I remember my first journal club in Norfolk, VA. It was at the home of Howard and Georgeanna Jones. I was pretty nervous. I was going to be presenting an article for the first time. It turned out to be a very different experience than I was expecting.

Perhaps this all needs a little explanation. A journal club is kind of like a book club. Each month a few scientific articles that were published in the most recent month’s magazine (journal) are selected to be reviewed by the “club”. The club members are typically the professors, residents and students at a given institution. Norfolk, VA is where I went for my fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility more years ago than I would like to admit. The institution is called, “The Howard W and Georgeanna Seager Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine” which was the birthplace of IVF in the US. Drs. Howard and Georgeanna (as we were expected to call them) were distinguished professors at Johns Hopkins University before they decided to retire to Norfolk where the political climate of the day would allow them to pursue research into IVF.

They pioneered IVF and Dr. Howard, who turns 100 this year, still shows up for work on a regular basis. I consider it one of the greatest honors of my life to have been able to work with these great pioneers and to have trained at the Jones Institute.