Dr David Greening

12/11/2025

A new record for me at FreeCell 😱
Sometimes I need a break from thinking 🤔 and my form of mindfulness 🧘‍♂️ is a game of cards on my iPhone 📱 called FreeCell. It’s like solitaire. Usually I average around 5 minutes and I stop thinking about everything else while I play (+/- a ☕️ or snack)
This time I blitzed it in 2.06 minutes! My best time ever in over 10 years of playing it. Weirdly my thumbs 👍 were flying during the game.
The point is, mental breaks and doing’s something like this is great mental relaxation and exercise at the same time. If I’m stressed or worried or just need some time out the game provides that and resets my brain and mood.
Find your own mental ‘time out’ and learn how to use it well. It’s amazingly helpful as those neuron’s turn on, focus and shift your mental state.
David

11/11/2025

Science 🧪 fact- when Toba erupted it created such a catastrophic effect on earth 🌏 humans were decimated down to just 10,000 on the planet 😳
Only 3000 breeding females were left. It’s famously known as the mitochondrial bottleneck. These wee energy pockets in. Ella have their own DNA 🧬 which is all from the mother, maternally inherited. We can assess our genetic heritage through it and we know the human gene pool was around 3000 females back then by this.
We almost went extinct 😱 down from a few million humans prior to the eruption 🌋
You and I are here because our ancestors survived, bred then thrived.
And maybe a bit of hypervigilance helped. A story for another day.
David

Cryptotephra reveals Toba’s vast fallout while sites record human innovation instead of collapse. These patterns guide today’s hazard planning. If you had been fortunate enough 74,000 years ago, you would have made it through the Toba supereruption, which ranks among Earth's most catastrophic ev...

30/10/2025

Just arrived back in Australia 🇦🇺 from San Antonio via Dallas. The last leg is 16 hours which is a long flight ✈️. Nice to be home and a weekend to recover. My first trip to 🇺🇸 since Covid and it was easy, surprisingly easy. I’d go back for a holiday there easily. Conferences aren’t exactly a holiday.
I’ll summarise some of the useful learnings in a later post.
David

28/10/2025

My day at the conference- meeting the voices I listen to every week. The American journal Fertility Sterility ( F&S) is one of two great world 🌎 journals along with their European 🇪🇺 cousins one called Human Reproduction. Their podcast I love ❤️ as I drive from Bowral to Gregory Hills in Sydney. Kurt is editor in chief of the journal and on the podcasts is editor Eve and I met them both saying it resonates in Australia 🇦🇺 Both are very friendly, engaging and super smart. I know from the podcasts reviews on journal articles.
The other slide is on sperm and what can damage the sperm DNA 🧬. A big topic.
Heading home tomorrow and already have a research project joint collaboration with a USA 🇺🇸 group to develop and plan! Excited. The networking at conferences is a vital part.
David

28/10/2025

Medical politics ! Two 2️⃣ very interesting sessions. The first with 2 congressmen, one republican and one Democrat, about the politics of health policy. How Washington works! 🤔 and it was seriously illuminating. IVF is quite political in the USA with various states having different laws.
The second talk was on RRM, restorative reproductive medicine. A group advocating more mature methods with a very strong agenda linked to Catholic views on IVF, contraception and abortion. The session was really robust with some RRM advocates in the room and using the microphones 🎤 provided. Embryos in some states now have ‘personhood’ status. And IVF is seen as unnatural and has antagonists. And They are active.
Anyway, I found it fascinating to watch American 🇺🇸 culture in action. Australia is far less politically active in the IVF space and very open to it. But things can change quickly and we need to be aware we live in a political world 🌍 and watch the space.
Ultimately some people cannot conceive except through ART, Assisted Reproductive Technology . And to me the big picture is to help people have children. That seems to me a very human endeavour.
David

