launched with five areas to advance: awareness, education, financial
assistance, research, and support. Lindsay knew they could not achieve them all at
once and that each one would lead to the next with fund-raising as fuel for the forward
movement. She was speaking all over the country, but mostly to fertility doctors.
The reproductive world took quickly to the idea of Fertile Hope: new patients, new
money, and a way to advance the technology of egg freezing. But the cancer world was
not as receptive, an issue she hadn’t anticipated.
“Fertile Hope became the darling of the reproductive industry very quickly,” she explains,
“but the cancer industry was so hard to penetrate, it was shocking. And that was hard
for me, and frustrating. We had to really think harder. Every pharmaceutical company
in the world was trying to do the same thing: How do you change physician practice?
How do you integrate what you want into their day-to-day checklist? And here little
Fertile Hope was trying to do that. We ended up doing it in six years, which is faster
than most people can, but I expected from my dot-com glory days that that would happen
in six months or a year.”
A breakthrough came in fall 2002 after Fertile Hope sent out fifty thousand brochures,
one to every cancer doctor and nurse in the country. A follow-up focus group helped
the foundation to gather feedback and measure the impact of the mailing. What was
the most effective way to get oncologists to refer their patients to Fertile Hope?
Lindsay listened in as the focus group leader spoke with an anonymous doctor over
the phone. His response proved to be a game changer for the foundation.
“He said, ‘I am busy and I am not going to go to a meeting about fertility. I go to
meetings about how to best treat my patients and do my job, and even if I’m at a conference
where fertility is being discussed, it would probably coincide with another class
that’s more important to my patient’s survival, so I won’t go to it. But I am interestedand I want to do right by my patient and do think this is important, but bring the
information to me. Don’t make me find you.’ The leader followed up with, ‘How do we
get to you?’ ”
The doctor explained that every major hospital in the country does something called
grand rounds, most often on a weekly basis. Presenters are brought in, and the goal
is to help doctors and other health care professionals stay current on evolving areas
that may be outside of their core practice; the newest research and treatments. The
doctor said, “If you can penetrate that, you’re in.”
Lindsay immediately developed a business model for physician education via grand rounds.
“Our goal for the first year was to do ten major cancer centers and ten community
hospitals,” she says. “We blew those numbers out of the water.”
Then came another creative idea: a way to get the local fertility doctors into grand
rounds.
“Let’s say we had a talk in Connecticut. So, we’re going to go to Yale and do grand
rounds at the cancer center with all the oncologists. We would call the local reproductive
doctor there at Yale and say, ‘Hey, we’re doing grand rounds. Do you want to come
and do the presentation with us?’ Uh, yeah. Of course you do. So they would come and
we wouldn’t even give them an honorarium. ‘We’re not paying for anything. You come.
It’s a huge opportunity for you that you wouldn’t have without us.’ We would give
a one-hour presentation and then all the oncologists would have the information they
needed, all because that one doctor in that one focus group said, ‘Come to me.’ ”
Blending the two worlds of oncology and reproduction was finally happening. Lindsay
says a particular grand rounds session exposed the disconnect that was right before
the medical community’s eyes.
“I’ll never forget this. We were at the Cleveland
assistance, research, and support. Lindsay knew they could not achieve them all at
once and that each one would lead to the next with fund-raising as fuel for the forward
movement. She was speaking all over the country, but mostly to fertility doctors.
The reproductive world took quickly to the idea of Fertile Hope: new patients, new
money, and a way to advance the technology of egg freezing. But the cancer world was
not as receptive, an issue she hadn’t anticipated.
“Fertile Hope became the darling of the reproductive industry very quickly,” she explains,
“but the cancer industry was so hard to penetrate, it was shocking. And that was hard
for me, and frustrating. We had to really think harder. Every pharmaceutical company
in the world was trying to do the same thing: How do you change physician practice?
How do you integrate what you want into their day-to-day checklist? And here little
Fertile Hope was trying to do that. We ended up doing it in six years, which is faster
than most people can, but I expected from my dot-com glory days that that would happen
in six months or a year.”
A breakthrough came in fall 2002 after Fertile Hope sent out fifty thousand brochures,
one to every cancer doctor and nurse in the country. A follow-up focus group helped
the foundation to gather feedback and measure the impact of the mailing. What was
the most effective way to get oncologists to refer their patients to Fertile Hope?
Lindsay listened in as the focus group leader spoke with an anonymous doctor over
the phone. His response proved to be a game changer for the foundation.
“He said, ‘I am busy and I am not going to go to a meeting about fertility. I go to
meetings about how to best treat my patients and do my job, and even if I’m at a conference
where fertility is being discussed, it would probably coincide with another class
that’s more important to my patient’s survival, so I won’t go to it. But I am interestedand I want to do right by my patient and do think this is important, but bring the
information to me. Don’t make me find you.’ The leader followed up with, ‘How do we
get to you?’ ”
The doctor explained that every major hospital in the country does something called
grand rounds, most often on a weekly basis. Presenters are brought in, and the goal
is to help doctors and other health care professionals stay current on evolving areas
that may be outside of their core practice; the newest research and treatments. The
doctor said, “If you can penetrate that, you’re in.”
Lindsay immediately developed a business model for physician education via grand rounds.
“Our goal for the first year was to do ten major cancer centers and ten community
hospitals,” she says. “We blew those numbers out of the water.”
Then came another creative idea: a way to get the local fertility doctors into grand
rounds.
“Let’s say we had a talk in Connecticut. So, we’re going to go to Yale and do grand
rounds at the cancer center with all the oncologists. We would call the local reproductive
doctor there at Yale and say, ‘Hey, we’re doing grand rounds. Do you want to come
and do the presentation with us?’ Uh, yeah. Of course you do. So they would come and
we wouldn’t even give them an honorarium. ‘We’re not paying for anything. You come.
It’s a huge opportunity for you that you wouldn’t have without us.’ We would give
a one-hour presentation and then all the oncologists would have the information they
needed, all because that one doctor in that one focus group said, ‘Come to me.’ ”
Blending the two worlds of oncology and reproduction was finally happening. Lindsay
says a particular grand rounds session exposed the disconnect that was right before
the medical community’s eyes.
“I’ll never forget this. We were at the Cleveland
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