine and has published widely on all aspects of fertility, including co-authoring Fertility & Infertility for Dummies with Jill Anthony-Ackery in 2007.

Mike has been MFS’ accredited consultant since 2003. He and Gillian Lockwood have been colleagues for about 20 years, having met and worked together in Oxford. Mike is a gynaecological surgeon with a special interest in endoscopic and laparoscopic surgery. He has wide experience in the management of complex endometriosis and fibroids.

Dr Abey originally joined MFS in 2005 as a clinical research fellow after qualifying as a doctor in 2002 and then training as an SHO at both Walsall Manor Hospital and Good Hope Hospital Sutton Coldfield, from 2003-2005. In 2010 he left MFS and spent 14 months gaining further clinical experience in hospitals in Stoke on Trent and London, before returning to the MFS team in April 2011.  In September 2011 he was appointed clinical lead and, in addition to maintaining his regular patient case load, his role expanded to include mentoring the clinical research fellows and daily management of the recurrent miscarriage team.  He speaks English and Malayalam.

Dr Adi joined MFS in March 2010 after gaining his MBBS qualification in Calcutta, India in 1988 and his MD status in 1996.  He has been practicing obs & gynae since 1990, working at the Assisted Conception Unit in Birmingham Women’s Hospital in 2005 and most recently, as a clinical fellow at the IVF unit in St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London and a senior registrar at the Royal London Hospital (2008 - 2010). He received his MRCOG qualification in 2005 and is currently studying for a diploma in medical education. In addition to English he speaks Hindi, Urdu and Bengali fluently and some Nepali.

Dr Purviben Shah joined the clinical team in July 2011 as a clinical research fellow.  After qualifying at medical school in India and training in obstetrics and gynaecology for three years and gaining her DGO and MD qualifications, she spent a year as a SHO and another three years as a registrar at hospitals in England working in the maternity and obs and gynae departments.  She received her MRCOG qualification in 2010 and in addition to English, speaks Gujarati and Hindi.

Heidi joined MFS in 1987 soon after the unit opened. She joined the Board of Directors in 1996 and is responsible for delivering and continuously improving the clinic’s nursing services.

She is one of the most highly-qualified fertility nurses in the UK, licensed for many procedures only doctors carry out at other hospitals and clinics, including egg collections and is currently the only nurse in Europe carrying out surgical sperm retrieval. Her extensive experience led to an invitation to be the fertility nursing consultant during the set-up of a fertility clinic in Jamaica in 2000.

In 2006 she was elected to the chair of the paramedical committee of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).

Mandy Godwin has worked at MFS since 2004, leaving briefly for two short periods to work at Good Hope Hospital and at a London fertility clinic.  In 2007 she was appointed nurse manager at MFS, a role which includes patient caseloads as well as managing the nurse staffing requirements, clincial reviews and maintaining and further improving standards of nursing care at MFS. With some of the other MFS fertility nurse specialists and clinical midwives, Mandy is one of only a few nurses in the UK currently performing IVF egg recoveries and she is also one of the MFS out-of-hours on-call team.

In 2006 Mandy received the Canadian Nurse Exchange award after presenting a paper at the British Fertility Society (BFS) on her research into fertility drugs, which she prepared as part of her MSc in Women’s Health. Mandy occasionally works in the maternity unit at Good Hope Hospital, so she has the chance to see some MFS patients at the other end of their pregnancies too!

After qualifying as a ‘direct entry’ midwife in 2002, Bethan joined MFS in April 2003 and in 2005 she completed a degree in midwifery from the University of Nottingham. In addition to her patient caseload, Bethan is regularly part of the surgical sperm retrieval term and is also the infection control nurse at MFS.

Victoria joined MFS in November 2005 after training, and gaining five years nursing experience, including some midwifery experience, at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton.

Sally joined MFS in November 2010 as a clinical midwife after training at Sandwell Hospital in 2001, qualifying as a midwife in 2004 after completing her midwifery degree from University of Wolverhampton and subsequently working on the maternity unit at Sandwell.  She plans to continue working occasionally at Sandwell to maintain her midwifery skills - so she’ll see some MFS patients right through from conception to delivery!

Vicki joined MFS in 1996 after completing her Registered General Nurse training and qualifying as a midwife and then spending eight years as a hospital-based midwife, when she developed an interest in scanning. In 1999 she was appointed nurse manager at MFS, a role she held for almost eight years, before choosing to scale down her hours as one of the team’s fertility nurse specialists. In addition to performing embryo transfers, Vicki is one of only three practising nurses in the UK (all at MFS) qualified to carry out egg collections.

