Episode 157: Empowerment Through Advocacy – Lisa Rosenthal and Ryan Ferrante
Ryan Ferrante is a Reproductive Law attorney with a unique perspective on the intersection of infertility, gestational surrogacy, and the law. His practice is focused on the representation of intended parents, gestational surrogates, and donors in all collaborative reproduction matters. Twice an intended father himself in a gestational surrogacy arrangement, Ryan has intimate awareness of the challenges each one of his clients faces when trying to have a family. His own family’s infertility experience led him to RESOLVE for support, which he found in the collective voices of volunteer advocates, from all walks of life and every corner of the country, asking for help in the form of real change. Ryan is among the hundreds of volunteer advocates who speak to the U.S. Congress about the need for increased access to care for infertility. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Volunteer Committee for Federal Advocacy Day with RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association (“RESOLVE”).
Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Ryan is a proud graduate of Ohio University and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. Ryan resides in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, with his wife Lyndsie, son Eddie, and daughter Josie.
Lisa Rosenthal has over thirty years of patient advocacy experience in the fertility field. After her personal infertility journey of six and half years, she wanted to give back to the community and help improve accessibility of affordable, comprehensive services. She was determined to help others undergoing fertility treatment and has done so through working for Patient Advocacy groups. Lisa serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors at Resolve New England and is a member of the Affordable Families Coalition and the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).
Lisa is also the teacher and founder of Fertile Yoga, a research-based program (lead author on research accepted by ASRM), designed to support all people on their quest for their families through gentle movement and meditation, Ladies Night In, and other peer support groups. Lisa has authored over 1,400 blogs on the topic of reproductive health. She also was lead author on a research paper on the effects of COVID on fertility patients, accepted by ASRM in 2021.
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