Dr. Geoffrey Sher, United States

LA IVF welcomes internationally renowned infertility specialist and founder of the first private IVF clinic in the United States, Dr. Geoffrey Sher, as a consultant. Dr. Sher will work closely with LA IVF founder and medical director Dr. Aykut Bayrak and provide Skype consultations to his domestic and international patients. Every three months, Dr. Sher will provide hands-on IVF treatment exclusively at LA IVF in West Los Angeles. When Dr. Sher is not in Los Angeles, Dr. Bayrak will care for patients who may need IVF or other fertility treatment.

Dr. Geoffrey Sher, founder of the Sher Institute for Reproductive Medicine, is a pioneer in assisted reproductive technology (ART) whose work has influenced the births of more than 18,000 IVF babies. For more than 30 years, he has been a global advocate for women's reproductive health while developing innovative methods and distinctive new treatments.

Geoffrey Sher, MD

Geoffrey Sher, MD, established the Northern Nevada Fertility Center in 1984, the fourth IVF program and first private, non-university IVF program in the United States. In 1999, he founded the Sher Institute for Reproductive Medicine (SIRM). In 2019, Dr. Sher established Sher Fertility Solutions–SFS (www.sherfertilitysolutions.com), through which he provides online, comprehensive Skype/FaceTime consultations to patients from >40 countries and offers ongoing guidance on complex reproductive issues to them and often their treating physicians.

Dr. Sher has long been recognized as a pioneer in reproductive medicine and has influenced the care of more than 18,000 women who gave birth following IVF treatment. Medically trained in South Africa, he is a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and is subspecialized in maternal-fetal medicine. Dr. Sher is also an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine.

As an internationally recognized expert in IVF and assisted reproductive technology (ART), Dr. Sher has pioneered numerous medical advances over the past 36 years and helped shape the field of ART:

• 1983: Pioneered the exclusive use of gonadotropins for ovarian stimulation in ART.

• 1984: Established the fourth IVF program and the first private, non-university IVF program in the United States.

• 1984: Introduced intrauterine insemination (IUI).

• 1989: First identified and published the importance of ultrasound assessment of the endometrium as an indicator of IVF outcome.

• 1993: Introduced “prolonged coasting,” a treatment approach that eliminates the life-threatening risks associated with severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).

• 1995: Reported a connection between subtle immune system issues and IVF outcomes and described distinctive treatments that significantly improve IVF success rates.

• 1997: Introduced vaginal sildenafil (Viagra) to treat inadequate endometrial development in IVF.

• 2000: Introduced sclerotherapy, a simple treatment for ovarian endometriomas, a common manifestation of advanced endometriosis.

• 2002: Introduced selective intravenous gamma globulin (IVIG) to downregulate activated uterine natural killer cells (NKa) and reverse immune implantation dysfunction, a relatively common cause of unexplained IVF failure and recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL).

• 2003: Introduced the Embryo Marker Expression Test (EMET), which assesses sHLA-G in the culture medium surrounding an early embryo as a measure of its subsequent potential to produce a live birth.

• 2005: Introduced preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) for whole-embryo karyotyping to select embryos most likely to produce a viable pregnancy through IVF.

• 2007: Introduced full karyotyping of banked human oocytes to better select those most likely to produce a live birth after thawing and fertilization.

• 2012: Introduced intraoperative transvaginal intraperitoneal bupivacaine infusion to reduce postoperative pain after IVF/egg retrieval.

• 2016: Introduced intraoperative transmyometrial sonography during egg retrieval to assess the integrity of the uterine cavity.

Dr. Sher has published more than 300 scientific papers and abstracts. He has written several consumer books, including Your Pregnancy; Recurrent Pregnancy Loss and Unexplained IVF Failure: The Immunologic Link; and In Vitro Fertilization: The A.R.T. of Making Babies, which for more than a decade was a widely read consumer book on assisted reproductive medicine worldwide.

Geoffrey Sher, MD, combines extensive expertise in assisted reproduction with an international reputation as an outspoken, committed consumer advocate, making him an enduring focus of academic and media attention.