As a doctor, I have the great joy of helping women get and stay healthy, and specifically as a fertility physician, I have the additional pleasure of helping them realize their dreams of becoming parents. My job can also be very difficult as I am often the bearer of bad news. A cancer diagnosis, for […]
10 Facts You Must Know About Fibroids
If you’re a Real Housewives of New York fan, you may have heard a lot about uterine fibroids after Bethenny Frankel revealed that her non-cancerous fibroids were the source of a scary health crisis. Since her diagnosis of uterine fibroids in 2013, Frankel had experienced severe pelvic cramping and uncontrollable bleeding at times, eventually leading […]
Put Yourself First by Getting a Second Opinion
A few weeks ago I was away at a high school baseball tournament with my son, his teammates and their families. Over appetizers at a team dinner, I struck up a conversation with a woman who had recently lost her mother to ovarian cancer. She proceeded to tell me that her mom was one of […]
Angelina Jolie, the BRCA Gene and You
Angelina Jolie is back in the spotlight lately with the sad news about her divorce to Brad Pitt. Jolie is no stranger to making headlines. In recent years, she put her celebrity status to work in raising awareness to the underprivileged in her role with the United Nations and breast cancer after her mother dies […]
So Much More than Just Wearing Pink
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and it is so much more than just wearing pink. It’s not enough to be aware – you must get educated! Breast cancer is a VERY common cancer. About 12% of American women face the disease at some point in their lives. And almost no family is untouched […]
Gratitude and the Power of Attitude
Years ago my brother suggested that I stop referring to myself and my colleagues as “infertility” doctors, but rather as “fertility” doctors. I took his advice to heart. It made sense to emphasize the positive and not the negative. As I have seen in my practice again and again, the power of attitude and positive […]
Why Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS) is a Kinder, Gentler Assisted Reproductive Technology
As I was sitting at the annual Pacific Coast Reproductive Society meeting recently, it struck me how fast fertility science’s pace truly is, particularly when it comes to genetic testing of embryos. The questions that were debated ran the gamut, from practical to ethical: Is it cost effective? Does it improve pregnancy rates or merely […]
Why Getting Pregnant Against All Odds is Good News – For All of Us
Twice in the last month I was invited to appear on The Doctors, an Emmy-winning TV show dedicated to helping viewers attain and maintain good health. While the purpose of the show is to empower people about their well being, the program often explores relatively rare, fascinating conditions, as this too drives viewership. My role […]
Healing from Infertility
Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) practitioners can be so concerned with the science of fertility treatments that we sometimes lose sight of the emotions – specifically the power of the mind-body connection – in the process. Consumed by devising best-case outcomes, we tend to focus on advancements in medicines and labs, as well as new discoveries […]
What an Infertility Diagnosis Really Means – and How to Avoid the Blame Game
Did you know that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Society for Reproductive Technology (SART) require all IVF labs make an annual report about the patients they serve, including diagnosis and details of each cycle, in an attempt to learn more about IVF outcomes? Every year, when compiling these stats for […]