SUHEIL J. MUASHER, MD, FACOG: We believe and practice compassionate care to our patients. We think that infertility is a very stressful situation for the couple; it’s a very stressful situation for the family in general.
Many of the patients that we see have been treated elsewhere, and many of them have failed treatments, and have spent a lot of money. We try to treat them as individuals and we try to make them feel that from the moment they call us on the phone or they walk through the door. We try to help them by checking their insurance to see what they’re covered and what they’re not covered.
I sit with them and I try to individualize their treatment. We don’t have like fixed protocols where we just run patients through multiple testing and multiple treatments. The treatment is individualized to meet the patient’s own needs.
And our nursing staff are wonderful. They help the patients, they sit with them one-on-one and not as a group, and they go over the different diagnostic tests as well as the different treatments that they have to undergo.
HOWARD JONES, JR., MD: The breakthrough in Norfolk, which allowed us to have the first IVF baby in the United States and, indeed, in the New World was the use of gonadotropins, extra gonadotropins at exactly the right time in the menstrual cycle to recruit more than the single egg, which characterizes the normal menstrual cycle. By using extra gonadotropins, we were able to harvest extra eggs, which was the key to our success.
This success required us to enlarge our staff because the demand for this new service was very great. We were very pleased and happy to be able to have Dr. Suheil very early on. I had known Suheil when we were both in Baltimore at the Johns Hopkins. This was where Suheil received his residency training.
The use of the gonadotropins caused certain changes in the menstrual cycle that we had to understand to make the system work. And we created a taskforce to look at this problem. Suheil was the leader of that taskforce, solved that problem, and enabled us to understand exactly, in the menstrual cycle, when to transfer the developing egg. In other words, Suheil is a problem-solver. Patients with infertility have a problem and need a problem solver.
Now, in addition to having a problem solved, it is necessary and desirable to do this in a compassionate atmosphere. Suheil has surrounded himself with a group that provides this and this group is led by his administrative partner, Bassam Kawwass. I’ve known Bassam for a while too.
At one time, he was the administrator of the program in Norfolk and an excellent administrator he was until he went on to bigger and greater things, including the administration of the program near Washington.
I think it’s wonderful that you will have the opportunity to go to an experienced, compassionate program. And I wish you good luck in achieving a pregnancy to have a happy family, which is the goal of all married couples. Thank you.
HOWARD JONES, JR., MD: The breakthrough in Norfolk, which allowed us to have the first IVF baby in the United States, and indeed, in the New World was the use of gonadotropins, extra gonadotropins at exactly the right time in the menstrual cycle to recruit more than the single egg, which characterizes the normal menstrual cycle.
You have to understand that the gonadotropins, which are secreted by the little pituitary gland at the base of the brain, normally is secreted in an ebb and flow manner, which controls the normal cyclicity of the menstrual cycle. But by using extra gonadotropins, we were able to harvest extra eggs, which was the key to our success.
This success required us to enlarge our staff because the demand for this new service was very great. We were very pleased and happy to be able to have Dr. Suheil very early on. I had known Suheil when we were both in Baltimore at the Johns Hopkins. This was where Suheil received his residency training.
The use of the gonadotropins caused certain changes in the menstrual cycle that we had to understand to make the system work. One of these had to do with the correlation of the maturation of the lining of the uterus with the development of the fertilized egg in-vitro. We wanted to be sure that the synchrony was just the same and we created a taskforce to look at this problem. Suheil was the leader of that taskforce, solved that problem, and enabled us to understand exactly, in the menstrual cycle, when to transfer the developing egg. Let me give you another example.
The use of the gonadotropins surprisingly turned out to result in a different response to the same doses from patient to patient. This sometimes required the expenditure of a cycle to know exactly which dose to use for a patient. We needed a test to use before we used the drug in order to know what the dosage would be. And Mr. Muasher led this taskforce for us and developed a test which is widely used throughout the world today to ascertain which dose of gonadotropin to give to the patient. In other words, Suheil is a problem-solver.
Patients with infertility have a problem and need a problem solver. And therefore it is lucky to be able to be under the care of somebody who approaches each patient as a special problem.
Now, in addition to having a problem solved, it is necessary and desirable to do this in a compassionate atmosphere. Suheil has surrounded himself with a group that provides this and this group is led by his administrative partner, Bassam Kawwass. I’ve known Bassam for awhile too. At one time, he was the administrator of the program in Norfolk and an excellent administrator he was until he went on to bigger and greater things including the administration of the program near Washington.
I think it’s wonderful that you will have the opportunity to go to an experienced, compassionate program. And I wish you good luck in achieving a pregnancy to have a happy family, which is the goal of all married couples. Thank you.
SUHEIL J. MUASHER, MD, FACOG: I’m Dr. Suheil Muasher. I am the Medical Director of the Muasher Center for Fertility and Live Birth. I have been working in this field for the last 25 years. I have done my fellowship at the Jones Institute where the first in vitro baby was born in the United Stated back in 1983 and I have been working in the field since that time.
I am very proud to say that currently I hold three academic appointments at three major medical schools, one of them is Johns Hopkins where I go two or three times a month and teach the residents and fellows. I also have a professor appointment at George Washington University and at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
I have written many, many articles and published textbooks as well as book chapters on the field of infertility and in vitro fertilization. I think this is one of our strengths in this clinic is that I bring a lot of experience to my patients. I actually have taught many of the physicians who are practicing infertility in the United States. But I don’t think that’s enough in my opinion.
