Columbia University has a fertility center that independent researchers have consistently ranked No. 1 in the United States. How could we promote the center in a way that didn’t seem formulaic and self-congratulatory? We turned the lens on the broader U.S. fertility industry—describing, through patient stories and other sources, how the vast majority of America's fertility clinics are for-profit entities that market IVF procedures to couples, without necessarily finding out what is causing their infertility and tailoring their treatments accordingly. Years of frustration, heartbreak, and diminished savings often follow. Our article dramatizes how Columbia’s fertility specialists, by contrast, prioritize individual care over volume or profit, modeling a new path forward for their field. Boundary-pushing research ventures that Columbia is pursuing—delaying menopause in women to extend their fertility window, for instance, and using AI to detect sperm in men labeled “infertile”—make readers feel they are learning new insights about the frontiers of biology, rather than digesting promotional copy.
From the Judges
This piece does such an incredible job of tying real people, and their pain and experience, to the research. Judges agreed it was a great approach to focus on the stories and the impact of the research—it both draws in the reader, helps them connect to the mission of the work, and makes complex research easier to understand.
