Emily Opdycke, CRNP

Towson Location Towson, MD
Baltimore - Harbor East Location Baltimore - Harbor East, MD
Patient Testimonial
Dr. Healy is amazing! She was there to help us through every step of our fertility journey. She checked in frequently and was always able to answer any questions we had. Her calm and supportive demeanor brought a sense of peace to my husband and I during these anxious times.

I have had a great experience with Dr. Shah and his team at Shady Grove Fertility in Spring. If you’re wanting to try IVF but you’re nervous, give SGF a shot because the process was much more manageable than I thought it would be, due to the experience and kindness of this team.

Choosing Dr. Shah and his team at SGF for our IVF journey is one of the best decisions my partner and I made. Dr. Shah possesses exceptional medical expertise, but also a remarkable level of empathy, which is such a rare combination to experience as a patient. 

Dr. Morris was thoughtful and caring! She checked in throughout the entire egg retrieval process and responded to all questions. As a person of color, I deliberately sought her to be the lead of this very delicate and important step in my life. She was an outstanding provider!

We could not be more thankful to have had Dr. Katler’s support during our IVF journey. He was extremely thoughtful and attentive to our medical and emotional needs. We are eternally grateful to have found such a great doctor. Highly recommend!

Dr. Quaas is the kindest, most caring doctor. The team is truly the best and they really care about the patients. It’s a new practice, but I truly believe Dr. Quaas and the team understand the research and have great success rates. My husband and I are so grateful!

Biography

Emily Opdycke, CRNP, completed her undergraduate degree in nursing from University of North Florida and her Master of Science in nursing from University of Cincinnati in 2010.

Emily maintains her board certification in Women’s Health through the National Certification Corporation. She is also a member of the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

She has been practicing in women’s primary care, fertility care, and medical-surgical care since 2003. Her years of experience and dedication to the health profession lead her to her role at Shady Grove Fertility where she collaborates closely with SGF physicians in evaluating and providing care for patients in the Towson, Bel Air and Baltimore Harbor office.

Emily enjoys spending time with her family such as spending time doing outdoor activities, watching football games, attending concerts and theater shows as well as enjoys watching her children’s lacrosse and golf games. She also enjoys participating or volunteering in community organized events, spending time outdoors. As a native Floridian, her favorite place to be is at the beach.

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Education

  • Masters in Nursing – University of Cincinnati
  • Bachelor of Science in Nursing – University of North Florida
  • Fertility testing
  • Performs ultrasounds – baseline, monitoring, and obstetric
  • Performs intrauterine inseminations (IUI)
  • Performs saline sonograms/mock embryo transfers
  • Performs endometrial biopsies
  • Reviews labs and outside medical records
  • Screens and counsels potential egg donors
  • Counsels patients with abnormal genetic screening results and next steps
  • Performs urgent care evaluations
  • National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health
  • American Society for Reproductive Medicine

Coming soon.

Q&A

Being part of a great team is what makes me the proudest about working at SGF. Our team comes from various backgrounds and academic training. Together we are working towards the common goal of providing comprehensive medical care with compassion to all our patients. I am proud to be a part of an organization that is dedicated to improving the medical advancements of fertility management and treatment through ongoing research and studies, which greatly impacts and improves patient care through evidence-based medicine, patient care, and outcomes.

My bucket list includes fun things such traveling with her family, both national and international to experience new places and culture, experiencing a hot air balloon ride as well as the opportunity to meet and hangout with Bill Murray.

My approach to helping patients who are struggling is to be compassionate, affirm their difficulties and provide a holistic approach with managing and treating patients. Although multifactorial, in my experience, I feel 3 components- medical, psychological and financial have an impact, which contributes to the patient’s endurance and perseverance during their treatment plan of care. Some or all of these 3 components can increase in difficulty especially if their anticipated success does not occur as quickly as anticipated. I find setting expectations, assisting with their plan of care and striving for a good rapport even with some humor helps build a relationship in efforts to give the patient hope with not giving up on their desires to become a parent.

Emily enjoys spending time with her family such as spending time doing outdoor activities, watching football games, attending concerts or listening to live music locally and theater shows. She also enjoys watching her daughter play lacrosse, her son play golf as well as her youngest daughter play dress up. She also enjoys participating or volunteering in community organized events, spending time outdoors. As a native Floridian, her favorite place to be is at the beach.

Emily’s interest in reproductive endocrinology came from her first NP position at a fertility clinic in Jacksonville, FL. As a sub-specialty, reproductive endocrinology was not an extensive, in depth area covered in nurse practitioner training. She was mentored by a reproductive endocrinologist who helped discover her strong passion for helping patients struggling with infertility issues and ultimately their success. He helped her realized that it takes more than just medical management to help patients during this time because so many aspects have an impact on their perseverance and trust in the treatment plans recommended. This physician inspired Emily to pursue a career path in this area of medicine.

Over 7 years of working in infertility, there are so many patients that are inspirational. One couple in particular will always be near and dear to her, and they are a true testament of not giving up-especially when feeling they have hit their lowest point. This couple presented to her as a new patient couple and proceeded through multiple treatment cycles throughout their journey. Both she and her husband were learning to cope with their infertility consults, diagnostic testing and their diagnosis. She completed one insemination cycle, then proceeding to IVF. Her first fresh transfer was not successful and had over 15 cryo-embryos for future use. The couple transferred all embryos over a year without a positive pregnancy test or a miscarriage result. All the while remembering her year anniversary at the practice and congratulating the staff. She went through her second fresh IVF cycle and had success with a baby girl. The couple returned for their sibling attempt with over 10 cryo-embryos and cycle after cycle, no success. Crying on the exam table for her ultrasound, she expressed concerned it was the last time she would be there for treatment and felt her fight was coming to an end. That cycle, 2 embryos were transferred, and they were blessed with twin girls.

This couple not only struggled with not only infertility, but dealt with other outside struggles as well along and held on to what was important to them…being parents. Their journey was over 2 years and not too long after their success with fertility treatments, the couple conceived naturally…to another baby girl. Emily uses their journey experience to inspire others who not only are unable to conceive naturally, but experience a longer road to success than wanted or anticipated. The couple continues to stay in contact with Emily.

Emily would describe her personality as a soft spoken, reserved introvert who likes helping others. She says she is a nurturing people pleaser at heart. She enjoys knowing others are doing well and having a great time.

Some things about Emily that would surprise most people is that she not only enjoys many genres of music, however her favorite is punk rock, which she started listening to in the mid-90s. She also played competitive volleyball for 10 years, which ended with an ACL injury. She continues to love the sport, both indoor and beach and played recreational volleyball prior to relocating the Maryland.

2024 Shady Grove Fertility

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