Re: Reproductive Endocrinologist in East Bay
3 miscarriages! I'm so sorry. I have also had 3 since my daughter was born in 2009 (all 1st trimester losses), and after the 3rd, I decided to see an RE. I researched it heavily and discussed it at length with a friend who is an OB in another state and with my parents, who are medical researchers. I realized that I would feel more comfortable seeing someone academic. There's still so much we don't know about miscarriage. So I felt/feel more comfortable seeing someone who specializes in recurrent m/c and doesn't have a business interest in my fertility. I wound up seeing Heather Huddleston at UCSF. She is terrific. I was/am very happy with her and with the whole clinic - nurses, receptionists, etc. The information they've been able to provide has been so much more detailed than what I learned from my regular OB. And Dr. Huddleston's nurses have been easily reachable by phone for follow-up questions. I highly recommend her - totally worth the pain in the butt of getting there from the east bay. Feel free to ask our wonderful moderator for my contact info if you wish to discuss it further. So sorry for your losses. Best of luck to you... A Rockridge Mom

Re: Reproductive Endocrinologist covered by my insurance?
Not in the East Bay but you will not find anybody smarter than Mitchell Rosen at UCSF. pregnant

I'm a single woman so therefore considering a sperm bank donor very soon. I would like to hear from single women who were or are in their late '40s who had personal experiences with doctor/reproductive endocrinologists for IUI or IVF via their own eggs. I appreciate any response/review you can provide on any of these doctors to help me decide. Thank you in advance! I appreciate your responses.

Re: Considering IVF after repeated miscarriage
I want to very enthusiastically recommend the IVF program at UCSF. We had Dr. Paolo Rinaudo and he was terrific. The other docs are great too, as are all their staff. They do a really good job of informing you about all of the considerations, risks, success rates, etc at every step of the way. I think that it would be wise for you to at least speak with them or attend their information session (once a month I think?) before you decide you need to go to Colorado.

After two miscarriages and a few tests that have come back normal, my OB is recommending that I see a fertility specialist to see if they can find the cause of the miscarriages (I have one child born in 2006 with no intervention). I'm looking for comments and experiences (b/c the archives are several years out of date) specifically about: UCSF's Center for Reproductive Health/Drs. Cedars & Fujimoto

I visited both UCSF Center for Reproductive Health and The Reproductive Science Center of the Bay Area in Orinda.

I chose UCSF over RSC for following reasons:

* I knew I would do IVF, so I needed to know the hour of clinic visits during my cycle. At UCSF they open their clinic at 7:30am for blood draw and follicle check up, but at RSC the hour started much later, and the window of the hour was short. It did not work for me. With UCSF, I went to 7:30am appointment, and often I was back in the East Bay by 8:45am. My usual schedule did not get affected too much.

* I was lucky to have infertility treatment medical insurance. UCSF has a billing office to send claims to insurance companies, so I did not have to deal with the hustle with my insurance company. UCSF did most parts for me. Also, some visits were considered infertility treatment, but some other visits were considered as medical visits. Since UCSF was contracted to my insurance company, some visits could be covered up to 90% (such as post treatment consultation, ultrasound visits after positive pregnancy result, etc). At RSC, their business office did not deal with insurances. I would have to pay total amount upfront, and then send receipts to my insurance company. Having dealt with medical insurance issue for many many years in the past for a family member, I knew that it would be another headache if I have to ask for reimbursement. I thought, when going through infertility treatment, I did not need an additional stress with insurance company.

* UCSF had ''a medical office in an institution such as university'' feel to me. Their doctors discuss each patients' treatment options as a group, so I felt that it is always good to have several people thinking of your treatment option. At RSC, probably they do the same too, but for some reasons, I did not feel it as much as from UCSF.

* When I visited RSC to consult with a doctor there, she had her daughter's photos behind her desk. I did not get offended, but I thought it may be considered insensitive. Here she is seeing patients who are trying to get pregnant, but she is showing her own daughter's photo to patients. I felt strange about it.

That being said, I know many friends who went to RSC, and had great outcomes, where as I have few other friends who went to UCSF without any success. It is really hard to know which one is better. I highly recommend you to make appointments, and meet doctors in each practices. Your heart (and some other practical issues) will tell you which one is better.

For me, UCSF worked perfectly for me and our family. I also had a great outcome after three IVF.

Good luck with you. Happy with UCSF

Re: Seeking information on local fertility clinics

So sorry that you have had such a bad experience with IVF. We also had a terrible first experience with a fertility doctor in San Francisco. After that we shopped around for another doctor very carefully. We even looked out of state. We decided on Dr. Victor Fujimoto at UCSF's Center for Reproductive Health. He was very informative and supportive. I also saw other doctors there and felt they were excellent as well. We were in it for the long haul and did eight cycles. I felt Dr. Fujimoto and all of the staff at UCSF monitored my medical care carefully and handled my seesawing emotions with amazing patience. If I had to go through it all over again I would without hesitation go to UCSF.

