Dr. Thomas Pool
Dr. Thomas B. “Rusty” Pool, a native Texan, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture and a Master of Arts degree in Biology from Sam Houston State University, gaining his initial research training in the laboratory of cell biologist, Dr. Terry Hoage.
In 1973, he became a NICHHD pre-doctoral fellow in developmental biology at the University of Virginia, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1976 with Professor James Norman Dent. He then completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in cell biology in the laboratory of Professor Ivan L. Cameron in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. At the conclusion of his fellowship, he was invited to join the faculty of that same institution, becoming an Assistant Professor in 1978.
In 1984, he became a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology. His research laboratory was funded though the N.I.H. to study human cell growth mechanisms and he was awarded a Research Career Development Award through the National Institute on Aging. In the early 1980’s, he also began an active collaboration with colleagues from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, contributing his research experience in cell culture and growth regulation to the goal of developing a successful non-human primate model of IVF and a clinical IVF program. This ultimately redirected his career towards human embryology/reproductive medicine. With his university colleagues, he produced the world’s third nonhuman primate and the first cynomolgus monkey through IVF. Additionally, the group produced the first live birth of a nonhuman primate, generated from the transfer of a frozen embryo from IVF.
In 1986, he was recruited by Dr. Joseph Martin to co-found the Fertility Center of San Antonio, a private institution, where he served as the Scientific and Laboratory Director for 38 years. He was the Program Director for the Fertility Program at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio for 1989-1990, directed the IVF laboratory of the 59th Medical Wing, United States Air Force at Lackland AFB from 1996-2011, has served as the IVF laboratory director for the IVF program at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, from 2011 to 2022 and is a former offsite IVF laboratory director for Austin Fertility and Reproductive Medicine. Dr. Pool is a charter member of the College of Reproductive Biology, American Association of Bioanalysts and served as the Southern Regional Chair of the College from 1997-1999 and Chairman from 2000-2001. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society. He has been board-certified as a High-complexity Clinical Laboratory Director through the American Board of Bioanalysis for over 30 years and is an active member of The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the College of Reproductive Biology, the American Association of Bioanalysts and the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society. He was the 2018 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Society of Reproductive Biologists and Technologists, an affiliated society of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
Dr. Pool has written and co-authored over 100 research publications, books, chapters, review articles and abstracts. In 2001, founding editor and Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert G. Edwards invited him to join the editorial board of Reproductive BioMedicine Online where he served for 16 years prior to moving to Emeritus status and now returning to the active board. He functioned as a section editor for the last seven years of his tenure with the journal. He also serves on the editorial board of Fertility and Sterility and the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. He has been a frequent speaker in post-graduate courses for the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, the College of Reproductive Biology, the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology, the UCLA/UCSD Annual Review of IVF-ET, the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society and Midwest, Southwest and Canadian Embryology Summits along with conferences and symposia throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia. His research interests in reproductive medicine center upon improving human embryogenesis in vitro and his work has led to the development of new culture media (P-1; Preimplantation Stage 1 Medium) and macromolecular supplements (SSS, Dextran Serum Supplement) for human IVF along with a better understanding of the role of hydrogen ion regulation in embryogenesis. He has served on numerous industry advisory boards including those for Incept, Irvine Scientific, LifeGlobal, Humagen, Serono Technologies, Ferring, Granata Bio and CaseBioscience.