What is New with Cooper?

Dr. C. James Chuong, Medical Director and Dr. Li-Wen Yang, Embryology Laboratory Director of the Institute attended the 65th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) in Atlanta, Georgia in October, 2009. ASRM is a multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the advancement of the art, science, and practice of reproductive medicine. The Society accomplishes its mission through the pursuit of excellence in education and research and through advocacy on behalf of patients, physicians, and affiliated healthcare providers. Drs. Chuong and Yang had the opportunities to have extensive discussions on cutting edge technologies in the treatment of infertility, IVF, and related disorders with other experts from different parts of the world (November 1, 2009).

Unlike some IVF centers, we do not exclude patients with a history of poor responses, failed IVF cycles, elevated FSH levels, advanced maternal age or abnormal clomiphene challenge test.  Please refer to the following link for a list of selected patients with one or more of the above problems who ended up with successful pregnancy (September 1, 2009) .   
http://docs.google.com/a/cooperinstitutearm.com/Doc?id=ddkbxgvw_16d5zcwjdk&btr=EmailImport

We are pleased to inform you that Dr. Li-Wen Yang, our ART Laboratory Supervisor, has recently been conferred certification as an Embryology Laboratory Director by the American Board of Bioanalysis.  Strictly following the guidelines of The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART), The Cooper Reproductive Laboratory at Cooper Institute is equipped with the finest equipment available to provide all the state-of-the-art services.  We have worked diligently to ensure the laboratory will continue providing our patients with the highest level of quality control in all the services. (January 23, 2009).

The staff of Cooper Institute for Advanced Reproductive Medicine would like to thank all our patients and their families for their patience and understanding this week as we work through the issues created by Hurricane Ike.  Our staff work diligently and coordinated with building engineers and hospital laboratory during and after the storm.  For those who have frozen embryos and frozen sperms in our laboratory, they can be reassured that everything was kept in the excellent condition and there was not any damage to our clinical and laboratory facilities.  At Cooper, we strive to provide the best possible care and patient's treatment success and satisfaction are always our top concern.  (September 19, 2008)

Strictly following the guidelines of The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART), The Cooper Reproductive Laboratory at Cooper Institute is equipped with the finest equipment available to provide all the state-of-the-art services.  Our laboratory has participated in the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) program (www.cms.hhs.gov/clia) for its Hormonal and Andrology services since its establishment in 1997.  The objective of the CLIA program is to ensure quality laboratory testing.  On July 23, 2008, we had a site visit and inspection for the certificate renewal.  Dr. C. James Chuong, Laboratory Director and Dr. Li-Wen Yang, Laboratory Supervisor have worked diligently to ensure the laboratory will continue providing our patients with the highest level of quality control in all the services. (July 25, 2008)

For those having difficulty in getting pregnant who have high serum Follicular Stimulating Hormone (FSH) with or without advanced age, we encourage you to visit www.highfshinfo.com to obtain more information about high FSH.  We are listed as one of the "High FSH Friendly RE's"  Although it is one of the most difficult situations to deal with in the fertility field, we strive to to take various approaches to work with our patients.  Successful stories can be found in our new web site which is currently under construction (June 20, 2008).

We are pleased to announce the grand opening of our third office in Greater Houston Metropolitan area at St . Luke's Medical Tower, 6624 Fannin St., Suite 1710, Houston, Texas 77030.  Conveniently located in the heart of Texas Medical Center, the office is easily accessible via all major highways.  Prior to Dr. C. James Chuong's present position as the Medical Director of Cooper Institute for Advanced Reproductive Medicine, he was on the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas Medical Center.  To make an appointment at this location or at one of the other two offices at 7500 Beechnut St., Suite 308 Houston, Texas 77074, and 16651 Southwest Freeway, Suite 200, Sugar Land, Texas 77479 , please call our central appointment line at (713)-771-9771 x 107.

We have recently reorganized our laboratory.  Dr. Li-Wen Yang , a highly regarded senior embryologist who has been working in the IVF Lab for the past sixteen years, has been appointed as our new ART Lab Supervisor. Prior to coming to Houston, she was the ART Lab Manager with Chicago IVF.  Dr. Dmitri Dozortsev, Director of Omni-Med Laboratories, a well recognized embryologist, works with our patients who need Preimplantation Genetics Diagnosis (PGD) services.  PGD is an advanced laboratory technique used in conjunction with IVF that allows us to test for specific chromosomal or genetic problems in the embryo before pregnancy begins.  With reorganization, our recent IVF pregnancy rate has been even higher than before: 81.3% had positive pregnancy test; 56.3% had fetal heart beat via ultrasound.  Recent success also includes three patients of 42-43 year-old, who became pregnant using their own eggs at their first attempt at Cooper.  As our sister facility, Cooper Center for IVF at Marlton, New Jersey www.ccivf.com led by Jerome H. Check, M.D., Ph.D., a world renowned infertility specialist, we are specialized in patients with advanced age and high FSH.   At Cooper, our patients continue receiving the cutting edge of infertility treatment along with highly professional care from Dr. Chuong and his most caring staff.