At Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the Division of Reproductive and Endocrinology provides a full line of services for women from menstruation through menopause. In addition, we are the home of The Infertility and Reproductive Medicine Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, which helps both men and women facing infertility.

Each year, more than 2,000 couples are evaluated and treated for infertility at Washington University School of Medicine. We offer a full line of leading-edge medical and surgical services to both diagnose and treat the causes of infertility. The latest fertility drug therapies (both oral and injectable medications) are used in ovulation induction and with intrauterine insemination. Washington University reproductive endocrinologists are specialists in the use of sonohysterography, hysteroscopy and laparoscopy to diagnose and treat infertility.

In 1983, Washington University School of Medicine at Barnes-Jewish Hospital became the first program in the state of Missouri to offer in vitro fertilization (IVF) services through its Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) program. The first babies in the state conceived through IVF were born to parents treated in the universitys' ART program.

In vitro fertilization is recommended for couples who are unable to achieve a pregnancy through less-invasive treatment. Depending upon the case, specialized IVF procedures offered include micromanipulation of the egg, sperm or embryo including assisted hatching and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), microepididymal sperm aspiration (MESA), blastocyst culture, sperm banking and cryopreservation of excess embryos.

Washington University sponsors a volunteer egg donor program for women who are unable to achieve a viable pregnancy with their own eggs. Egg donors may be anonymous or known to recipient couples. The university also works with couples who provide their own gestational carriers.

All patient services are private and are located in the vicinity of the main medical campus.

The reproductive endocrinologists employed by Washington University School of Medicine are board-certified in obstetrics, gynecology, or reproductive endocrinology and have completed advanced training infertility through a two- or three-year fellowship program. They are either board-certified or board-eligible in the subspecialty of reproductive endocrinology and infertility.

The division participates in a number of multi-center clinical studies in which new therapies are used to diagnose and treat any number of conditions related to reproductive endocrinology, such as infertility, ovulation disorders, recurrent miscarriage and the symptoms of menopause.