Professor Richard Anderson

Professor Richard Anderson is a Consultant Gynaecologist at TFP GCRM Fertility and is a notable leader in the field of reproductive health. His work spans areas such as fertility preservation and contraceptive development.

In addition to his position at TFP GCRM Fertility, Richard Anderson is the Professor of Clinical Reproductive Science at the University of Edinburgh, and a consultant at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He also provides a specialist endocrinology service to the Edinburgh Gender Identity Clinic.

Prof Anderson began his training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Edinburgh, with a WHO Research Fellow post then Subspecialty training in Reproductive Medicine with David Baird. After a year in Sam Yen’s lab in UC San Diego he returned to the UK in 1998 and was appointed to the MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Unit with a Consultant post in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

He was then appointed to Chair of Clinical Reproductive Science at the University in 2005. Following this, Prof Anderson established a group investigating female reproductive lifespan, and also conducted clinical studies developing our understanding of novel neuropeptides in human reproductive function in men and women.

In 2017, in a UK first, he successfully performed a transplant of frozen ovary tissue into a woman recovering from cancer, allowing her to give birth.

Professor Richard Anderson was the founding Co-ordinator of the European Society of Human Reproduction Embryology Special Interest Group in Fertility Preservation, and is a member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee.

Prof Anderson is a true advocate for people who are often marginalised in medical research. Through his teaching, he challenges students to think beyond the lab, to become compassionate and socially accountable researchers.