George Washington University

They are a smaller clinic who tend to take a more conservative approach to embryo transfers (I understood it that they prefer single in most cases). They provide individualized attention. Further, when we raised with our doctor the financial difficulty of paying out of pocket (our insurance does not cover any fertility treatments) their admin staff followed up and worked with us to address to the extent that they could our concerns.

Dr Humm provided two hour-long consultations with us to help us understand our particular diagnosis and all of our options. She openly and patiently answered so many of our questions and drew diagrams and provided data we needed to make decisions. As things progressed with my initial cycle she was available to answer random questions or concerns I sent to my nurse. Further, she remembered and followed up on a financially-related query I made in one of our consultations; subsequently one of the admin folks provided us the information we needed.

Sarah was very prompt in replying to my messages and emails and patient with my many questions regarding my protocol (I wanted to know the ins and outs, she even scheduled a call with me to walk me through what each medication does).

She is kind, patient, and compassionate. She spent a great deal of time explaining all of our options and when she thought we were hesitant about IVF suggested we could try IUI as a way to test the waters. We found her to be warm and thoughtful and also direct about what to expect - she gave us a frank assessment of our odds and noted she and the clinic in general are conservative (for example, they transfer multiple eggs less than the average at other clinics).

If you are looking for a super capable doctor who will spend the time to explain everything to you and answer all of your questions she is the doctor for you.

For us she prescribed one cycle of estrace (estrogen priming), then Gonal and Menopur stimulation along with Cetrocide for the latter end of stim with a trigger shot of Ovidrel.

IVF Global (1 fresh retrieval; 1 FET) was approx $10,500 with PGS another $5,000 or so, additional FETs $4,500

Dr Humm noted GW tends to err on the side of single embryo transfers for most patients (i.e. they are more conservative).

Coffee/tea available in the lobby. Small facility. I get the impression that they take harder cases and offer hope. I never felt like this was a fertility factory like I hear about from larger clinics.

Dr. Humm spent lots and lots of time with us. She answered all of our questions and took time to make sure we really understood the pros and cons. She took into account my individual medical history in her recommendations.

Our nurse responds to emails within minutes with details responses to questions. Our main interactions with her are to do follow-up stuff (like sign consent forms) after an appointment with Dr. Humm.

Dr. Humm sits down with you and takes notes as a visual aid while she talks to you. She answers questions thoroughly. She (via a nurse) responds to questions very quickly. She calmly and clearly explains things.

It helped move things more quickly that I came from another GW MFA practice -- she could see relevant records without me having to do anything.

We are just beginning treatment with Dr. Humm. She gave us several options for treatment. For a variety of reasons, and with Dr. Humm's approval, we are trying without intervention for a few more cycles. We are in the first cycle of that trial. Then we will us clomid with either TI or IUI. Dr. Humm really wants me to avoid twins, so she will not allow me to do IUI with injectibles. She said IVF was the best course of action for us, but we do not have insurance so would prefer less invasive treatments first.

My insurance covers diagnosis, so I haven't paid anything out of pocket so far.

Dr. Humm very much wants to avoid twins with me because of my increased risk of pre-eclampsia.

They aren't the most expensive, but not the cheapest. I chose them for the doctor and overall clinic feel. I like that they're in a prestigious university setting, and have a great relationship with the university hospital and medical team. Being in this setting means they're very up-to-date with current research. They are less likely to turn away patients too, from what I understood when researching them originally, because of their university/teaching mission.

The staff are incredible. They were very patient at explaining things to me, even when I'd keep repeating questions. Dr. Frankfurter was candid about our situation and our options, but comes across as very knowledgeable and concerned. On procedure days, Dr. Frankfurter and all the staff were so kind, understanding, and helpful. They joked around with us to help lighten the mood when they knew we were nervous. The nursing staff are really wonderful people too, as they come to know each individual patient from the daily monitoring. They listened to my fears and emotions, and never made me feel less of a person.