Donna joined MFS in March 2010 after training at Walsall Manor Hospital and qualifying in 2007 and then gaining experience as a district nurse and more recently as an endoscopy staff nurse at Good Hope Hospital.

Sarah returned to nursing at MFS in September 2007 after relocating to Wales in February 2006. After qualifying as a nurse in 1996 and specialising in gynaecology at Good Hope Hospital Sutton Coldfield, she orginally joined MFS in 2001 and spent five years as a fertility nurse specialist. She’s delighted to be back and cites ‘missing the patients’ as the reason for her return!

Sarah joined MFS in 1998 as an assistant to the nursing team. She helps with all the medical procedures and is also a qualified clinical hypnotherapist.

Vicky joined MFS in October 2006 as a trainee healthcare assistant. Since becoming a fertility nurse assistant she supports the clinical team, ensures stocks and drugs are replenished, handles some clinical administration and takes patient blood samples.

Lynsey joined MFS in 2008 as a secretary and in 2010 took up a new role as clinical administrator, supporting the doctors, nurses and nurse assistants. She manages the clinical diary via the Data Management System, provides patients with results of tests and procedures, including pregnancy tests, books appointments and ensures that all clinical administration is handled as efficiently as possible.

Anne joined MFS in January 2011 bringing more than seven years experience as a qualified BICA fertility counsellor, having worked independently in fertility clinics across the Midlands and the South West. She has facilitated several self-help fertility support groups and also works as a counsellor/counselling manager at an NHS fertility clinic. She has over 25 years experience working in an NHS hospital in Herefordshire as a senior staff nurse, mainly in Women’s Health clinics. She uses both her professional and personal experiences of infertility, IVF and becoming an adoptive parent of two, to provide counselling on fertility, surrogacy, donor conception and adoption issues for individuals or couples. She manages the MFS counselling service, including the independent counsellors, working with the clinical staff team to ensure that patients feel supported throughout their treatment. She is currently working towards Fertility Counselling Accreditation.

Su joined MFS in 1991 and has been laboratory director since 1995 and a director since 1998. The research for her M.Med.Sci investigated the genetics of eggs that failed to fertilise.

In 2000 she and Gina were responsible for establishing the lab procedures for successfully freezing eggs using the slow-freeze method and for introducing vitrification ‘flash-freezing’ in 2008. She has overall responsibility for the lab and the cryo-storage of patients’ eggs, sperm and embryos and is the meetings co-ordinator for the Association of Clinical Embryologists (ACE).

Jo joined MFS in October 2005, with 20 years’ lab experience in all areas of fertility treatment, including working as a senior clinical embryologist in three other clinics. As laboratory manager, she has responsibility for the staffing and smooth-running of the lab including the calibration of equipment.

Gina joined MFS in 1999 having previously specialised in the study of embryology in cattle. In 2001 she was appointed as lab manager at MFS, a role she held for four years before opting to scale down her hours as one of the team’s clinical embryologists.

After completing her BSc (Hons) in biological sciences in 2001, Laura worked as a college laboratory technician and joined MFS as laboratory assistant in January 2006, supporting the embryologists in all lab duties. In September 2007 Laura became a semenologist, concentrating on semen analyses and sperm preparation.

After completing her BSc (Hons) Geology, Valerie joined MFS in July 2006 as a laboratory assistant supporting the embryologists in all laboratory duties, including sperm preparation, data management and maintaining the cryo banks.  In 2010 she became a semenologist preparing sperm for use in treatment.

Lynne joined MFS in June 2006 with 30 years experience in pathology labs. With Jo Milner, the other MFS biomedical scientist, she ensures all the blood samples for hormone tests and infection screening are processed as required.

Jo joined the lab team at MFS as one of the biomedical scientists in June 2009.  WIth more than 25 years experience in the immunology and biochemistry labs and Good Hope and Heartlands hospitals, Jo works with Lynne Harrison processing the hormone and infection screening blood tests, in addition to the AMH tests for ovarian reserve. In February 2009 she combined her BMS role with laboratory asssitant responsibilities, including maintaining the cryobanks where the thousands of eggs, embryos and sperm are stored, cleaning and maintaining laboratory equipment and monitoring stock levels of materials and supplies.  Jo is also one of the MFS Forum moderators.

Anna joined MFS in 1993 and managed the introduction of BS EN ISO 9002:1994 in the clinic. The successful accreditation in 1994 made MFS the first assisted conception unit in the world to achieve this prestigious quality management system.

Anna joined the board in 1997 and in 2000 she became company secretary. She is the registered manager with the Care Quality Commission and is responsible for the general management and administration of the business.

