Join us for a deep dive into the IVF patient journey with special guest Kelly Gonda, a passionate pharmacist and Fertility Nurse Practitioner. In this episode, we explore how pharmacists can improve safety, outcomes, and access to fertility treatment by understanding the science of in vitro fertilization and the medications involved.
🔹 Highlights include:
-
Understanding the IVF journey and the evolving role of pharmacists (3:27)
- Hormones 101: LH, FSH, placental vs. pituitary HCG, and IVF medication evolution
- Progesterone types (13:00), growth hormone use (14:00), and Metformin’s role in PCOS (14:40)
- Ethical reflections: Nadia Suleman and the octuplets (17:15)
- IVF financing, state mandates, and the impact of insurance (18:20, 26:50)
- Retail vs. specialty pharmacies, including Caremark & CVS (21:48)
- Oocyte freezing updates (25:30) and what lifetime IVF allowances mean for patients
- Where to begin: IVF specialists, SART resources, and choosing a provider (29:48–31:30)
- The growing role of pharmacists in reproductive health (37:00)
- Cost-saving access: Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug initiative (42:00)
- Men’s fertility, spermatogenesis, and the need for pharmacist advocacy (43:00–44:00)
- ASRM, genetic testing, and why pharmacy must be at the IVF table (46:00)
- What Kelly wishes more people knew about IVF (59:15)
- How teams can prevent medication errors, inspired by The Right Kind of Wrong by Amy Edmondson (1:04:00)
📍 Watch Kelly’s training from the June 2025 Colorado Pharmacists Society meeting via ASHP on-demand.
🔗 Connect with Kelly:
linkedin.com/in/webbkelly
🔗 Connect with Danielle:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellerplummer/
💊 Personalized medication support for pregnancy:
www.Obstet-Rx.com
📖 Support for Hyperemesis Gravidarum:
www.pregnancyvomiting.com