My Journey to Founding Pollin Fertility: A Personal Story from CEO Melody Adhami

Hello,

I’m Melody Adhami, CEO and founder of Pollin Fertility.

‍I am a fertility patient.

‍As I navigated my own fertility journey, I started feeling that things could be done better – from the way I interacted with the clinic to how the clinic interacted with me. How I understood my treatment plan, my experience in the clinic, and the endless late-night scrolling searching for answers.

There had to be a way to do better for patients.

I began researching why certain things were the way they were, and I was never satisfied with the answers. I increasingly felt that this field was in desperate need of modernization, and the more time I spent researching, the more resolved I became in this mission.

...And not long after, Pollin was born and our mission was clear.

Give every Pollin patient the greatest chance of achieving a healthy pregnancy and improve the experience for patients to deliver the best possible care.

What I’ve loved most on this journey is the sense of mission from everybody on the team. Our doctors, nursing staff, front office staff, and operations team. Each one of us has a connection to fertility and is driven by our mission.

Our team's passion can be found in all aspects of Pollin. When we designed our clinic, we put ourselves in the shoes of patients. For many, this is the first major medical procedure of their young lives – and everything about our space should rise to meet that moment.

The words we used were “warm, welcoming, and breathe”. The moment someone enters our space, we want them to know they are in the best care.

Another defining feature of Pollin is that we are one of the only fertility clinics in the world that builds its own technology.

We evaluated all the fertility EMRs and decided that they weren’t sufficient to achieve our goals. For over 2 years, we’ve built our own tools that make the experience better for patients, our medical teams, and operations teams. We obsess over our big ambitions but also the small things - like individual milestones that guide you on your fertility journey, and push notifications that remind you when it's time to take your meds.

Our commitment to success is underscored by our investment in the most advanced technology. Our lab has the most state-of-the-art equipment, ensuring our embryologists have every opportunity to create healthy embryos. Our lab is the most advanced in Canada.

As a patient, I remember being frustrated by what I call the black box of the patient experience. There is simply too little knowledge about what is happening to you, your embryos, and your chances of success. We are working to bring more of the lab to the patient experience to make things better.

Other aspects of the patient pathway our team is most proud of involve the thoughtful cycle monitoring experience.

This is where patients spend the majority of their time in the clinic, and as such, it's important the experience be as positive as possible. We took a lot of time to obsess over details to make patients feel relaxed and comfortable: Details like robes and slippers, beautiful lights on top of the ultrasound table, and even a vein light for blood draws.

The vein light emits near-infrared light (NIR) onto the body and interprets the light reflected back by surrounding tissue. It then projects an image onto the body in real-time to highlight the veins so that the nurse knows the best place to draw blood.

While to some this may seem like a small thing, but when you are getting poked and prodded multiple times a week, this brings an element of comfort. The feeling that you're in the best care. That's what I want for our patients.

I am a fertility patient.

I, and the team at Pollin, are resolved to make things better for fertility patients.

We invite you to join us.

Melody Adhami is an accomplished business leader. Prior to starting Pollin, she was a co-founder of Plastic Mobile where she was named one of the top 100 most powerful women in tech and the “Queen of Apps” by The Globe and Mail. Melody sits on multiple boards including IRAP, ShopThing, and Young Presidents Organization. She lives in Toronto, Canada.