The Fertility PLUS staff is a closely knit team of doctors, nurses, embryologists, counselors and administration staff who work together to ensure those experiencing infertility receive excellent care in a caring environment.
Medical Staff
Scientific Director
Nursing Co-ordinator
Medical Staff
Dr Karen Buckingham MB ChB FRANZCOG
Dr Karen Buckingham is a graduate of the Auckland School of Medicine and trained as an obstetrician and gynaecologist in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. She has worked as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist for ADHB since 2003. She has been a part time senior lecturer at the University of Auckland from 2003 to 2008. For the past 10 years she has subspecialised in the field of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. She now works part time, mostly as a fertility specialist in both the private and public sector. She is also sits on the Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ACART); a government appointed body of experts that helps formulate policy in areas of infertility and assisted reproduction.
Dr Marian Carter MB ChB MRCOG FRANZCOG
Dr Marian Carter is an Auckland graduate trained at National Women’s and in the United Kingdom. She completed her training as a clinical research fellow in the IVF unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary before returning to New Zealand in 1989 where she was appointed as part time specialist at National Women’s Hospital. She is a past medical director at Fertility PLUS. She works as a fertility specialist in both public and private practice.
Professor Cindy (Cynthia) Farquhar MB ChB MD FRCOG FRANZCOG CREI MPH MNZM
Professor Farquhar is the Postgraduate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Auckland.
Clinical interests are polycystic ovarian syndrome, pelvic pain, endometriosis, infertility and the management of abnormal uterine bleeding.
Research interests include clinical trials within subfertility and menstrual disorders, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines, quality improvement, mortality review.
Coordinating editor of the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group which was established in 1996.
Co-director of the New Zealand Cochrane Branch of the Australasian Cochrane Centre and Member of the Cochrane Oversight Committee since 2010.
Past board member and chairman of the New Zealand Guidelines Group (20001-2009) and life long member of the New Zealand Guidelines GroupAppointments include Chair of the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee (http://www.newhealth.govt.nz/pmmrc/), Chair of the Pandemic Influenza Mortality Review Working Group, Member and past Chairman of the Alliance Leadership Team of GAIHN (Greater Auckland Integrated Health Network) and past member of the Quality Improvement Committee of the MOH.
Harkness Fellow of the Commonwealth Fund of New York at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2000.
Author of over 160 peer reviewed articles and edited two books and many chapters.
Associate Professor Neil Johnson MB BS FRCOG FRANZCOG CREI
Associate Professor Johnson trained in both the UK and New Zealand, and has completed the advanced training program necessary to accredit as a Subspecialist in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. He is now involved with training and examining other fertility subspecialists throughout Australia and New Zealand.
With a national and international reputation as a leader in gynaecology and fertility clinical research, Neil is the lead clinician for the Australasian multicentre fertility research network REACT-ANZ. His main areas of research interest currently include evidence based fertility treatments, endometriosis, polycystic ovaries and ovarian reserve. He has developed an innovative treatment for unexplained and endometriosis-related infertility, using lipiodol, a poppy seed oil.
He has had a long association with the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group as a reviewer and editor, and is a member of the Endometriosis New Zealand Trust Board and the Board of the World Endometriosis Society. He is Chairperson of the Australasian Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Subspecialty Training Committee.
Dr Barry Lowe MB ChB FRANZCOG
Dr Barry Lowe is our current medical director at Fertility PLUS. He trained in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. From 1991 to 200 he was the medical director of North Shore Fertility, a private fertility and IVF clinic based in Takapuna. He has also worked as a specialist at Fertility Associates North Shore from 2000 to 2005. He has worked in the field of infertility and reproductive medicine for over 20 years and is an experienced laparoscopic and endometriosis surgeon.
Dr. Paul Robinson MB ChB FRANZCOG
Dr Paul Robinson is an Auckland Graduate trained at both National women’s and in the United Kingdom. He has worked as a research fellow in Biomedical sciences at University of Waikato and UCLA, He is also a specialist at Origins Obstetrics.
Dr. Martin Sowter BSc (Hons) MB ChB MD FRCOG FRANZCOG
Dr Martin Sowter graduated from the University of Birmingham and then trained in Bristol before coming to New Zealand in 1995 to spend two years undertaking research on the diagnosis and treatment of ectopic pregnancy for an MD thesis at National Women's Hospital. He has also worked in IVF units in Bristol and Plymouth. He returned permanently to Auckland as a specialist in 2001. From 2002 to 2006 he was a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland. He is a part-time specialist at Auckland City Hospital in the fertility and menstrual disorders clinics.
Martin is also one of the coordinators of the hospital's obstetric emergencies training programme for midwives and medical staff. For the last five years he has also worked regularly in the Cook Islands providing support for the local medical staff in Rarotonga. He is also a specialist at the Auckland Obstetric Centre.
Dr. John Tuckey MB ChB MMedSc Otago FRACS
Dr. John Tuckey is a consultant urologist with an interest in male sub-fertility.
Scientific Director
Margaret Merrilees BSc
Margaret is a graduate of the University of Otago in Dunedin. She began her Embryology career as the Laboratory Director for a commercial animal embryo transfer company, Genestock, where she organised cattle and goat embryo transfer teams working in NZ, Australia, Zimbabwe and the UK.
Margaret has been working in the human IVF field for 24 years, including years in Canada and the USA.
Margaret pioneered several embryology techniques in New Zealand including early embryo freezing, ICSI and Assisted Hatching and has been the Scientific Director at Fertility PLUS since 1999.
Margaret was an inaugural board member for SIRT - Scientists in Reproductive Technology - a society for ART scientists from Australia and NZ and is currently on the SIRT Education subcommittee. She a board member of FertilityNZ- a society for clinicians and consumers, a consultant for Overlake Reproductive Health in Seattle USA and a visiting Senior Lecturer at the School of Medicine, University of Auckland.
Nursing Co-ordinator
Anna Bargiacchi
Anna is the Senior Nurse at Fertility PLUS and co-ordinates the nursing team.
She has worked in Women's Health for 20 years and has been part of the team at Fertility PLUS for 14 years. She finds fertility nursing particularly satisfying and personally rewarding and brings a wealth of experience to her role.
The experienced nursing team at Fertility Plus is committed to providing empathetic support and the best possible clinical care for couples being treated at Fertility PLUS.