Mr Anthony Rutherford
Tony Rutherford qualified in Medicine in 1980, at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, University of London.
He held training posts in London, Leeds and Hull before being appointed as a Consultant in Leeds in 1991, where he set up the Leeds General Infirmary's Reproductive Medicine Unit. In 2009, he led the process of combining the two Leeds IVF units to form Leeds Fertility, which became one of the largest and most successful units in the UK. Tony now leads the experienced and diverse team Care Fertility Leeds as Medical Director.
He has been actively involved in IVF and reproductive medicine, both nationally and internationally over the last 37 years. He served on the committee that prepared the original NICE Guidelines on the Management and Assessment of Fertility in 2004 and has worked as an Expert Advisor to NICE until 2022. He was also on the committee of the British Fertility Society (BFS) for 17 years, culminating as Chair of the Society from 2009-2012.
He represented the UK on the International Federation of Fertility Societies Executive and Scientific Committees for 6 years, the European Assisted Conception Consortium, and the International Advisory Board of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.
He has worked closely with the Department of Health, providing the clinical lead for the 18 week Care Pathway for Fertility, which vastly reduced waiting times for IVF on the NHS, and the Map of Medicine for Fertility, which provided web based guidance for all GPs on managing fertility.
He provided the clinical lead in the HFEA initiative to reduce multiple births as a result of assisted conception treatment in the UK. In 2014 he was appointed by the Department of Health as a Clinical Member of the HFEA Board, which continued through two terms to November 2020.
He has contributed actively to research with particular interests in IVF stimulation, in-vitro maturation of oocytes, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and fertility preservation. He has published over 100 peer reviewed articles.
Outside medicine, he is a family man with grown up children and grandchildren. He enjoys the outdoor life, walking his dogs in the wilds of Northumberland, and in the winter months fast downhill skiing in Europe!
