The Home of Fertility with Liz Walton & Helen Zee

Inside the Lab: Choosing a Fertility Clinic (and Team) with Dr. Sasha Edelstein

• Liz Walton and Helen Zee

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Today Helen is joined by Dr. Sasha Edelstein, fertility specialist and co-founder of Thrive Fertility, to demystify what really drives success in fertility care—the team and the lab, not just the doctor. Dr. Sasha shares how his own IVF journey shaped a clinic built on compassion, transparency, premium science, and accessible pricing.

We unpack practical questions to ask any clinic: Is the Operating Room next to the lab? Do they use time-lapse incubators? Do they have electronic witnessing (e.g., RI Witness)? Who are the embryologists, and how do they collaborate with doctors, nurses, counsellors, and allied health?

You’ll also hear when to seek help (and when to wait), why it’s not always IVF, and what’s next in fertility: AI-assisted embryo assessment, genetics, and more personalised protocols. If you’ve ever wondered how to match with the right clinic and team—and keep costs sensible—this episode is your roadmap.


Topics covered include:
• Dr Sascha's lived experience with infertility and IVF and how this shaped shaped the clinic towards affordable fertility care
• Choosing a clinic through team, lab, and communication
• What to ask about OR‑lab proximity, incubators, witnessing
• Not every path leads to IVF; stepwise care
• Optimising health before conception
• AI, time‑lapse, and genetics in embryo selection
• recognising embryologists as unsung heroes

About Dr Sascha Edelstein
Dr Sascha Edelstein is a fertility specialist and the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Thrive Fertility, a purpose-built clinic in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. Alongside Co-Founder and Medical Director Dr Linda Walmsley, he has created a clinic that combines world-class technology with compassionate, accessible care. Having navigated infertility and IVF with his wife, Sascha brings both professional expertise and lived empathy to his work. He has overseen the development of Thrive’s state-of-the-art laboratory, where time-lapse incubators and electronic witnessing are standard, ensuring excellence in science delivered with care, transparency, and respect.

Social Media Links :
thrivefertility.australia



SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Home of Fertility, a space for real conversations and expert insights about fertility, healing and creating family. I'm Liz Walton.

SPEAKER_01:

And I'm Helen Z. We are two mums who've walked this path and are passionate about supporting you on your journey, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

SPEAKER_00:

We talk about it all. Fertility treatment, holistic support, relationships, mindset, and the emotional highs and lows.

SPEAKER_01:

Because sometimes the missing piece lies in someone else's story, in the quiet wisdom of the body, or in a breakthrough that's finally made for you.

SPEAKER_00:

We are so glad you are here. Let's dive in.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome, listeners, to another special episode of the Home of Fertility. And today we are joined by Dr. Sasha Edelstein, who is a fertility specialist and the co-founder and managing director of Thrive Fertility, together with Dr. Linda Walmsley. What is wonderful about the clinic is that it provides a compassionate and accessible care to the patients along their whole journey, including time-lapse incubators and electronic witnessing and ensuring the excellence in science is delivered with care, transparency, and respect. So I'm sensing that you get a premium product and without the premium price tag. And we're going to explore that today. Now, Dr. Sasha comes with a lot of compassion and care because he has navigated infertility and IVF with his wife. And so he brings both a professional and lived empathy to his work. Welcome and thank you for your time, Dr. Sasha, today.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks, Helen. Thank you for that introduction. And thanks for the opportunity to speak. And really grateful to be part of this project, the Melbourne Fertility Expert that you guys are driving.

SPEAKER_01:

We are thrilled to have you there, as well as your keynote about what to look out for when you are choosing a fertility clinic and the labs that are involved. So it's behind the doors as well. So what motivated you to set up Thrive Fertility?

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I think that you said a little bit about that really in the lead up. When I was doing my training as a doctor, my wife and I were struggling to conceive. And so we went through that that journey, that experience. And that really informed me. We had the questions that the patients that are going through, struggling to conceive, have. We went through the treatments. We were fortunate ultimately that we that we have achieved and have two beautiful, healthy daughters. But it was that experience and the value of parenthood and being a parent that was so important to me. And that I then see that in my patients or individuals trying to conceive. I have worked in the sector for a while and really wanted to be able to provide a clinic that was both across the compassion, across the care, understanding what patients are going through, offering a holistic care, but also offering the best in fertility treatment and still trying to make that manageable in terms of affordability. When I was going through fertility treatment, I was a medical doctor and we struggled with the finances at that time. And I didn't want that to be an obstacle for people having to face these challenges. So that was important setting up when setting up Thrive. We wanted to have a clinic that is forward thinking, that offers the best of technology and collaborative. And so that that was the drive. I suppose you could say many of us that are in the space have personal stories that have that have inspired us.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, wonderful. Thank you. And you're absolutely uh I can agree with what you're saying because life shapes us to better the work that we do and other times come into the work that we are drawn to do because of our experiences. Um now I know, Dr. Sasha, that Thrive Fertility has state-of-the-art equipment. And I know that's something that you are very passionate about is speaking about behind the lab door, where a lot of people don't realize. They might just say a name and go, oh, Dr. Sasha, he's the one that everyone tells me that I need to see. But the IVS success and the journey success is more than one person at the helm, correct?

