Bourn Hall Blog and News
With information and advice about IVF, fertility treatments, tests and more – we are here for you.
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First Christmas as a family, thank you Bourn Hall!
“We spent many Christmases saying to each other ‘maybe next year we will have another stocking to…
First Christmas as a family, thank you Bourn Hall!
“We spent many Christmases saying to each other ‘maybe next year we will have another stocking to…
Coping with Christmas: Make your own family traditions
A game plan can help you cope with family get-togethers
Coping with Christmas: Dealing with friends’ good news
Your work colleague might also have been trying for years to conceive.
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Joy continues for Bourn Hall grandmother
“IVF means everything to me,” says Angela who was an early patient at Bourn Hall….
Story of IVF pioneers bringing Joy told through film and play
On her 46th birthday, Louise Brown, the world’s first ‘test-tube baby’, and Bourn Hall ambassador…
Jean Purdy, IVF pioneer and co-founder of Bourn Hall
Celebrating the life and work of Jean Purdy
Amazing Grace: mum of the world’s first ‘test-tube’ boy, who paved the way for IVF treatment
When Grace was told she was infertile in 1974, there was nothing that medicine could do. Determined to have a chance of a child, she signed up in secret to a pioneering research programme led by Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards and Jean Purdy.
45 years of IVF bringing ‘Joy’ to people around the world
Louise Joy Brown was born on the 25th July 1978 after her mother Lesley Brown participated in a trial of a groundbreaking new fertility technique.
Louise Brown celebrates World Embryologist Day at Bourn Hall
Happy 45th birthday Louise! Louise, ‘the world’s first test-tube baby’, met Adam Burnley, Regional Lead…
Theramex brings Spanish IVF consultants to Bourn Hall, the birthplace of IVF
Bourn Hall is known worldwide as the birthplace of IVF treatment, so it was a…
A message for ‘quietly determined’ women on a fertility journey
In 1978 Lesley Brown gave birth to Louise, the world’s first test-tube baby – and became the first person to celebrate Mother’s Day with an IVF baby.
Australian IVF campaigner and Bourn Hall baby turns 40
Rebecca Featherstone was one of the first IVF babies in the world; her parents had treatment at the then-brand-new Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridge, UK, before starting a new life in Australia. Now, as she turns 40, Rebecca and her dad reflect on the impact of IVF on their lives.
Milestones of IVF: 2002 – Bourn Hall introduces the first egg sharing programme
Bourn Hall’s egg sharing programme enables a couple having treatment to donate some of their eggs to another woman in return for free IVF treatment.
Milestones in IVF: 1995 – the birth of Bourn Hall’s first baby conceived through ICSI
In December 1968 Robert Edwards, together with Barry Bavister and Patrick Steptoe, submitted a paper to Nature in which IVF in humans was described convincingly for the first time.
Milestones in IVF: 1990 – the first Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act was passed
There was a real concern that without an act of parliament IVF and embryo research would be stopped. But after a campaign by Professor Robert Edwards and others, the Bill was passed and became The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.

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We provide world-class support throughout the fertility journey.
As one of the UK’s top fertility treatment centres, our values ensure we put our patients first.
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