Mina Alikani, PhD, HCLD, EMB
Dr. Mina Alikani is an Embryologist, certified by the American College of Embryology (EMBCOL) as a Reproductive Embryologist and by the American Board of Bioanalysis (ABB) as a High Complexity Laboratory Director. She currently serves as the Director of the IVF Laboratory and Tissue Bank at the Center for Human Reproduction of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York, USA.
Dr. Alikani started her career in the field of assisted reproduction in 1983, two years after the birth of the first IVF baby in the United States. Her long career includes appointments at The Center for Reproductive Medicine at Cornell University Medical Center-New York Hospital in New York (1989 - 1995), and the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey (1995 - 2004). Dr. Alikani proudly worked alongside Dr. Jacques Cohen, a pioneer in IVF, and the excellent medical teams at these two distinguished institutions to establish their IVF programs as major centers of excellence.
Dr. Alikani completed her PhD in 2006 through the external PhD program of Monash University at Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories, in Clayton, Australia, under the mentorship of the internationally renowned scientist and current President of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), Professor Alan O. Trounson. Her PhD research was supervised by Dr. Steen M. Willadsen, a pioneer in many areas of embryology including cloning and embryo cryopreservation. Her dissertation on the origin and consequences of abnormal cell division in human embryos was reviewed and approved by two preeminent scientists, Professor Martin Johnson of Cambridge University (UK), and Professor Jean Paul Renard of Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (France). Dr. Alikani takes special pride in the fact that she has had the opportunity to work with and learn from such exceptional scientists.
Dr. Alikani has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on assisted reproduction and lectured extensively around the world on ART-related topics. She undertook several research projects while working as a Senior Research Scientist at Tyho-Galileo Research Laboratories (2006 – 2011), including derivation and cryopreservation of human embryonic stem cells. Dr. Alikani’s areas of interest include spindle and division dynamics in mammalian eggs and embryos, fragmentation and other abnormalities of human embryo development in vitro, mitigating human gamete and embryo abnormalities, and improving IVF laboratory outcomes.
She is an active member of several professional organizations, including the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. She serves on the Advisory Board of the American College of Embryology. Dr. Alikani serves as a Section Editor for the journal Reproductive Biomedicine Online. She also serves on the Editorial Board of the Open Reproductive Science Journal and functions as an ad hoc reviewer for many leading scientific and medical journals including Fertility and Sterility, Human Reproduction, Reproduction, Future Drugs, Cell Biology International, Human Fertility, Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, and Regenerative Medicine, among others. The editors of Human Reproduction recently recognized Dr. Alikani as a ‘best reviewer’ based on her contributions to the Journal in 2011.