# A difficult IVF journey shaped Abridge’s mission Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/a-difficult-ivf-journey-shaped-abridges-mission/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy. - Speaker: [Shiv Rao](https://realalpha.app/builders/shiv-rao/) · Shiv Rao is cofounder and CEO of Abridge; practicing cardiologist. · Co-founded Abridge, which brings context and understanding to medical conversations, and practices as a UPMC cardiologist. - Host: [Alex Konrad](https://realalpha.app/people/alex-konrad/) · Founder & editor, Upstarts Media · Ran Forbes' Midas List for ten years and co-created its Cloud 100 list; founded Upstarts in 2025. - Show: Upstarts - Episode: [Abridge’s Shiv Rao: Taking On Microsoft To Cure Doctor Burnout With AI](https://realalpha.app/v/W4_aRWsHogM/), Jul 23, 2026 - Moment: 43:21 to 46:25 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/a-difficult-ivf-journey-shaped-abridges-mission/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/W4_aRWsHogM/?t=2601 ## Quote > “what did they just say? Like, what are we supposed to do? And I'm a doctor. **I can't even remember**.” > — [Shiv Rao](https://realalpha.app/builders/shiv-rao/) at [45:29](https://realalpha.app/v/W4_aRWsHogM/?t=2729) · Upstarts ## Takeaways 1. Rao and his wife spent three years pursuing IVF with PGD. 2. Even as a doctor, he struggled to remember what clinicians said. 3. He wants visit summaries to preserve what matters to patients and families. ## About this segment Shiv Rao recounts his family’s three-year IVF journey and how medical visits left even a doctor unsure what to remember or do next. That experience helped shape Abridge’s focus on patients and families as well as clinicians. From “Abridge’s Shiv Rao: Taking On Microsoft To Cure Doctor Burnout With AI”, Jul 23, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/W4_aRWsHogM/) ## Transcript Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there. [43:26](https://realalpha.app/v/W4_aRWsHogM/?t=2606) Yeah, yeah, totally. I mean, we want to make healthcare cheaper and we want to improve the experience and we want to help people get better outcomes. And I think we're all aligned on that side too. But like some of the origin stories for the company, I think probably also make clear what our true north is. So I'm a practicing cardiologist. Nothing crushes my soul more than clerical work for sure. But where this all came from was actually like the patient side of the story too. [43:52](https://realalpha.app/v/W4_aRWsHogM/?t=2632) My wife and I went through, she is the main character me as the family member three years of ivf with pgd we found out about a rare disease in our family so three code on repeat the more the repeats the worse the phenotypic manifestations and we already had a healthy child daughter knock on wood she's great she's awesome she's thriving she's amazing we wanted to have another child and so we went to genetic counselors and counselor after counselor they told us just roll the dice and get pregnant you'll probably be okay. They didn't think that codon repeat would become a problem just yet. They thought that was like generations away. So we get pregnant. We test the fetus. We find out that we have the worst of luck, a huge explosion of these repeats. They tell us that we should probably think hard [44:41](https://realalpha.app/v/W4_aRWsHogM/?t=2681) about terminating the pregnancy. That was medical advice. We do that. Never easy. My wife still has PTSD from that, but it gave her all this grit and determination that we were going to sort of bring that baby back so we went through ivf with pgd where they can select an embryo that doesn't have that repeat and that's a hard Endeavor. We spent all of my overpaid corporate VC salary traveling the country from Pittsburgh to Santa Monica to New York City, cycle after cycle after cycle. It's a happy ending. RMA New York City, three years into it, put one embryo in and it split. So we have identical twin 10-year-old boys. But through those three years, and we're so lucky and we're so privileged and we could even afford that. And we don't take it for granted, but all those three years, I'd go to every single [45:27](https://realalpha.app/v/W4_aRWsHogM/?t=2727) visit with her. I'd be there. And the doctor, the counselor would leave and we'd look at each other and be like, what did they just say? Like, what are we supposed to do? And I'm a doctor. I can't even remember. And then we'd get these visit summaries. They never really represented or reflected what we really wanted to remember. And maybe it was a metaphor the doctor used. Maybe it was the moment of empathy. Maybe it was like the, hey, just hang in there moment that never ends up in the medical records somehow. And then our parents would call us and we'd be like, we don't know what they said. And so finding a way to help both, you know, the patient and the family member, but also the clinician feel like they can do and be their best is really at the end of the day, what this is all about. And if we do that, we believe we'll end up building a generational [46:13](https://realalpha.app/v/W4_aRWsHogM/?t=2773) company in healthcare. And we think healthcare is the biggest opportunity for AI. Well, Shiv, thanks for explaining your mission and what you're trying to do on the show. Yeah. Thanks so much, Alex. It's been a privilege.