I think that statistics are very important but that they can also be misleading. One clinic may have a higher number of live births simply because they only treated those patients who had a high chance of success. A frequent use of donor eggs could also make the numbers higher. There are a lot of factors that go into these statistics and they all need to be separated out to be accurate. The first fertility doctor I saw had great numbers. After seeing her a few times she told me (very coldly and over the phone) that because of my high FSH it was impossble for me to get pregnant (wrong!). Devastated I went back for another appointment where I was told (again very coldly) of my options. After I declined the use of donor eggs she refused to try IVF with my own eggs and said if that is what I wanted to try I needed to go somewhere else. At UCSF there was none of this arrogance. They gave me the information I needed to make informed decisions and then supported me. Best Wishes from Someone Whose Been There

In a previous marriage and in another less urban area, my husband was diagnosed as infertile because of undeveloped testicles. Now, five years later and here in the Bay area (which I think abounds with great doctors), he is willing to visit another doctor for another opinion. Please any recommendations? We live near UCSF, so that seems the obvious choice, but we're willing to go to Stanford or wherever in the Bay area. We are also open to alternative health providers too. looking for doctor

Re: Reproductive Specialist Recommendations?
We did a lot of research before choosing a doctor to help us with infertility. We even looked out of state. We found the best right here in the bay area at UCSF Center for Reproductive Health. Choosing the right place is very important. The first place I went to was so negative and unhelpful. Dr. Fujimoto at UCSF was a refreshing change. He is compassionate and an excellent doctor. But if he is not available I would go with any of the other doctors there. They really know what they are doing and monitor your progress closely. You didn't mention your age but I will offer this advice anyway: don't waste any time getting treatment and don't spend too much time on less aggressive treatments like Chlomid. Best wishes to you! anon

Re: Seeking great fertility doctor
I'd like to recommend the UCSF Center for Reproductive Medicine. We have been seeing Dr. Fujimoto there. Although not pregnant yet, we have been very pleased with the level of care and competence of our doctor and the entire team at the UCSF clinic. A couple of things that are unique about UCSF's Center for Reproductive Medicine: 1) their ongoing involvement in research and 2) the way the doctors there work as a team. This team is made up of some of the most brillliant, caring and dedicated doctors I've ever met.

We are very grateful to be seeing Dr. Fujimoto. We continue to rely on his intelligence, honesty, ethics and personal caring. We trust him completely.

I know that there are already several recommendations on the website for Dr's Fujimoto and Cedars (they are the Co-Directors of the cllinic), but it can be difficult to get new appointments with them. As a patient of UCSF, I have seen almost all of the doctors there and they are all great. Some you may not have heard of are: Dr. Rinaudo, Dr. Dobson, Dr. Rosen

I have had much interaction with all three of them and would recommend any of them without hesitation. They each are wonderful in their own way and each brings the same high level of competence and sensitivity to the team.

Many people are hesitant to go to a large, busy clinic like UCSF. I have found that between the doctors and the amazing nursing staff, we have recieved as much or more personal attention than we would recieve in a smaller clinic.

My recommendation would be to call UCSF and get an appointment with any doctor who is available. They are all great. wishing you the best of luck anon

Re: Experience with Bay Area Fertility clinics?
I noticed a lot of the archive postings for the UCSF Center for Reproductive Health are old. There has been a major reorganization, restaffing and a new director there as of several years ago. We had a great experience with their program in 2003 -- highly competent doctors and nurses with good ''patient'' skills, excellent laboratory, really good success rates. Their self-pay prices are pretty good compared to other clinics (not that any of these are ''reasonably'' priced!)

I would highly recommend the doctor overseeing our treatment -- the clinic director, Marcelle Cedars. She is up on all the latest research, she is both realistic and positive, she was available to us for key treatment decisions even when out of town. What I really liked was that after our first unsuccessful try, she was able to tell us precisely and clearly which aspects she believed ''worked'', which ones didn't, whether a second try was warranted, and what could be changed in the second treatment to give us the best shot. The second treatment was successful.

It is a clinic so you would see different doctors, but one oversees your overall treatment. They can schedule early morning appointments for the monitoring part -- I live and work in the East Bay, but was able to get back and forth across the bridge pretty easily without missing much work. We liked all of the doctors and nurses we saw, though I see looking at the web site just now that there has been some staff turnover since we were there in 2003.

They have a free orientation once a month that is very informative, and it might be worth it to go whether or not you decide to go to that clinic. Information is on their website: http://www.ucsfivf.org/ Melissa

I was able to arrange for some of the tests to be done in the Bay area. Specifically, I had several of the sonograms done at Marin Fertility Medical Group in Greenbrae. I can not recall the name of the doctor (Saen?) but he was very nice, and had I not already gone to Dr. Foulk, I would have considered him. I think he is part of the UCSF group, but I had never run in to him there.

I think the theme here is, if you want to feel like that the Dr. and staff know you and care about you, I would consicer a smaller clinic. But I can not argue with UCSF's expertise. -- And it is VERY important to be sure you are working with a good practitioner. You can check out a fertility clinic's statistics on-line. I think it is through the CDC's website??

