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Gen 5 Fertility Center in San Diego, California, is a pioneering facility offering outstanding services to people worldwide. Highly respected reproductive endocrinologist Samuel Wood MD, PhD, MA, MBA, HCLD/CC(ABB), FACOG, is one of the foremost fertility authorities in the world. The Gen 5 Fertility Center team believes everyone should have the opportunity to live a fertile life and they treat ea...
Gen 5 Fertility Center in San Diego, California, is a pioneering facility offering outstanding services to people worldwide. Highly respected reproductive endocrinologist Samuel Wood MD, PhD, MA, MBA, HCLD/CC(ABB), FACOG, is one of the foremost fertility authorities in the world. The Gen 5 Fertility Center team believes everyone should have the opportunity to live a fertile life and they treat each client the way they, as fertility experts, would like to be treated. The team consists of experienced fertility experts from prestigious backgrounds who work together to help every client achieve the best results possible. Gen 5 Fertility Center offers comprehensive assisted reproduction services, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), intrauterine insemination (IUI), fertility preservation, and LGBTQIA+ family building. Embryos undergo preimplantation genetic testing to ensure they’re healthy and have the best chance of becoming the precious baby parents long for. To enhance the ovulation stimulation process, the team uses advanced ovarian rejuvenation techniques for those women who desire them. Diagnostic testing is also state-of-the-art at Gen 5 Fertility Center. The team offers a range of services, from semen analysis and hormonal testing to hysterosalpingography (HSG) and hysteroscopy. In addition, the practice’s fertility experts use minimally invasive procedures, such as laparoscopy, to evaluate and treat conditions that might reduce fertility, including endometriosis and uterine fibroids. The Gen 5 Fertility Center team aims to ensure that every patient, no matter why they have fertility problems, has the greatest possible chance of successfully becoming a parent. They specialize in helping when other fertility centers can’t overcome people’s challenging fertility issues. To benefit from exceptional infertility treatment delivered with compassionate care, call Gen 5 Fertility Center today or book an appointment online.
In my experience, Gen5 and Dr. Wood are primarily driven by money. When things are going well and the treatment is yielding positive results, you receive attention and care. However, if complications arise and extra effort is required, it simply doesn’t happen. Despite claiming to provide personalized care, their approach is entirely cookie-cutter. The treatment planning emails are clearly copy-and-paste templates, sometimes sent without even updating key details. I caught multiple errors in my treatment plan on several occasions. Nothing about the process felt customized, and if you sit in the blood draw area long enough, you’ll notice the same pattern with every patient. The front desk staff always seemed unhappy and unwilling to help. As a patient, you’re already nervous and scared, and the first people you interact with make it clear they don’t want to be there. Every single staff member we encountered had the same indifferent attitude. Dr. Wood was unable—or unwilling—to help us. After our first round failed, none of our embryos made it to the blastocyst stage, and instead of making an effort to determine why, he simply said, “Sometimes we just don’t know why these things happen.” It felt as if he didn’t thoroughly analyze our bloodwork or explore possible underlying issues—even though he knew we only had two chances to make this work. His ego was evident. When we scheduled a follow-up to discuss adjustments for round two, he actually started standing up from the table while we were still speaking, telling us he had another patient to see. We received more scientific insights from the embryologist than from him. Both of our rounds were unsuccessful. When they emailed to inform us that our 2nd retrieval was unsuccessful (which was never from Dr. Wood, always and only the coordinator), their message contained the I’m sorry statement and then immediately followed by “let me know if you want me to connect you to finance for another round.” Unbelievable. They also force you to use an app, which serves no real purpose. The scheduling information in the app is identical to what they email you, and it doesn’t even provide your bloodwork results. It’s an unnecessary extra step that wastes time. I also want to address something from another review on Yelp. A Yelp user named Abbey mentioned that Dr. Wood performed an exam without gloves, and the clinic responded defensively, claiming he would “never” do that. I 100% believe her—because he did the same thing to me during an ultrasound, while the clinic director, Khadija, was in the room. My husband and I still talk about how shocking that was, and I regret not asking him to put gloves on. Overall, this clinic prioritizes profit over patient care. If you’re looking for truly personalized treatment with a doctor who is invested in your success, I strongly suggest going elsewhere. *I am fully transparent and am willing to backup any of this feedback with detailed info if you’re interested.