They clearly had a large case load and were sometimes slow to follow up, so I just had to be on top of the communication. But they were always courteous and helpful, never made me feel bad, talked down to, or less of a person. My assigned nurse even sat down with me to give me an impromptu tutorial on injections after I'd already taken a class, when I was nervous about the first injection.

Dr. Frankfurter is highly ranked for a reason. He's very thorough. He's a bit matter of fact in his manner, but he laid out all the pros and cons of our options and never once did he make us feel like our chances were hopeless. He also took the time to answer any questions we had. The only time I felt a bit dismissed by him was when I showed him my BBT charts and he told me that they weren't useful in helping TTC. When I panicked over misunderstanding the dosage on my trigger shot, he was the on-call dr and was so nice and patient, explaining to me what to do, and then telling me I did exactly what I should have done (calling him for help), and that it would all be ok. I feel that he's meticulous, and he really listens and cares.

Dr. Frankfurter is high in demand, so making appointments with him can be difficult. He books up fast! Expect at least a month wait before you can get a consultation appointment.

I don't remember the specifics for egg retrieval, but I was on birth control and lupron (for suppression) for a month before the transfer. I was also on progesterone suppositories and vivelle estrogen.

It was efficient but a bit factory-like. You stand in line for your blood draw than you stand in line for the ultrasound monitoring. There's an unspoken rule about when to keep the door to the changing room open/closed (open if any of the 2 changing rooms are available, closed if both are occupied) and who sits in the chair by the door (whoever is next waiting for a changing room). Since the two lines are right next to each other, sometimes it got confusing and frustrating when a new, uninformed patient sat in the chair waiting for a blood draw because they didn't want to stand in line, or someone closed the door when there was a changing room available.

The first time we had insurance coverage, so I believe we paid less than $7000 for egg retrieval, ICSI, embryo storage, and egg transfer, but more with medications. This time, we don't have insurance coverage and are paying out of pocket, so the expenses are more. We haven't calculated our costs yet for our treatment yet.

Dr. Frankfurter is very responsible and wants to limit the chances of multiples whenever possible. He told us he preferred to only transfer 1 embryo, which was fine with us.

This is not an upscale fertility clinic. The waiting rooms and treatment rooms are nothing fancy, but you are there for the people with an academic interest in reproductive endocrinology, not for the perks. Monitoring takes place from 7-745 am each morning, and if you get the timing wrong, you’ll sit for a long time in a crowded waiting room of stressed out women and couples. No one is going through this process for fun or luxury, however, so to me it only matters that we get the best, most thoughtful, and intelligent care.

It took a long time to get an appointment with Dr. Frankfurter himself, but when we did we felt it was worthwhile. We had a history of a number of unexplained losses, and as soon as we sat down, Dr. Frankfurter launched into a review of these that made it clear he had closely studied our case. He operates at a very technical level, but also took the time to acknowledge what a hard time we’ve been through.

The nurses and front desk staff are all very nice. The approach of GW is in general less “luxurious” than some of the private clinics, but everyone is doing their best to provide comfort and efficiency.

Dr. Frankfurter clearly understands all the clinical ins and outs of our case and the challenges we’ve faced. He is not pushy about treatment, and he is also realistic about chances. He does not spend time injecting a lot of false hope, preferring just to focus on next steps. I do wish he was more accessible by phone or e-mail for emergency situations that arise between appointments, particularly because it is so difficult to get a consultation with him.

Go for the technical knowledge, not for the hand-holding.

We did a natural cycle IUI using only a trigger shot. I confess I thought the timing of the trigger and IUI was close, however the procedure did result in a pregnancy. Unfortunately, we had to terminate the pregnancy due to a severe chromosomal abnormality. We will likely be moving on to IVF with PGS, and will stay with Dr. Frankfurter and his advice in doing so.

A natural cycle IUI cost us $1000, plus the cost of the trigger shot ($100). We have no insurance coverage for ART, and paid this out-of-pocket.

Since its at a university, the clinic doesn't have all the bells and whistles as some of the newer clinics. But I found the doctors to be far more qualified here than anywhere else. That's what really matters! With GW, I didn't feel like I had to be my own advocate. I let them do the work, and I fully trusted them.

