Education & Leadership
At Shady Grove Fertility, we believe leadership is not a position or a title, it’s an action and an example. We embrace that our prominence positions us in a seat of leadership and we take that responsibility very seriously. It’s the reason we invest in training the next generation of physicians, serving the professional community as society leaders, publishing our scientific discoveries, and taking advantage of myriad educational platforms both domestically and internationally to further advance the field.
Training the next generation of physicians in reproductive medicine
All of the physician staff and much of the laboratory staff at Shady Grove Fertility (including Michael Tucker, Ph.D., our director of IVF and embryology laboratories) began their training, and often part of their careers, in academic medical centers. These centers are traditionally the only seat of academic research. From that background we realize that an invigorating, stimulating atmosphere can contribute to clinical excellence. Therefore, we reconstructed that academic atmosphere within the privacy and patient-oriented setting of our practice, melding the best of both worlds.
In addition, Shady Grove Fertility is honored to participate in academic teaching and clinical appointments through various obstetrics and gynecology residency programs including Georgetown University School of Medicine, the University of Maryland, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Lankenau Medical Center in Pennsylvania, and Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, to name a few. In fact, with SGF Chief Medical Officer, Eric A. Widra, M.D., as the Division Director, we are the seat of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology’s Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Fertility at Georgetown, lecturing and teaching Residents about infertility.
Shady Grove Fertility also participates in the highest level of training and teaching through a partnership in the combined National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Walter Reed Fellowship Program.
These activities not only keep us on the “cutting edge” of clinical excellence, excellence that we translate into clinical success for you but they also afford us the privilege of training the next generation of OB/GYNs and reproductive endocrinologists. They’re just a few of many ways we “give back” to benefit all patients, not just our own.
Setting the pace through leadership & service
Currently there are three primary organizations overseeing the field of reproductive endocrinology, including the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (SART), and the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (SREI). Among many mentionable leadership positions, Shady Grove Fertility’s Chief Medical Officer, Eric A. Widra, M.D., is a member of the SART Executive Council and Practice Committee Chair, and Eric D. Levens, M.D., currently serves on several committees including as a SART Executive Council Member and the Quality Assurance Committee Chair, the SREI practice committee, and in the AMA House of Delegates for ASRM.
Every year the ASRM hosts an annual conference during which interested parties from around the globe—representing all facets of reproductive medicine—gather to learn and share the very latest science and technology has to offer. Our physicians present abstracts, posters, and oral presentations with the sole intent to share what they have learned with their fellow physicians.
From grass roots advocacy to international recognition
Shady Grove Fertility is fully committed to the ongoing education not only of our staff and patients but also our legislators and the referring physician community as a whole. We take a multi-faceted, multi-platform approach and offer education through our clinical care teams, newsletters, monthly webcast events, and a variety of other tools you will find throughout this website. We feel strongly that it’s our responsibility to share information and spread the word about new and emerging fertility technologies so that every couple can easily access the information and resources they need to overcome infertility.