Gen 5 has help me with my appointments for my surrogacy process! Very clean professional and very helpful staff ! Denise is such a big help with everything I appreciate her so much for everything she does for me and other surrogates !
Surrogacy experience: Went to Gen 5 because of their flexibility to work with our international independent surrogate. After two embryo transfers, both failures, we decided to change clinics. We did everything to maximize success. The care felt appropriate and their facility is clean, however the clinic is very busy and you start to feel like a number to them. As we progressed into and beyond the second transfer it seemed they really didn’t care for our success or heartache. Dr Wood started out pleasant and caring then shifted to distance and unempathetic. After the second transfer losing a heartbeat he and our coordinator just shrugged off the failure and said well, try again. No suggestion on how to change the results, no empathy for the second loss, no discussion… just in and out… try again. Bottom line, Gen 5 really started to feel like a money grab. They’re just there to make as much money as possible with a minimum care needed. When it’s not working and they’ve collected their tens of thousands, they got what they wanted and just focus on the next place for more cash. Everyone was professional, but the more we watched, it was a well run machine, designed for volume and maximum profits. No personalization of the treatment and to have zero empathy for the loss was astounding. The vibe is off here. It’s a business not focused on success. The next clinic we found brought us to pregnancy with the first transfer… call it luck or call it difference in treatment. We think it’s the latter. Save your money, protect your heart, and go elsewhere is my opinion.
Samuel Wood, MD, PhD, MA, MBA, HCLD/CC(ABB), FACOG, is the director of fertility services and president at Gen 5 Fertility Center in San Diego, California. He is one of the leading fertility specialists in the world and has helped patients from all continents have the babies they desired. Dr. Wood is a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist, world-renowned fertility specialist, and an expert in reproductive genetics with over 30 years of clinical experience. He is the only fertility specialist in the United States who has the honor of being a longtime listee in three Marquis’ publications: Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, and Who’s Who in Science & Technology. Dr. Wood’s distinguished academic background includes a master's degree in psychology, a doctoral degree in biochemistry and molecular biophysics, and a Master of Business Administrator (MBA). After a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Dr. Wood's completed a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of California, San Diego, in La Jolla, California. Dr. Wood is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive endocrinology and infertility, achieving both in the quickest possible time. He has also earned the honor of being a certified high complexity laboratory director (HCLD) by the American Board of Bioanalysts (ABB) in two separate areas. Dr. Wood's clinical skills have won him many accolades, including being named a "Top Doctor" by U.S. News and World Report, a "Super Doctor" by SuperDoctors.com, and earned ratings of "Superb" (9.8) by the Avvo physician rating service and 4 out 4 stars on the patient-based rating site Vitals.com. Dr. Wood was named one of the “50 People to Watch” by San Diego Magazine and one of the 20 "Men who Impact San Diego" by San Diego Metropolitan Magazine. He is also a past member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego County Medical Society.
With well over 30 years in the infertility field, Dr. Villanueva’s impressive track record has earned him the respect of his fellow Reproductive Endocrinologists and the admiration of his patients. In 1982, Dr. Villanueva marked an important milestone in the field of IVF. Only one year after the first successful IVF in the U.S. and three years after the first successful IVF in the world, he became the first fertility specialist to perform a successful IVF cycle in San Diego. His vast experience in IVF is of great value in many of the complicated IVF cycles that we routinely do. The U.S. News and World Report has rated him as one of the most best in his field since 1995. Dr. Villanueva is one of the few physicians licensed to practice both in the U.S. and Mexico. He spends time on both sides of the U.S. and Mexico border serving patients at state-of-the-art healthcare clinics. Many of his patients fly in from South America and Europe because of his expertise and sterling reputation.
