Sharon Mortimer

Sharon is co-owner and Director of Oozoa Biomedical.

Sharon graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences from the University of Newcastle, and a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, Australia, and completed two years of postdoctoral research in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Sydney.

She became a clinical embryologist in 1985, working at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia (1985–1987) and the Foothills IVF Programme in Calgary, Canada (1987–1991). She then became a consultant in IVF, serving as Director/Secretary of Mortimer Scientific Consulting Pty Ltd (based in Sydney, Australia) and later as Director of Oozoa Biomedical Inc (based in West Vancouver, Canada), involved in the development, design, and improvement of assisted conception programs. She was also Managing Director of GenARTech Pty Ltd, a successful laboratory supply company serving Australia and New Zealand from 1996 until 2001. Since then, she has served as: the Laboratory Director at the Genesis Fertility Centre in Vancouver BC, with overall responsibility for all aspects of laboratory services, including diagnostic andrology, assisted conception procedures and cryobanking, as well as the development and supervision of clinical and service-based laboratory research; the commissioning Scientific Director of the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine in Burnaby, British Columbia; and the Scientific Director of Grace Fertility Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is currently the off-site Scientific Director of the Fertility Laboratory, Eastern Regional Health Authority in St John’s, NL.

She is very interested in teaching and mentoring younger scientists and has appointments as an Adjunct Professor in the UBC Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Women’s and Children’s Health at the University of New South Wales, Australia, and Honorary Lecturer at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa.

Her research interests are sperm kinematics, cryopreservation, the physiology of sperm-egg interaction and fertilization, and the development of tests of sperm function in vitro, as well as the evaluation of the impact of research. She is an active member of 10 professional societies, was a member of the committees that developed the certification standards for ART Laboratory professionals in Canada, and served on the Board of Fertility Matters Canada, the patient support and fertility education charity. She is currently the Chair-Elect of Alpha Scientists in Reproductive Medicine.

Her clinical scientific goals are to ensure that the best diagnostic and therapeutic methods are available to patients and to provide them with unparalleled quality of management to help them achieve pregnancies as quickly and cost-effectively as possible while minimizing the risk of multiple pregnancies. Her research communication goals are to mentor junior scientists in the development and presentation of their research, to ensure the continuation of the tradition of effective communication of scientific ideas and results to promote discussion and further discovery.