Jacques Cohen

Jacques is the pioneering Dutch academic, embryologist and entrepreneur who has been associated with many of the critical innovations in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) over the past 40 years.

After receiving his B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the State University of Leiden, Jacques went on to receive an M.Sc. in Reproductive Physiology from Leiden University. In 1981, he was awarded his Ph.D. in Medicine from Erasmus University.

Immediately after receiving his doctorate, Jacques joined the groundbreaking Bourn Hall Clinic Cambridge as an Embryologist, working with Patrick Steptoe and Robert G. Edwards on techniques geared towards improving human conception through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Edwards was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 2010 in recognition of his pioneering work including the birth of Louise Brown, the first IVF child. It was in Cambridge that Jacques was the first scientist to successfully freeze and thaw a human blastocyst for use in IVF, an achievement that provided the foundational platform for many of the innovations that were to come in ART during the next 30 years. Evidence of his many contributions to the field, Jacques is the author of 12 patents relating to ART.

A serial entrepreneur, Jacques is the co-founder of Althea Science, which develops software solutions for laboratories and clinics. He was co-founder of Reprogenetics, a genetic screening service used in fertility clinics, which was acquired by Cooper Genomics in 2015. In addition, Jacques co-founded Life-Global/IVF-Online, a company also acquired by Cooper Surgical in 2018. Jacques was the founder of Alpha – Scientists in Reproductive Medicine, a leading global professional group for scientists working in ART.

A widely published author, Jacques has written more than 300 articles for peer-reviewed scientific publications and authored several foundational textbooks concerning issues in ART. He is also Emeritus Chief Editor of Reproductive Biomedicine Online.

Jacques is the founder and Director of the ART Institute of Washington, which was selected by the National Institutes of Health and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to develop and run their joint IVF program at Walter Reed.