Dr. Martin Bastuba M.D. F.A.C.S. is a board certified male fertility specialist who was among the first to be accepted into the prestigious combined fellowship program for male infertility and sexual dysfunction at Boston University School of Medicine. Only 2% of urologists nationwide are trained experts in these highly specialized medical treatments. Over 25 years ago, Dr. Bastuba founded Male Fertility & Sexual Medicine Specialists (MFS) to help patients in need of treatment for male infertility, urological disorders and male sexual dysfunction. Dr. Bastuba is the only board-certified urologist and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons who offers these services in San Diego. His experience and technical proficiency are complemented by his unique approach to patient care and service. He believes strongly in patient education and in creating a comfortable, informal environment in which to evaluate and provide treatment options for his patients. Dr. Bastuba is well known for his expertise and high success rates in vasectomy reversal procedures. Patients from around the world travel to San Diego, California to receive vasectomy reversal surgery at MFS. He uses advanced microsurgical techniques to achieve high success rates in vasectomy reversal procedures and also has a successful track record with re-do vasectomy reversal surgeries. In addition to MFS, Dr. Bastuba is the medical director at the Fertility Center of California, a cryobank offering fertility services, including sperm banking, donor sperm, artificial insemination, sex selection, fertility preservation and andrology laboratory services. In all of his endeavors, Dr. Bastuba invests an immense amount of time and energy to ensure that his patients are educated about their treatments. He strongly believes that a patient’s care is as important before treatment as it is after treatment. He personally manages his patients’ care to provide maximum comfort and the very best results.
Dr. Adams is our Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) Scientific Director and she is truly one of the best in the world. Among other honors, she is a certified High Complexity Laboratory Director (HCLD) in Embryology by the American Board of Bioanalysts (ABB). She was born and raised in Great Britain and received her Ph.D. in Mammalian Embryology from one of the leading educational institutions in the world, Cambridge University (England). Dr. Adams’ graduate research involved the deconstruction and reconstruction of blastocysts, work that provided a strong basis for her many years of outstanding work in multiple IVF laboratories. Dr. Adams was among the first to do many IVF laboratory procedures, including performing one of the first successful frozen embryo transfers in the U.S. in 1986. With more than 30 years experience, she deals with even the most challenging cases with aplomb. Her many skills, including complicated micro-manipulation, are legendary. Unlike the vast majority of Ph.D. level embryologists, she remains active in the IVF laboratory and personally performs or oversees virtually all complicated laboratory procedures. We are extremely pleased to have such an accomplished and renowned scientist direct our IVF laboratories.
Molly Chen-Chu is our Assistant IVF Laboratory Director. This extraordinarily talented embryologist has earned the honor of being a certified Technical Supervisor (TS) in Embryology by the American Board of Bioanalysts (ABB). We are extremely pleased to have someone with such a diverse and extensive experience as part of the Gen 5 Fertility team. Molly grew up in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, near the famous Taipei 101. Her academic background is most impressive. She completed her laboratory education with a Master of Science from Taipei Medical University and subsequently received a Master of Health Administration (M.H.A.) from the prestigious program at the University of Southern California (USC) finishing with a GPA of 4.0. She has over 20 years of experience in IVF from programs in Taiwan, Singapore and, for the last 10 years, in the United States. Molly has outstanding skills in all areas of the assisted reproductive technologies and is renowned particularly in the areas of egg freezing and mini-IVF. She specializes in helping patients that other fertility centers have given up on because of their low prognosis. She does not give up on her patients and is with them throughout their journey to parenthood. She is tirelessly dedicated to her patients and has personally conducted over 2,500 IVF cycles in a single year.
Khadija Damji, BScN, RN, MSN, FNP-C, is a AANP Board Certified Nurse Practitioner who has specialized her training in women’s health and reproductive care. Khadija earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Toronto Metropolitan University. She then went on to complete specialization certification in reproductive endocrinology and infertility nursing as well as obstetrical nursing. Ambitious to further her learning, she went on to complete her Master of Nursing in the Nurse Practitioner stream at Athabasca University. With 10 years of experience, Khadija has worked with women seeking sexual health care, pre-conception counseling, labour and delivery, postpartum care through to menopausal management but has found her truest passion in caring for patients facing infertility.
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