Lessons in Andrology

In this series, you have had a plethora of advice from excellent mentors. Many of the themes are common, for example, work hard, have focus, be tenacious, be lucky and so on. My thoughts are no different, but perhaps I can provide some context to the lessons I would pass on. I have had a rather unorthodox but fortunate route to being a scientist. Academically I struggled at school but liked biology and history. I could not work out which to do in college but presumed there were no jobs for historians. Also, on a practical level, I only scrapped through my final exams so realistically studying history was not an option (the grades to study history were higher than the 3 Ds I achieved). I always feel it is a bad time to do exams that will potentially forge your future at an impressionable age (~14–18 years old) when your hormones are straining at the seams. Faced with a choice of partying vs. studying, the latter can come a poor second. However, I entered into college. Swansea was the destination. It was ideal as I had played rugby at home and I envisioned myself creeping up the college teams and then playing for Wales (in those days, Wales were good at rugby). Dream on. I had a massive wake-up call as even in the very lowest teams, the players were fitter, faster, tougher and more skilful than I would ever be in a month of Sundays. Well, at least I learnt an important first lesson – excellence. Lesson 1 then is excellence – if you're going to do something make sure you do it very well. On reflection, I was fortunate to choose Swansea as it was a small friendly place that did not focus too much on academic work. Just what I needed as it eased me into the college studying ethos. I had been accepted to study zoology (with a minor in botany); however, it turned out that pelagic animals were not too exciting. But, no problem, this was 1970s after all, so there was lots of stimulation, for example, protesting on the streets about world events – apartheid, communism, Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Among the sometimes drudgery of studying invertebrates (and desperately avoiding anything to do with plants), I stumbled upon a hidden gem – fertilization. This was exciting stuff and for the first time, I could see myself studying something in detail. Unfortunately, however, my budding transformation to an academic was a bit late (2.5 years to be exact) and there was no chance of doing further postgraduate studies, so I opted to stay in Swansea for another year to do teacher training. I had been told that teacher training was easy – you are paid, guaranteed to pass and don't need to do much work. Count me in, I thought. (In current terms, I think this would be classed as a year to ‘find yourself’.) It would also allow me time to try and find a place to do a PhD if that was possible. However, while doing teacher training, another revelation happened – as it turned out firstly, I enjoyed teaching and secondly, I was not bad at it (unlike many of my fellow contemporary teacher training colleagues who unfortunately now teach kids in schools). The primary difficulty was I did not enjoy the feeling that I personally was learning nothing new. So, off back to the zoology department to chat to my pervious tutor (Roger Elias) about fertilization. He recommended I go to see Jack Cohen in Birmingham. He implied that Jack was a bit odd but very passionate, a leader in his field and had a brain the size of a planet. We had used some of Jacks book in our course [Living Embryos (Cohen & Massey), Reproduction (Cohen)], so I knew the name. The visit to see Jack was certainly an experience, but I was hooked and desperate to do a PhD with him. Teacher training was not the same after this and although I passed, all I could think about was doing a PhD in reproductive biology. Lesson 2: Pick an excellent supervisor for your graduate studies. I was extremely fortunate having studied with Jack. He was a mentor in all senses of the word. However, it is important to remember that you do not have to like or even get on with your supervisor, you just need to learn from them – fast track to obtain some wisdom. The laboratory was a hot bed of science examining the fertilizing potential of spermatozoa from a variety of animals and I initially worked on fertilization in Pomatoceros. Jack would argue with anybody – engage in debate he called it and this transformed my thinking. In fact, Jack edited a book for research students based on his experience strongly encouraging students to ask hard questions and be independent (Cohen & Medley, 2005). At this time, I attended my first Society for the Study of Fertility (now SRF) Annual meeting (Reading 1984) where I met intellectual giants such as Anne McLaren who were very generous with their time even though I was a fledgling student. In Birmingham, I was also very fortunate as: (i) I was briefly exposed to the clinical aspect of reproductive biology via David Mortimer who was working in the Birmingham Women's Hospital. It was an exciting time as IVF was just developing as a treatment (1982) and (ii) I met my long-term collaborator and lifelong friend Steve Publicover. Suffice it to say Lesson 2 is – find an excellent supervisor. If you do not have one now – get one. Jack opened my eyes and is the single biggest influence on my career to date. Lesson 3: Carefully choose a good place to work after you have completed your PhD/MD. The next step is very important. I was again very lucky working with Ian Cooke in Sheffield who had just received a large grant to set up a reproductive medicine centre focusing on fertility. My appointment was not as a traditional post-doc job and I was tasked with developing a male research programme. This I initially found difficult and it took me a long time to bed in. I had only just stopped being a student, so learning to coordinate with others, multitask, write grants, etc. was a big step. I distinctly remember going to see Ian Cooke to discuss what I considered a heavy and varied workload. I explained, in great detail, the things that I was supposed to be doing, trying to get over to him the point that it was difficult to keep track. He listened intensely, just looked at me and said ‘what you mean Chris is that you are juggling several balls in the air at one time’. Eureka exactly I said – that's right. He replied with a deadpan face ‘Welcome to the real world!’ I never mentioned my workload again and, I learnt an important difference between being a post-doc and a potential Principal Investigator. In Sheffield, we had a plethora of overseas visitors including a consistent stream from the WHO. Visiting and meeting people such as Frank Comhaire was inspirational. I was also exposed to true natural cycle IVF, so cut my teeth on trying to predict ovulation and successfully doing IVF with one egg! Liz Lenton had previously published a series of papers on the hormonal environment of the natural cycle (no drugs at all) and we were using this to develop an IVF research/treatment programme (Lenton et al., 1982). Ian Cooke was an outstanding leader and we forged many exciting partnerships to study human sperm function. He also helped me to realize that my research strength was at the basic science-clinical interface. Sheffield was an excellent choice for me. Lesson 4: Tell people your ideas. Yes you will get shafted a few times but overall you will gain enormously. Science is about talking and discussing ideas (engaging in debate). You cannot do this if you hold back. With Ian Cooke, we were revisiting human sperm transport and had a number of studies examining sperm function after recovery from various portions of the female tract. Consequently, at my first ASA (Montreal 1991), I met with David Katz and Jim Overstreet and I was absolutely desperate to tell them about our results. They were very gracious, supportive and helpful. The ASA is a fantastic society that welcomes you and provides critical analysis of your ideas in a nurturing environment. If you do not discuss your ideas with people, you will never experience this and more importantly not receive constructive feedback. Lesson 5: Train and foster students – It is absolutely critical, even when you are early in your career, that you inspire and train the next generation. It is unbelievably fulfilling to see your previous students making a real contribution to the discipline. What you need to aim for is that they make a more important series of contributions than you do. Some people do not foster students. The most common complaint/arguments against mentoring students is that it is inefficient and hinders progress. I agree it takes effort and can sometimes side-track you from your main research. But, it is part of the job and I believe it is unforgivable not to do this. Lesson 6: Get involved in the profession and learned societies. Do not stand back and wait for someone else to do something – you do it. Do not be lazy. I have tried and usually failed to do things to help the discipline ranging from working with societies running semen analysis course to involvement with WHO. These can be hard tasks, especially as you will have a number of other things on your plate but you must do this. Pick a key thing that you are good at and offer your services to your local scientific society. The lesson is: in addition to your research, positively contribute to the discipline. Bluntly, you are on the planet to change the world so get on with it. Lesson 7: Party hard (it is now called “networking”): This is fundamental. Larry Zaneveld organized great parties at ASA. He was fantastic at making you feel welcome and introducing you to a whole host of new people. As a young post-doc, I was amazed to be chatting in the wee hours of the night with key opinion leaders. Sitting in lectures has limited value. It is this informal talking at meetings which is vital to scientific exchange. No better way to do this than in a party situation. Additionally, you will make lifelong friends and colleagues. While at a Spermatology meeting in 1990, I remember sitting in a bar in the Piazza del Campo in Sienna on one sunny afternoon contemplating life – its been good so far type of thing. I was then introduced to a young American – Christopher J. De Jonge – working on signal transduction pathways in the human acrosome reaction. Several hours latter, we worked out three key things in life (1) Neil Young was right – ‘it is better to burn out than fade away’ and (3) we should organize some workshops on spermatozoa and write papers together. Subsequently, we have organized a number of meetings/workshops, written papers and edited books – the most recent one is due for publication in 2017 – all this while, at the same time, networking! Here endeth the lesson(s). You are very lucky. It is the most exciting time to be an Andrologist. There are breathtaking advances taking place. I am not sure how I describe my job – teacher, scientist, but whatever label, it is the most satisfying job and I feel truly fortunate. I hope you enjoy andrology and science as much as I have. C. L. R. Barratt is Head of the Reproductive Medicine Group at the University of Dundee as well as a clinical scientist (Hon) with NHS Tayside. He was born in Welshpool in Wales where everybody knows everybody, so it is not necessary to look after your own business because your neighbour will do it for you. He graduated with an Honours degree in Zoology and then completed a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (University of Wales, Swansea). His PhD, also in Zoology, was at the University of Birmingham. His formative post-doctoral studies were gained at the University of Sheffield (1995–1997). From 1997 to 2005, he was the Scientific Director of the ART Centre at the Birmingham Women's Hospital. He has been presented with numerous awards including Young Andrologist of the Year (American Andrology Society) for outstanding contributions to the discipline and the Professor Sir Robert Edwards keynote lecture at ESHRE. He is a regularly invited speaker at national and international scientific conferences/workshops. He was a member of the WHO Male Fertility Semen Analysis Taskforce (for both the fourth and fifth editions) and is now Chair of the WHO (2012–2016) Male Fertility Expert Working Group which is devising a new system for the diagnosis of the infertile male. He was a member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for 7 years. He has been on the Editorial Board of Human Reproduction, Human Fertility, Biology of Reproduction, Human Reproduction Update and Journal of Andrology and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Human Reproduction. He has mentored 30 PhD/MD students, 35 MSc students and a larger number of post-doctoral workers/clinical fellows. Most importantly, his life's ambition is to see – live – Wales comprehensively batter the All Blacks. It could be a long wait.

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