27/10/2025

Day one of the ASRM conference. As always it’s huge and confusing initially as you find your way around the huge convention centre.
The exhibition hall. So many exhibitions and they’re interesting. You stop, introduce yourself from Australia 🇦🇺 and then get lots of interesting information ℹ️ I seriously enjoy learning(s). And it will never end I reckon as we constantly learn more and learn better.
I’ll keep you posted
David

27/10/2025

ASRM conference- American 🇺🇸 Society of Reproductive Medicine in San Antonio Texas. Flew over Saturday morning via Dallas. Surprisingly straightforward. Sunday to get over ✈️ jet lag and be a tourist. Visited the Alamo, meeting Jim who was thrilled to be compared to former PM Kevin Rudd and now ‘popular’ ambassador to the USA 🇺🇸 Took walk down Riverside walk and came across an amazing Hispanic festival. Quick breakfast then headed to the conference tomorrow learn what’s new in my amazing medical 🏥 world. 🌎
Every time I come to the USA I love being here. It’s so …. American! A big old culture which they do in such an American way. Well organised, friendly and well worth a visit. And they speak English which makes interactions easy. And they run a great conference , I think they invented the ‘convention’
More later.
David

21/10/2025

Making Educational Videos for our marketing team at City Fertility.
3 topics to briefly explain
Genetic screening tests. We can test for genes 🧬 that we carry to see if you carry mutations. e.g cystic fibrosis. If both partners carry the mutation an embryo could inherit both mutations and be affected by. Medicare covers the 3 gene test for Cystic Fibrosis, Spinal Muscular Atrophy and Fragile X. There are much bigger panels of genes testing we can do up to almost 800 genes
Second topic was sperm, 3 things we should know about them. That a sperm problem is the #1 cause of infertility, that lifestyle can definitely affect sperm e.g alcohol 🍺, smoking, and that abstinence is bad for sperm. Get busy
Lastly why do I do a sperm DNA fragmentation test? Well, sperm are 🚕 taxi’s that carry a passenger, the DNA. A semenanalysis tests the taxi 🚖 the DNA test the passenger.
🎥 filming was fun .
David

17/10/2025

As a Fertility doctor 👨‍⚕️ my aim is to achieve a pregnancy 🤰 and put my patients in the position of having to tell about their pregnancy.
So, this is a useful article to read and get advice. And it covers when to tell family and friends. I usually say for close people after the 12 week scan as then the 10 week NIPT blood test is also back. As then a pregnancy is well established, but individuals can decide. The nausea or the sudden no-alcohol behaviour can be a give away.
And actually ( if you’ve ever been to me you’ll know) my ultimate aim is to create the family number you had hoped for before infertility cruelty turned up. “How many children would you have liked to have?” I ask. That is my aim and I write ✍️ it in my notes.
David

Experts on the rules around when you need to inform your employer if you’re planning to take parental leave.

16/10/2025

Wollongong hosts the world 🌍 triathlon championships- go and watch! It is a great opportunity to see them live and I reckon would be awesome 🙌. And if… you need a reason to be inspired to improve your own fitness this could be just the event (some might feel the opposite)
Go have a look 👀 every single athlete has put in years of dedicated training yo be there. Go cheer them on 😁

The 2025 World Triathlon Championship Finals continue in Wollongong today. Road users are being reminded of road closures and changes...

14/10/2025

Hormones are vital and in reproductive absolutely vital. They have a profound influence on us.
I often say to my male patients their hormones are stable and don’t have a lot to do whereas female hormones have a cycle and multiple roles in a females reproductive life and after i.e menopause.
And FYI most reproductive hormones are made from cholesterol in case your ever in a trivia quizz at the Bowral Royal hotel on a Tuesday night ( albeit an unlikely question- 🙋‍♂️ but also cholesterol makes up cell’s walls, it’s the recycling of cells that causes trouble if the cholesterol isn’t removed properly)
When I send you all for blood tests to investigate 🔬 you or during IVF it’s hormone I’m mostly checking.
Happy hormones, happy ….. human 😀

Hormones play a vital part in keeping our bodies working properly. But they can also have a powerful – and sometimes negative – effect on our mood and mental health.