Dr. Sherman Silber is
a legend in the field of infertility. As a leading international
authority on in-vitro
fertilization and tubal
ligation reversal, clients travel from distant lands to
his St. Louis clinic, to seek the benefit of his innovative
techniques and compassionate heart.
His resume is staggering.
Silber performed the first testicle and ovary transplants in
the U.S. He invented the microsurgical
vasectomy reversal technique and, with co-workers in Brussels,
developed techniques of sperm retrieval and injection (ICSI),
and the more recent testicular sperm extraction (TESE)
which allows him to serve men with a zero sperm count.
Silber's many TV appearances include Oprah, Nightline, Good
Morning America, and the Today Show. He is the author of the
best-selling "How to Get Pregnant," and "How
to Get Pregnant with the New Technology." He has published more
than 200 scientific papers and 50 teaching videos, and hosts
the popular website www.infertile.com.
Silber says that he "accidentally" came to specialize
in infertility, led by a series of unforeseen circumstances.
While we accept his explanation, we are reminded of the Talmudic
dictum: "In the place where there is no man, strive to
be a man." Dr. Silber never saw a need he didn't try to
fill.
Devoted doctor, husband, father, and kids' soccer coach, Dr.
Sherman Silber keeps moving and accomplishing. Aish.com tried
to keep up with Dr. Silber in his office
in St. Louis.
Tell us about your childhood.
I grew up on the south side of Chicago in a bad neighborhood,
the kind everybody wants to get out of. There was a lot of
arguing and fighting; it was very dysfunctional.
Believe it or not, what got me through it was Hebrew school.
I would take a public bus every day to our synagogue. It was
a lot of fun, and gave me a positive outlook on life amidst
so much negativity.
How did you come to the field of medicine?
I knew I was going to be a doctor because my mother and father
told me when I was five years old that it was a good idea.
As I got older, I accepted the validity of their viewpoint.
You get to help people. You get out of the bad neighborhood.
You have financial security. And it's important, exciting work.
To this day, I always imagine my mother looking over my shoulder
saying, "Well, Sherman, what's next?!"
And now you're a medical pioneer. What guided
you in the direction of fertility work?
To think we chart our own course is a mistake. It's very egotistical.
God is definitely directing everybody in the way they're going.
When I graduated medical school, I went into the Public Health
Service in lieu of the military, and found myself in Alaska.
We had no urologist. So I developed an interest in urology,
which led to kidney research on rats. I then went to work in
Australia where we were operating on rat arteries that were
one-half millimeter in size and invisible to the naked eye.
One night I said to my wife, "I don't see why we couldn't
do vasectomy reversals on men the same way I do microsurgery
on rats. But I don't think there would be much of a market
for that."
Of course, she said I was wrong, and told me to go to the
laboratory and practice that right away. This was three years
before in-vitro fertilization and nobody knew anything about
embryology.
A year and half later, vasectomy reversal was on the front
page of the New York Times and I had become very famous.
There are upwards of one million vasectomies performed
in America each year. What percentage wants reversals?
About 1-2 percent, which means that every year about 10,000
Americans have a vasectomy reversal. Before I got into this
field 25 years ago, there was an occasional success, maybe
one percent. With the techniques we use today, 90 percent are
successful in restoring fertility, and the remaining 10 percent
can rely on sperm retrieval techniques where the wife can become
pregnant through I.V.F.
Why do men get reversals? What's the sociology
behind this?
I think western society is in many ways self-centered. Men
initially get the vasectomy so they (and their wives) can have
unencumbered freedom to enjoy a materialistic lifestyle without
being hampered by more children. And this often leads to unhappiness.
Because the only real happiness is when you're outside of yourself
and giving to others. Human beings will shrivel away without
meaning in their life. I've found that the people coming to
me feel that to a certain extent they've lost the ability to
give, and they're looking to tap back into that.
I know people from every walk of life, and the day before
I'm going to operate on their testicles they usually tell me
everything. And the people who have amassed a lot of wealth
and a lot of fame but who haven't had real meaning in life
do not feel successful. They're tortured. They can't sleep
at night.
How do you define your own success?
That's such an emotionally charged word. I think it involves
character. You have to achieve something -- something good,
beneficial and valuable to the world -- or you've missed the
boat. It could be writing a book that is enjoyed by others,
or being a dispenser of wisdom, or devoted to medical care.
"Doing good for others" can get very muddy, because
a person needs to know how much of this is looking for applause,
kudos, recognition. That aspect of success and accomplishment
has a very brief half-life. It's never satisfying.
As I've gotten older, I've struggled to figure out how much
of my work is the empty pursuit of recognition, and how much
of it is just this innate desire to help and do a good job.
Because the true mark of success doesn't require recognition
from others. You have to know yourself that you've done as
good a job as you can do. I guess the reward of integrity is
you get to live with yourself!
Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?
That depends how you define it. I look at spirituality as
connecting to the world outside of yourself and keeping your
mental eyes wide open to your universe. If every little event
in your life, no matter how tiny, has significance, then in
order to gain the most from life you have to be functioning
at an elevated level of consciousness all the time. For me,
that's spirituality and that's connecting with God.
Do you find spiritual elements in your work?
Well, the first command that God gave to human beings is "Be
fruitful and multiply." So I'm very lucky in that my infertility
work is intrinsically meaningful.
Beyond that, the "pursuit of meaning" is the easiest
thing to neglect, because there's always another patient to
see or another paper to write. But if you don't take the time
to expand and enrich yourself by learning the meaning of it
all, you may be missing out on a greater dimension. And in
the long run, your other work will suffer.
So I want to get more balance, and it's a feeling that's been
growing steadily over the years.
What have you done to achieve this?
I enjoy studying Talmud. Talmud is an amazingly logical process
that trains a person to continually question his beliefs. No
matter what your profession, the more your eyes are open to
all possibilities, the better job you're going to do. And I
think the ultimate tool for opening yourself up to the world
is by studying Talmud. It forces you to ask the question: "How
do you know what you know?"
How does this differ from classical philosophy?
You could study a lot of philosophy -- Plato, Aristotle, Kant,
Spinoza, Descartes -- and it's fascinating intellectual stimulation.
But it's all tautology, a series of theoretical assumptions,
and I've found that most people who study philosophy end up
disappointed.
Whereas with Talmud, the whole point is practical application.
How do I take this knowledge and translate it into becoming
a better father, a better husband, a better human being --
and a better scientist.
