- Having a child is still one of the most important goals
in the transition in a person's life,
and the vast majority of people want to have children
and unfortunately there's a minority of couples,
or individuals, who are unable to do that.
And so when they're struggling to try to meet that goal,
it can be very difficult.
- Fertility and Reproductive Medicine
is a very unique academic medical center.
Our mission is to advance the reproductive health
of individuals and couples by delivering exceptional
and compassionate patient care,
pioneering cutting edge research,
and training future physicians.
- We opened up
the Highland Park location for FRM in August of 2016,
and our patients now have a choice.
They can use both the Highland Park office
and our downtown office.
- We want them to feel comfortable when they come here,
we want them to feel supported,
we want them to know that we're going to help get them
through this really difficult process.
- Each patient has a tailored treatment plan that they're
involved in so I think they'll feel like someone's
paying attention to them and actually cares
about what the outcome is.
- I'm interested in helping any patients
that are trying to achieve a family.
That includes patients with infertility,
women with recurrent miscarriage,
and also individuals who are in same sex relationships,
or single women who are looking to start a family.
- We really develop a relationship with these patients
and overall it's a better experience for the patient,
and a better experience as a professional.
- One of the things that we think is critical
is to provide them with the tools to maintain
their focus and their desire to push on.
- They're seen from all different perspectives
on the same day.
So they meet with our pharmacy staff,
they meet with our clinical psychology staff,
they meet with our nursing staff,
they meet with our physician,
and they meet with a financial coordinator.
- We have a large group of faculty members,
and we have a fellowship program here,
and so it really encourages us to
keep up with the literature
and then disseminate that information to our colleagues.
- We pride ourselves on delivering very high quality,
very modern, innovative care to our patients,
but doing that in a setting of education and research.
- Everyday we are learning more about the physiology
of reproductive medicine and that is translating
directly into the advances in technology in our IVF lab.
- These individuals, they work hand-in-hand
to develop many new options, many new technologies
for our patients to use.
- Our field is advancing in a lot of different aspects.
One of the main advancements is in the area of
fertility preservation, so what we're talking about is to
store and freeze, either eggs or sperm or embryos,
so they have the option of childbearing in the future.
- We take care of the embryos by ensuring
that their development is carried out
under carefully controlled conditions.
I am privileged to be the first babysitter,
the scientific babysitter of these future potential babies.
- I see each one of the embryos can potentially
fulfill the dream of our patients.
So I treat them very dearly.
- My favorite part is calling somebody,
when treatment has finally worked
and letting them know that they're pregnant.
It truly takes a team to help people achieve pregnancy.
I think there is just, there is no better moment in my day.
- The patient's giving us this opportunity
to help them through that process,
to be part of that process, is a privilege.
And to be able to see how that results in
babies and families is amazing.
- We all really care about what happens to them.
We take it really personally, and we know our patients.
We really are thinking together as a group
about what can we do to make this better.
Every single day when we come into work,
that's our job, that's what we love to do.