Needle-phobes, rejoice — you can now draw blood without a poke

Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI

Dr. Zev Williams, the chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, clearly remembers a particular patient who walked into his clinic. She was only 16 years old, but had chosen to freeze her eggs before undergoing fertility-threatening treatment for severe sickle cell disease. Her condition had left her blood vessels with extensive scarring, which made the frequent blood draws required for fertility preservation highly difficult.