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Founder’s Story
A Personal Journey to Hope and Answers
Women's health has always been my life's passion. For the past 15 years, I've dedicated my career to improving women's health both globally and here in Canada. My journey began with Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs, where I was stationed in rural Bangladesh overseeing 100 maternal health clinics. The experience of working directly with women who had limited access to healthcare deeply shaped my perspective and commitment.
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Over the years, I've been fortunate to work on many meaningful initiatives, most recently with breast cancer and mental health projects at Trillium Health Partners, Canada's largest hospital. My academic journey took me between Canada and South Africa, where I completed my PhD focusing on women's access to health services—a topic that continues to drive my work today.​
But it wasn't my professional background that led me to establish Reproductive Immunology Canada. It was something much more personal.
A few years after my husband and I married, we began trying for our first child. After six months without success, we sought medical help. Despite my connections within the Canadian healthcare system, I was quickly labelled with "unexplained infertility"—with virtually no testing to identify possible causes.
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I was stunned to learn how common this experience is in Canada. Between 10% and 50% of couples seeking fertility treatment receive this same frustrating diagnosis after only the most basic testing for ovulation, tubal patency, and semen analysis.​
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Determined to find answers, my husband and I traveled to Europe for more comprehensive diagnostic testing. What we discovered changed everything: my immune system was the root cause of our fertility challenges. With this crucial knowledge, we pursued appropriate treatments and soon conceived our first child.
Today, our family is complete with our beautiful daughter and son —a family that might never have existed without access to that specialized testing overseas. What should have been a devastating "unexplained infertility" story became our success story, all because we found the right diagnostic approach.​
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During that emotional journey, my husband and I made a promise: one day, we would provide couples in Canada with the same access to immunology-focused diagnostic testing that we had to travel across an ocean to receive.
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Reproductive Immunology Canada is that promise fulfilled. I founded RIC because I've walked in your shoes. I know the heartache of being told "we don't know why" when your dreams of starting a family seem out of reach.
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I look forward to supporting you with our services and helping you take a significant step forward in your fertility journey. Thank you for trusting us with something so precious—your hopes for a family. I understand exactly what that means, and I'm honored to be part of your path forward.
Warmly,
Dr. Nafeesa Jalal
Founder & CEO, Reproductive Immunology Canada