A friend of mine had a good experience with Dr. Zouves. I think he is willing to be more aggressive than some other local clinics. anon

We have a beautiful 2 year old daughter from IVF/ICSI and would recommend UCSF Infertility Clinic. Specifically Dr. Victor Fujimoto. Dr. Fujimoto has a great bedside manner and he and his wife have two daughters through IVF. I believe this makes him a better doctor because of his personal experience with infertility. He also has one of the best embryologist working for him. We conceived on our first IVF cycle and failed on a recent FET trying for #2. Interview various doctors and ask your own personal ob/gyn doctor for their recommendation. UCSF Infertilty Phone #:415-353-7475 Best of luck! IVF Mom

I would appreciate any good or bad recommendations that anyone can give me on Dr. Victor Fujimoto, Dr. Marcelle Cedars or Dr. Tracey Telles at UCSF for fertility issues. They are the only doctors with this specialty that I can find that are covered by my insurance and accepting new patients. I have checked the website and only see one older recommendation for Robert Taylor, who is another physician in their practice (not accepting new patients). Frustrated by Insurance Limitations

We didn't have much contact with Dr. Cedars, she did my transfer one morning. Dr. Telles was very nice, she took her time explaining the procedure, and was extremely helpful, we felt like she was one of our college buddy. Dr. Fujimoto was very comforting, I got pregnant then transfered to a regular OBGYN Dr. (who was recomended by Dr. Fujimoto) We still keep in contact with Dr. Fujimoto today. You won't have that personal feeling one on one at first.

To make a long story short, in the end it was worth it. UCSF was the best, the care was thourough, Drs were extremely confident and professional. As a result, we now have a beautiful baby boy who is 6 months old, we are forever grateful of the care we recieved from Dr. fujimoto, Dr. Cedars, Dr. Telles. good luck to you. julie

regarding recurrent miscarriages ... You might want to skip the OB/GYN route and go straight to an infertility specialist about miscarriages just to be safe. I saw Dr. Robert Taylor at UCSF Infertility after my second (non-consecutive) miscarriage (at the age of 37). I really liked his approach. He seemed willing to be aggressive about investigating causes because that's what I wanted. I took a really active role in figuring out what was going on and he seemed to appreciate that. He's a bit hard to reach because he is out of town a lot but be persistent and when you actually see him in person or get him on the phone he will spend a lot of time with you explaining things. I found him very compassionate as well. Their office did an ultrasound for me at 6 and 8 weeks.

We went to UCSF for IVF and had excellent care and a great experience (as far as these things go). The doctors were knowledgeable, kind, _not_ pushy about things like the number of embryos to use (very very important to us), and all around good people. Our primary doctor was Carolyn Givens, but we also saw Eldon Schriock and someone else whose name I can't remember at the moment. The nurses were fantastic. One in particular, Denise, really explained everything to us and genuinely cared about us and our situation. We were lucky and I got pregnant the first round and we now have a 20 month old son, plus several frozen embryos waiting for the next time. We wouldn't consider going anywhere else to do this procedure.

I highly recommend their program. We had great success there. But it is a large facility and may not offer the softer touches of a smaller program. Also, I would recommend Dr. Eldon Scriock at UCSF. There are two other women in the practice who don't have the same bedside manners as Dr. Schriock. However, your decision of clinics may also depend on your infertility situation. If you have an uncomplicated situation, all three clinics may meet your needs and the East bay ones may be easier in terms of proximity. What we like about UCSF is that it is a research facility and sets the standard (along with Stanford). They have a wonderful lab and embryologists which are very important. Good luck with everything. It is an emotional process.

After a truly disastrous final appt. I left the practice and began seeing Susan Wilman in Orinda. It was a completely different experience from the very beginning, she is very straight forward and thorough. Her staff is very professional and knowledgeable. After evaluating my records (after 2+ years of trying to get pregnant) she ordered some basic tests that had never been done, told me that she thought my chances were slim, but that we had several options. To make a long story short, I was put on a new drug, reacted beautifully and got pregnant the first cycle doing IUI not IVF. We now have a wonderful 8 mos old son. I might mention that she is the on call Dr. at San Franciso Center for reproductive medicine once a month so she is very familiar with that practice. I had all of might genetic testing and counseling done at Stanford/UCSF by James Goldberg who was wonderful.

I went through several years (5 IUI's and 4 IVF's) @ USF. Dr. Mary Martin was my primary Dr. (she has since moved to WA), however I saw Dr. Carolyn Givens many times and she took care of me through several procedures. She was wonderful; smart, warm, caring and efficient. I would highly recommend her. The one drawback @ USF was that there was a constant stream of interns, sometimes in groups, who would do the transvaginal sonograms....I was not always comfortable with this. You can let them know if you don't want the interns in the room with you. There are times when you're feeling pretty emotional about the progress of your egg development...and when it's not going as planned, well, it's painful (emotionally) and something that I would have rather not had to share with a group of strangers.

BOTTOM LINE: None of the treatments were successful. My husband and I are now the extremely happy and proud parents of a little boy named Patrick that we adopted at birth. I wish I had moved forward with adoption sooner and not spent so much time, money and heartache going through infertility treatments.