John A. Collins

There is a strong movement in medical care toward evidence-based medicine. In reproductive medicine, in particular, decisions regarding choice in infertility therapy have historically not been based on prospective controlled trials. This is in part due to lack of controlled trials in infertility. Dr. John Collins has agreed to serve as a guest editor to evaluate evidenced-based reproductive medicine. This issue should serve as a primer or handbook for obtaining and evaluating the best evidence we have in a number of important clinical areas of reproductive medicine. He has recruited an outstanding group of scientists to investigate this important area.

Dr. John Collins received his M.D. from the University of Western Ontario in 1960. His postgraduate training in Obstetrics and Gynecology was at the University of Western Ontario, followed by postresidency training at University College Hospital, London with Gerald Swyer. He was a member of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Western Ontario from 1967 to 1977 and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Medicine from 1975 to 1977.

Dr. Collins was Professor and Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Dalhousie University and Chief of Staff, Grace Maternity Hospital, Halifax, from 1977 to 1983. He was Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at McMaster University from 1983 to 1993 and acting chair 1996 to 1998. He also held a cross-appointment in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics until 1999. His clinical practice involved reproductive medicine. He was a Visiting Fellow at the World Health Organization Research in Human Reproduction Program for 6 months in 1998 to 1989 and a Francqui Foundation International Visiting Chair at Brussels Free University and the Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium from November 2000 to May 2001.

A member of the editorial boards of The New England Journal of Medicine and Fertility and Sterility, from 1991 to 1996, and Human Reproduction Update and Evidence-Based Medicine, until 2000, he is now on the Editorial Boards of Human Fertility and Evidence-Based Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Collins is a member of The ESHRE Capri Workshop Group and a consultant to the Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. He is a former president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada, the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society, and the Association of Professors of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr. Collins' current research involves the evaluation of outcomes, such as the effectiveness and cost of interventions in reproductive medicine and the long-term cardiovascular and cancer effects that follow from use of oral contraceptives and hormone replacement.