Dr David Walmer, MD, PhD

A doctor of medicine and a doctor of biochemistry, Dr Walmer completed his fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Duke University in 1989 and joined the Duke faculty. As a biochemist he also served as a guest researcher at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences from 1989 to 1995, working with Dr John McLachlan on the molecular changes caused by prenatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol.

Within months of his arrival at Duke, the IVF programme director was recruited by Penn State University and took the laboratory staff with him. Tasked with rebuilding the programme, Dr Walmer recruited a new team of embryologists, restarted IVF and served as the programme's medical director from May 1990 to August 2012. From May 1996 he also took charge of the clinical laboratory, a dual role he held until September 2005.

In September 2003 he became chief of Duke's division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility, a post he held until he left the university in August 2012. He then established a comprehensive private infertility practice with Dr Susannah Copland, where he cared for patients until his retirement in September 2022.

Throughout his academic career he served as technical adviser to Dr Harry Beauvais, founder of CHITAI and architect of Haiti's first in vitro fertilisation programme. Involved with the development of IVF in Haiti from its early years, he continues in that role with the Institut Haïtien de Fertilité, working to advance the quality, accessibility and technical sophistication of fertility care throughout the country.