I think coupled with that, I believe in compassionate care to our patients and I know most clinics now claim that. But I think we really practice that because I think infertility patients are patients who are very stressed out. They pay a lot of money sometimes for their services. It’s a very, very stressful situation for a family to be faced with an infertility problem.
We provide them with a lot of care from not only the doctor, which is myself, but from the time they walk through the door and they meet our front desk person, we try to help them with their insurance. Our nurses sit one-on-one with them, and teach them on all these steps, and all the tests that they need to undergo. And when it comes for treatment, we go over that with them too.
So if you want, we kind of hold their hands, and we really mean that because we realize that this is a very stressful situation for them and we try to help them as much as we can.
SUE, RN: Here at the Muasher Center, we have two Registered Nurses that are on staff: myself, who is the Nurse Manager/Donor Egg Coordinator and Colleen who is an Infertility Nurse/IVR Coordinator Patient Educator. We both come from a very experienced background in women’s health, both inpatient and outpatient care.
We pride ourselves in being able to assess our patients on a daily visit. We will hold your hand and walk you through the whole process, from the beginning to the end. We’re with you after a consultation through your morning visits all the way into the operating room and recovery room.
We pride ourselves in having that extra personal touch where we will know you. If you call us, you can give us a first name, and we will know who you are and what type of treatment you are doing without having to pull your chart. And you won’t have to go through telling a nursing staff what’s going on and what your questions are.
We will make sure that your experience and your journey here through the Muasher Center is very comfortable and a friendly, positive experience.
COLLEEN, RN, BSN: I am one of the nurses here at the Muasher Center. My main role is to help coordinate care for the patients who are undergoing in-vitro fertilization or intrauterine insemination treatments. Educating them on the process, what to expect, ordering their medications, communicating with the insurance companies to insure that their medications get delivered to them promptly. That they know everything they need to know about the medications, how to mix them, how to administer them.
I think one of the hardest things for patients going through this process is fear of the unknown. And I’m here to help them through that process, and kind of guide them, and educate them, and help them along the way.
We also have a nursing line that they can call whenever we’re open during business hours. And they can leave a message and we usually back to them within an hour or two, which I think is also very important because when they have a question, they want it answered right away.
We’re here for them for that, to educate them, and answer any questions, and help them through the process.
KATHLEEN MULLIGAN, BS, PRACTICE MANAGER: Our office is conveniently located in Fairfax, Virginia about a mile and a half off the Capitol Beltway. Convenient for anyone coming throughout this area. We have many patients who come from anywhere in the country as well as international patients.
We have two terrific nurses who spend a lot of one-on-one time with patients. Dr. Muasher, of course, sees patients every single visit including monitoring. He monitors his own patients. So it’s very important for him to have the one-on-on with all of our patients.
They’re greeted by myself or the person at the front desk. And we find that we know all of our patients by name and they know us by name. That’s really, really important to us to treat everyone as an individual.
We have two terrific RN’s on staff who also meet with the patients during the treatment process as well as answering any questions that they may have. It’s a lot of one-on-one attention in this office. It’s very individualized and very important to us.
We have two embryologists who are on staff as well; very well trained. A Lab Director who is internationally known, as is Dr. Muasher.
When patients leave our office, on a daily basis or once they leave the practice, they are very comfortable and very happy with the experiences they’ve had in the practice with Dr. Muasher and all of the staff.
JACOB MAYER, PHD, HCLD, DIRECTOR: What we have here is an IVF Lab. We’re also probably better known as a test tube baby lab. And really what test tube baby labs are designed for is to replace the function of the Fallopian tube. It was really for patients who had problems with their Fallopian tubes at the beginning. So all of the things that happen early in the development, from ovulation until the time of implantation take place in that Fallopian tube and we try to replicate them here in the lab.
So fertilization, collection of the eggs, fertilization and then eventually transfer back to the uterus. Loading them in a catheter and putting it back in the uterus all take place in here. But we can do a few more things beyond that.
We can freeze, like we have behind me now, the ability to freeze embryos and store them for a while until it’s better for the patient to have a transfer or if she has more embryos than she needs to transfer at one time.
We also have the ability to do some microinjection for male factor patients who have difficulty fertilizing eggs, we can actually physically go in and mechanically inject the sperm in the egg. So, separating a lot of this function from the woman’s body has given us some greater flexibility in developing new techniques.
One of the nice things about this lab is it’s a full service lab. We offer all the activities that are available currently in the state of the art technology.
And we’re also completely accredited. We have an independent body that comes in and through a rigorous series of activities, we are able to be granted accreditation through the College of American Pathology.
So although no lab can actually guarantee a patient’s success, we can always guarantee you our very best effort here.
BASSAM A. KAWWASS, FACHE: We at the Muasher Center for Fertility and IVF offer free seminars every Saturday morning where patients who have questions about infertility treatment or diagnosis can come and meet the doctors and learn about their particular options that are available to them.
In order to register for these seminars, please visit the Website, pick a date, and schedule a free seminar with the doctors. Thank you.
BASSAM A. KAWWASS: The experience at the Muasher Center is deep and wide. From the handpicked members of the clinical, administrative and medical team, to the Medical Director, Dr. Muasher, who is a pioneer in infertility and reproductive medicine.
When he started in 1983, and has treated hundreds of patients, wrote over 150 articles, and over 10 chapters, and he is a member of the staff of many hospitals and teaching appointments at three universities, and actively teaches at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