SPEAKER_02:

100%. Mr. I think that that's one of the misconceptions that we have is the personalities. And you see many personalities in in this space uh uh that that that individuals or patients are drawn to. Uh, but actually the important thing that you need to be considering is the team that they're working with uh and how they work with that team. Um so for me, I think that it's important to recognize um that it's a that it's a partnership. The doctor has to work with a lab, has to work with embryologists. Um and so it's about the the the scient the scientists that are doing the work behind the scenes and the infrastructure. I mean, that's certainly important as well. And in the space, the nursing team, the counselors, the administrative support, it's it's it's the whole team that that influences the experience. And I and then I think that beyond that, it will be collaboration with colleagues outside of the fertility clinic as well. So I mean, we definitely see collaboration as well with allied health profession professionals. I love that.

SPEAKER_01:

So, Dr. Sasha, if if there is a listener right now and it's like, I am curious to find out more, and what questions can I ask a fertility clinic and a doctor when I do go for a consult about the team and how the team works. What can they ask for and what do you provide in that information? Oh, I feel that's the missing piece because people are going to go, ah, here's a series of questions that I didn't realize were a-okay to ask when I am trying to match myself up with the right doctor, the right clinic, and the right resources. What do you say to a uh potential um client, patient? What can they ask about the team, the science team, the lab infrastructure that you've got in place, the embryologists, exactly what you're talking about? Take us through this.

SPEAKER_02:

I think I think there's several different aspects over there, and perhaps one wants to unpack that. But but I mean, the um you will learn as you engage with the clinic about how that clinic engages with you. So that that will be an experience that you're gonna have. And you'll get an idea when you when you meet with your doctor, who would be your primary interface, how they relate and how they respond to questions and the time that they give the time that they give you. I think that I think that patients going through fertility treatment have exposure to lots of information, have lots of questions, and it's important to have a space where those questions can be answered. I know that you talk a lot about the team, and there has to be a team as well that that's involved in their care outside of the fertility space. But I think that the care and um level of communication is is an important component. In terms of infrastructure, so um uh the first important factor is whether the operating room, so the surgical procedure is is at the same location as the embryology lab. There are places where they we will all use a mobile incubator to move the eggs from the operating room to the lab, but you want that space to be geographically close. Because in addition to the fact that this is very valuable cargo, um, you also don't want there to be a time delay. So the the embryologists, um, my team joke with me because uh they they they they tap their hands on their watch when I'm when I'm five minutes late and I'm often five minutes late. They want the eggs as quickly as as possible uh to get up to the lab so that they can start doing their work. So there's uh a geographic proximity. And then, and then I guess, which is difficult to get a handle as the external person, uh, you know, but is what kind of equipment is in that lab and what is the setup in that lab. And and not all labs are the same. Not not uh all clinics are necessarily using modern equipment, using the infrastructure that's best to support ex-permanent embryos. Um so you know that will be the important thing. You will you will have, for example, uh pieces of equipment like a time-lapse incubator that you'll hear about, uh, and that provides amazing information uh um and a stable environment for the embryos. Um and then it's the support things like uh the electronic witnessing, so something called RI witness is what is one of the products, but it's the electronic witnessing that will monitor uh the eggs, sperm, and embryos so that we know that the right embryos are going to the right patients. And the team, the actual embryology team in their experience. Now, there are websites that you can look at, something called your IVF success, which is run by which is a government website, and that's also important. That's a great resource to have a look at what the what a particular clinic success rates are. Um and uh so that would be that would be useful information. Obviously, the the ultimate goal is to achieve a pregnancy, and that's you're gonna see in the pregnancy rates.

SPEAKER_01:

Of course. Well, you've really taken us on a journey about what makes Thrive Fertility unique for a patient. And further to that, what advice would you give someone who is just starting their fertility journey?

