The medical research chair program is part of a major research chair project recently launched by King Saud University reflecting its goals to establish and support research as a strategic investment area in the near future. These medical research chairs are funded and regulated through the university, as part of the general research chairs projects. The term of any medical chair is no less than four years with the possibility for second term renewal based on the general performance and achievements of the research chair.

 Research chairs are important tools used to enrich and achieve important goals aiming to establish research as a culture within the university, and later within the society and the resultant impact of this on sustaining local research and uplifting other support services like education and health care planning and delivery.

 Medical research chairs have already proven to be useful and successful investment. As an example, a major research chair project was established in Canada in the year 2000, the project now funds around 1851 research chairs through an annual budget around CAD 300 million. Within the Canadian experience, medical research chairs constitute around 35% (628 chairs). Similar programs have already been established in Japan, the United States of America and within Europe (leading medical research producers). Based on the foreseen success of the medical research chair program, the program fits as an essential pillar in the general strategic plan of the university through its vision and mission reflecting the countries leadership’s goal to improve the quality of higher education and establish a true partnership with the society.

Every husband and wife wish that God grants them children who fill their lives with happiness. This is the sunnah of our prophet Muhammad (God's blessing and peace be upon him). However, not everyone is fortunate. Infertility is a problem that 10% of married couples suffer from, regardless of their race. But it is not without a solution.

Fertility is medically known as the failure to conceive after one year of trial. Although infertility does not directly affect the health of couples, scientific studies have shown that partners who suffer from it undergo a harsh, social, psychological and physical pressure. It might even go as far as causing severe depression, segregation and partial or complete social marginalization that might eventually lead to family disintegration.

Infertility has three main causes:

1- Female partner: The problem might lie in the female partner herself. This represents approximately 40% of the causes of infertility (e.g. blocking in the fallopian tubes, polycystic ovaries, endometriosis…etc).

2- Male partner: The problem might be in the male partner. This represents 35% of the cause of infertility (e.g. varicoceles, oligozoospermia, or azoospermia) .
 
3- About 20% are due to unknown reasons.

The success rate of infertility treatments is associated with many factors such as the wife's age, endometrioses and oligozoospermia, or azoospermia. However, despite the continuous development in the field of infertility treatment within the past 20 years, the success rate of these developed methods remains at around 40% since the current information does not explain the higher proportion failure of therapeutic methods, especially when many factors contributing to the problem remain unknown. Here lies the importance of infertility research, which unfortunately has not been able to keep up with the developments and the remarkable successes witnessed in other medical fields like in the treatment of diabetes and cancer patients, who are now able to practice an almost normal life style. 

In a word, infertility is indeed a common problem that large numbers of individuals in our society suffer from and with consequences that affect the very fabric of family life. Here lies the importance of establishing a   state of the art research center for infertility studies in King Saud University. A center that does not only offer the regular treatments that other infertility centers in the city or even in the country provides, but a center that goes one step further to offer solutions to couples with dim hopes, like offering a cancer survivor with a chance to procreate.