Jill joined MFS in August 2004 with 14 years’ PR experience and after 18 months as the clinic’s PR consultant, as well as experience as an ICSI patient at MFS from 1999-2001. She is responsible for communicating the clinic’s services through printed and social media, the internet and literature and for managing its reputation through public relations activity. In 2006 MFS was awarded a Chartered Insitute of Public Relations (CIPR) Gold Award for her work on the Funded Fertility Treatment for All Campaign with The Birmingham Post. She has responsibility for Forum moderation and in 2007 she co-authored Fertility & Infertility for Dummies with Dr Gillian Lockwood.

A chartered certified accountant, Gail joined MFS in September 2005 following 16 years in public practice. She is responsible for the smooth-running of the finance department and for ensuring that patients’ and suppliers’ accounts are up to date. She will often meet patients at their first appointment to explain the payments procedure, or at other times to clarify any invoice queries or to discuss the cancellation policy.

Fiona re-joined MFS in 2004 and is responsible for the day to day management and maintenance of the quality management system - ensuring compliance with ISO9001:2008 and the additional requirements of the European Union Tissue Directive. Fiona also ensures effective and compliant management of the clinic’s human resources.

Carol-Ann joined MFS in June 2010 as the office manager, with 25 years’ administration experience, including 15 years in a management role, in financial services and the property industry.  At MFS she leads the team of receptionists, secretaries, admin assistants, filing clerks and housekeepers and ensures that patients receive the highest quality administration support and front-of-house services.

Jyoti joined MFS in 1996 and is responsible for collecting data on treatment outcomes and compiling statistics for MFS to calculate and improve its success rates. She also reports and verifies all information about treatment cycles to the HFEA.

Linda joined MFS in 1995 as a secretary and in 2004 she became responsible for liaising with the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) which offer funded fertility treatment through MFS. Following an increase in the number of health authority contracts at MFS in 2005, Linda now manages the MFS relationship with 15 PCTs and is the first point of contact for all patients receiving funded treatment.

Jenny joined MFS in 2003 as a secretary and, with 15 years experience as a medical secretary or administration manager, was promoted to office supervisor in December 2005. Her responsibilities include supervising the weekend team and workload, secretarial work, typing patient letters and taking telephone calls.

Donna re-joined MFS in 1999.  She is responsible for the recruitment of egg donors and for managing the recipient waiting list.  In 2002 her role was extended to include the co-ordination of embryo donors and recipients.  In addition, she is part of the MFS quality management team, involved in incident investigation activity and supporting the work of the MFS complaints officer.

Becky joined the weekend administration team in August 2005 as an office assistant. In July 2007 she extended her role at MFS to become the patient liaison finance officer, handling patient accounts, including issuing invoices and credit notes, receiving and recording payments and controlling bad debts. She is also currently studying for her AAT accountancy qualification.

Kerry joined MFS in March 2008 to handle the finance activity for suppliers’ accounts, sales invoices and bank reconciliation. She also takes patient payments over the phone.

Lindsay joined the finance team in January 2009, handling suppliers’ invoices and payments.

Carolyn Sage joined the team as a secretary in August 2009 having previously worked at the University of Wolverhampton.  She has RSA III typing and word processing, an NVQ3 in business administration and, in 2010, achieved a merit in her AMSPAR medical terminology qualification.

Kathy originally joined MFS in 1998 as housekeeper and later became office assistant. Now as one of the receptionists, her responsibilities include answering the telephones and welcoming people to MFS.

Since August 2008 Gemma has been a regular friendly face at reception both during the week and with the weekend team.

Caroline joined MFS in 1993 and is one of the familiar faces on reception. She also answers telephone calls, handles patient payments and deals with patient enquiries.

Shabila joined MFS in September 2010 as one of the reception team, meeting and greeting patients and visitors on arrival and answering  patients’ phone calls and directing them to other members of the MFS team.

Angela joined MFS in 2005 and her role as filing clerk includes handling the post and finance payments and taking telephone calls.

Julie Gittings joined the housekeeping team in 2008, to help maintain a pleasant and clean environment for patients, staff and visitors on the two floors MFS occupies in Centre House.

Carl joined MFS in 2000 and is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of the two floors MFS occupies at Centre House in Aldridge. He also manages the built environment requirements of major refurbishment projects, including the expansion within Centre House in 2007 and the subsequent redesign of the blood lab and new treatment rooms.

In addition to specifying and purchasing new equipment for MFS, Carl is the ‘person responsible’ for the legal deposit of all clinical and hazardous waste and for managing the maintenance plan, including fire safety compliance.