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so I mean, I think that um you need to kind of see where you are in that journey. And certainly certainly uh it depends on you know how long the couple have been trying to conceive for, whether it whether it is um appropriate to be concerned, whether they need to be looking for treatment. And broadly speaking, the strongest factor that's going to influence uh a couple's chances to conceive is a woman's age. So that would be the first kind of differentiator. So if a woman's uh 35 or less, uh then we say that the couple, if it's a heterosexual couple, should be trying to conceive uh uh for for 12 months before looking for help. And if if they're older than 35 for six months. Um but um when you're starting to investigate, you know, you can you one can one can go to the GP and get an initial investigations and then get evaluated. I think that it's important to look at lifestyle factors, to look at nutritional support, to look at all the things that you can do to improve pregnancy and conception. And then I think that it's also important to recognize that not all treatment needs to be as advanced as IVF, so that isn't necessarily um always the solution. Um, and then you're probably gonna have to find around what is the right fit or what is the right fixed uh um match for the individual, uh uh both the doctor, the clinic that they're based in, and the team that they work with and how they work.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, wonderful. And I feel that's something that I know that we're offering in the upcoming Melbourne Fertility Expo, because people can get to come and hear people like yourself and professionals, and then speak with you after your conversation because there is an intuitive space that takes place about this feels like this is a good clinic and a good um doctor and a great team to work with. And we what we say is we want people to tap into their intuition because a lot of times it's like so scary that there's such blind faith that we're steered in the wrong direction, and then we're questioning ourselves: did we make that right decision? Should we have gone here? Should we have gone there? But when we get to speak to people and we know, like, and trust, that is a barometer, in my opinion, of a really good starting point with going with a fertility clinic like Thrive.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm gonna agree with you. And I think that essentially um we're we're all different, patients and doctors, and you've got to find the right, the right uh fit for yourself. I think that that's important. I think the people will will frequently in our space, they they ask their friends or or or or colleagues or families to recommend. But you just see that that that the clinic and the person that you that you matched with is the right person. I don't think that you should uh persevere if if it's not if it's not the right fit.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. That is gold advice is that if something's not feeling right, absolutely, you you can work it out with that clinic uh to the point where it's like I'm I'm going to um uh move myself on. Absolutely. Um I had a something you were saying about earlier that I just wanted to tap into. And that is not everybody that comes to see you being a fertility clinic means that the outcome is IVF.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Right. Absolutely. I mean, so that that that that might be uh uh a misconception. Certainly, we would prefer to find the least invasive way to help uh couples to achieve a pregnancy. Um sometimes we're seeing uh couples that have no issue and they just want to be evaluated, to be reassured, and to be advised, you know, to keep on trying at home, that there's nothing to be concerned about. And that's an important function and an important role. I think that if you're engaging with fertility treatment, it should be rational and ideally stepwise. Um, and so we wouldn't necessarily jump to IVF.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, great. And I feel that's important for people to know because sometimes they're just thinking that it's going to be the route towards um uh treatment. And something else that you said earlier about, you know, the the if we're 35 uh, you know, uh and below, we try for 12 months, if we're over 35, we try for six months trying. And I know that is um one of the guidelines that is widely introduced. And I'm sure that you're going to also agree with me and you're going to flesh this out a little bit more. Yes. When people know that they have got menstrual health conditions and issues, yeah, absolutely. Something that is uh predisposition of their health, like whether it's an autoimmune condition, uh, whether it's metabolic X disorder, whether it's a whole heap of other things that we know fertility might be compromised. We don't wait for that 12 months, or we don't wait for that six months. That's where you come in and try and piece the puzzles, puzzle of the picture, and and uh be able to give the solutions of what is possible in that in in an individual scenario, correct?

SPEAKER_02:

