The 42nd Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) brought more than 13,000 attendees from 138 countries to London in July. Over 80 scientific sessions and 2,600 exhibitors made it one of the largest gatherings in reproductive medicine anywhere in the world. ESHRE sessions show what's considered current best practice, what's still up for debate, and what new tools clinics are starting to test.
A cross-functional Carrot team attended, spanning Global Clinical Operations, Commercial, and Legal. We sat in on sessions, met with partners and providers, and staffed the exhibition hall. IVF was still a major topic, but much of this year's research pointed somewhere broader: prevention, personalization, and a person's overall health across their whole life, not just the years they're trying to get pregnant. Here's what stood out.
Fertility is being studied as part of overall health, not a separate track
Fewer sessions this year focused only on IVF outcomes. More looked at how nutrition, weight, environmental exposures, and pregnancy complications all feed into fertility and pregnancy outcomes. Reproductive health is increasingly being treated as one piece of a person's overall health instead of its own separate specialty. This is the same logic behind Carrot's Sprints program, which treats fertility and metabolic health as connected rather than separate conditions on their own timelines.
Age is still the strongest predictor of fertility outcomes. One clear example: many people who freeze their eggs end up storing fewer eggs than they'd need for a good chance at a future birth. That gap gets bigger after age 35, since both egg count and egg quality decline faster from that point on. Because of this, the guidance and expectation-setting someone gets before and during the process matters as much as the procedure itself.
Personalized, earlier intervention keeps gaining ground
A large share of the research program focused on catching reproductive risk earlier and tailoring treatment to the individual: better diagnostics, biomarkers, genetics, and a clearer picture of what's driving different reproductive conditions.
Much of that clearer picture comes from large, multi-country studies that pool patients and outcomes across many clinics. No single clinic could reach that scale alone. These collaborations are giving researchers a much better read on what actually works and how outcomes trend over time, which is the same principle behind Carrot's clinical management model: the more data informing a member's care, the better the guidance.
AI is moving from experimental to everywhere
AI came up across pre-congress workshops and many clinical sessions. Researchers presented AI tools for assessing eggs, sperm, and embryos, predicting outcomes, supporting clinical decisions, and streamlining lab workflows. The sheer volume of research and adoption suggests AI is on track to become a standard part of clinical practice.
Caution was a consistent theme, too. Several speakers warned that clinics risk adopting AI tools because of marketing claims, not because the tools have been validated on their own patient populations. Standards for validating these tools haven't kept pace with how fast they're being adopted, echoing a concern raised earlier this year at the REDLARA regional conference in South America. AI must demonstrably improve personalized care. Being new isn't enough.
Access still depends heavily on where you live
Even when fertility care is technically available, it isn't equally reachable. One session found that people who live more than 60 kilometers away from a fertility clinic were about 26% less likely to pursue treatment than people who live less than 15 kilometers away. Long travel distances are a real barrier to care, especially when someone is paying out of pocket.
Public funding helps, but it doesn't solve the problem on its own. Across Europe, 39 countries offer public funding for assisted reproduction. Researchers were clear that funding alone doesn't offset the effect of age on fertility, and doesn't fully meet demand, especially since public funding often comes with restrictions tied to age, weight, relationship status, or number of existing children. A separate global study reinforced the point: lowering out-of-pocket costs was linked to a more than double increase in IVF births across the countries studied.
Employers are taking a more active role
Family building, whether through fertility treatment, adoption, or surrogacy, is still a hard subject to raise at work. Sessions on workplace support made clear that having a benefit on paper isn't the same as employees feeling comfortable using it. Managers and HR professionals said they want real training and guidance over written policies.
A few opportunities came up again and again:
- Fertility support needs to be understood as essential care for anyone building a family.
- HR and benefits leaders need concrete guidance so they can support employees going through this.
- Workplace cultures need to make room for these conversations without fear of stigma or professional consequences.
Looking ahead
The throughline of ESHRE 2026 was how often "access to care" came up alongside the science, no matter the topic. Geography, policy, and cost still decide whether someone can get timely care. Carrot's global coverage model is built to equalize access for members wherever they live.
Beyond the sessions, our team met with providers and clinical leaders across Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and the Asia Pacific to hear directly from the people who understand reproductive health care in their own countries best. Those conversations, alongside what we heard on stage, are helping shape our model for reaching more people who need care across fertility, family building, menopause, men’s health, and everything in between.