And absolutely, and thank you for kind of bringing us back to that. I think that that that um uh 12-month waiting or six-month waiting, first of all, is at an epidemiological level, it's at a society level, and the individuals, uh everybody's gonna be different. And so, you know, that that's kind of looking at models that are gonna be uh saving the national purse. But in terms of individuals, if you have a specific reason to be concerned, and you mentioned mentioned mental cycles and the commonest gynecological conditions that we face that are going to be impacting uh fertility and that are very common in the population of PCOs and endometriosis. And between each of those, between 10 to 15 percent of women are experiencing those, and those would be significant concerns. But but really, and then you mentioned metabolic concerns, definitely if we if we know about any other concern, one would look earlier. In addition, the it's an opportunity to optimize for pregnancy health. So it's so couples that are planning to conceive can look at optimizing optimization for for a pregnancy, um, even if they don't need a sister reproduction to conceive.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that. I'm glad that we're fleshing out this conversation because I know that that's what you do and in the uniqueness of what you offer as well. And our listeners and our people need to hear it time and time again. So thank you for letting us flesh that out. Now, the fertility space is always changing because of the valuable research that's taking place. I remember when I was writing my book, I had a week before we were going to publish, and I got my hands on new research, and I went, I need to pull this book back and I need to write a section on this new research that's come out. And at that time, that was about the influence that male genome and male health has on the placenta of a baby. So we don't need to go into that. I'm just preempting that research and cutting-edged research is always changing. Now, I know that through your clinic, you always need to be up to speed about what is happening and you're introducing that for your patients. What is the most important? What excites you the most about the future of fertility care?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, and I think that you're kind of leading towards that, that there are all the technological advances, advances that are happening. Um, so in the space of the embryology, um, we have the time-lapse incubator, and the time-lapse incubator generates a lot of information about the embryos, so much more than we would have had in the past. In the past, uh, or in the um older uh embryo uh incubators, uh the embryologists would review the embryos the day after after fertilization on day three, on day five, at a point in time. Um and so those are static points in time, but they'll make a uh a visual assessment of the embryo's growth. And we now have an incubator that takes images of uh of the embryo every 10 minutes so that we can see the dynamic growth over the five days, five or six days uh in the embryology lab. And in addition to be able to see more information at different times and keeping the embryo stable without having to take it out of the incubator, that information can also be utilized with AI models, so machine learning, so we can get an idea about predictive uh modeling and learning about what the chances are of that embryo uh achieving a pregnancy. And I believe that even if at the moment that we're still kind of touching the edge of that of that um morphokinetic uh information, that is uh part of the way of the future. Um so the technology and the interface with machine learning is going to be coming more of a feature. Um and then I think the other one which is which is um uh happening is our understanding about the importance of genetics. So you're referring to to male and probably sperm health and male health and aging. Um but we're we're finding more and more about our genetics that is impacting uh both the child and the chances of achieving a pregnancy and understanding uh um infertility diagnoses. And so as that is evolving, we're gonna have more information, including which at some time, at some point in the not too distant future, personalized fertility treatment that is gonna be uh according to specific uh receptors that patients or don't have. So I think that that's an evolving space. So those are both the technological space. I think that the other one which really excites me is how more comfortable we are about talking about uh uh going through this journey and how the conversation is is more uh out in the open so there isn't the stigma, and and and also um that allows people to talk about it and it allows us to recognize the psychological needs of the patient and the holistic care of the patient. Um and so I think that those are the you know we're moving towards more precise medicine, more information, more advanced technology and and the conversation um that that allows us uh to be comfortable talking about uh difficulties in conceiving.

SPEAKER_01:

Beautiful, beautiful. Thank you for bringing that up. That is so important, and it just gives, I believe it'll also give our listener that that hope that what they're feeling, what they're experiencing, their voice is adding to the conversation.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely, and it's important.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, amazing. I love that. Dr. Sasha, is there anything else that I haven't tapped into that you wish to share in today's conversation?

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I mean, I think, I mean, I kind of probably alluded to it, but but I I think that what what is important is to recognize um all the work that's happening behind the scenes in the laboratory that you don't necessarily um realize or that you aren't aware of. And so I think that the the scientific team, the embryology team are kind of the unsung heroes um that need to be recognized for the work and for the for the importance that they're playing. I think that I think that the other thing that's important um is to get an idea about you know what you can uh get for your fertility uh for your treatment. Um I think that it's important to be able to have a team that listens to you, that responds to your specific concerns, and that can help provide treatment that's modeled to your to your needs. That's that's important. I think that we are we need to have agency, patients need to have agency in in this journey to raise their concerns and to have those concerns met.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, beautiful. And just to also um put in the conversation that what I know of Thrive Fertility is that you do have premium services and technology, and you're also not you're wanting to keep the service and treatment affordable for the individual and the couple.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep, absolutely. Thank you. Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

We have a fun question that we'd like to ask, and that is what is your superpower? It just means that we get to know you a little bit better than, say, Dr. Sasha. So what is your superpower, Dr. Sasha?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, I mean, so so so my superpower, I think, is is is kind of a um a determination or a dedication to kind of bring something to market um um that I didn't see. Uh and and so, but but I think that in terms of uh in terms of my patient engagement, like I would suggest that it's about uh understanding having been in their shoes and understanding uh where what they're going through. Um and so to have a deep sense of empathy uh for patients going through this journey.

SPEAKER_01:

Wonderful, thank you very much. Uh it's been a delightful conversation. Thank you for your time and your presence. And I look forward to seeing you very soon at the Melbourne Fertility Expo. And I know that, yeah, moving forward as well, we'd love to have you on again to talk about other topics um relevant to fertility and helping people.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you, Ellen. Thank you for everything that you're doing to bring information to the to the general public and to try and bring people into this conversation. Uh, I'm also looking forward to being uh it's in three weeks' time, I think.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, um, conversation. Yeah, absolutely. Blessings, thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks for joining us at the Homer Fertility. We hope today's episode brought you clarity, comfort, and connection.

SPEAKER_00:

If this podcast resonated, please share it, leave a review or subscribe. This helps us support more people that are on this path.

SPEAKER_01:

And if you'd like to connect or share your story, find us on Instagram and Facebook at Australian Fertility Summit.

SPEAKER_00:

Remember the missing piece might be waiting in a story, your body's wisdom, or something new just made for you. Take care and we'll see you next time.