Dr. Frankfurter tailored my care to my individual needs. With my first egg retrieval, I got only 3 eggs (2 mature). Both fertilized but weren’t growing appropriately. We put both in on Day 3. BFN. With the second cycle, he totally changed things up, and we got 20 eggs! I really appreciated his willingness to think outside the box. He isn't afraid of the tough cases.

The nursing staff became my family. They are responsive and sympathetic.

I fully trust Dr. Frankfurter and can't recommend him enough. He is truly invested in all of his cases, and I felt truly cared about (not just as a patient, but as a person). He's responsive and willing to mix things up to get different results. He learns as he goes and tailors treatment protocol to each individual.

I would tell any IVF patient (not just those of Dr. Frankfurter) to ignore the self-deprecating thoughts. You are resilient, brave, and strong! Specifically regarding Dr. Frankfurter, just trust him. I've wasted so much time turning to "Dr. Google." Dr. Frankfurter is so smart and detail oriented. Just live your life, and let him do the work!

With my first fresh cycle, I started with birth control. We learned that it over-suppressed me, and did estrogen priming the next time. The results showed a huge improvement. I stimmed with Menopour and Follistim. I triggered with Lurpon. I went from 3 eggs to 20. With my FETs, I started estrogen on CD 3. I added in progesterone around approx. CD 18. If a positive result, I'd continue both to 12ish weeks.

Highly efficient. I was usually in and out in 10 minutes.

We paid fully out-of-pocket. I found their packages to also be the most reasonable of all clinics we looked at.

Dr. Frankfurter will transfer one embryo most of the time as its safest for mom and baby.

GWU is a small clinic, which does not make you feel like you are a number in a factory. They have a system that works. The regular cycle visits are handled by stand in physician (or nurse) of the day, which I got used to. Still, I would like to see my physician more often.

Ms Lalwani has perfect bedside manners and she never forced me into more radical solutions just to be successful. She always tried to stay on the side of natural processes.

All team members in GWU are perfect communicators and are very compassionate.

Ms Lalwani is a very understanding and compassionate person. But, since she is very busy, you have to communicate with her through a nurse, which was fine, as the nurse was very capable; but without a good nurse this system may have been a nightmare. It is also very hard to get an appointment from her as well. Ms Lalwani stayed away from more complicated treatments such as IVF with me although I am older. She was even against medicated cycle for the first two times, but I had to force her. The same was true fro use of progesterone. She prescribed progesterone only after 2 chemical pregnancies, which frankly I am not sure was due to low progesterone. But after 5 cycles with donor sperm and 4 of them medicated, I kinda wish she was more forceful. But I really appreciate her bedside manners.

Make your research and be proactive.

1- Natural cycle (negative) 2 - Clomid (Chemical) 3- Clomid (negative) 4- Femara 5 mg (chemical) 5- Femara 5 mg (cancelled due to poor response) 6-Femara 7.5 mg, prometrium after IUI

$150 for first, $75 for subsequent visits. 1100 IUI cycle.

Dr Chiles was my husband's urologist. Once his sperm was extracted we no longer had to visit her. She is really good and usually has back to back appointments. She works out of a few different offices, pay attention when setting appointments. The 2 locations in DC don't have street parking, train to Foggy bottom or park in the garage.

Dr Chiles was extremely attentive at every appointment. She gave my husband her sole attention and remained empathetic yet honest throughout the entire process. She always welcomed us with a huge smile, hug, and kiss! The staff is warm and friendly.

Our intake was always done by the same nurse. She was very nice, and would always joke with my husband and I. We always looked forward to seeing her at our appointments. The executive assistant Doretta is no joke! She knows her stuff, as a result she's ALWAYS busy. Be patient, be patient. She will call you back and/or return your email.

There were times my husband and I would leave our appointment with Dr Chiles and I would be in tears! Although fearful, I was confident that Dr Chiles would do whatever she could to help us achieve our dream. She was rooting for us! After finding out our insurance covered an "experimental" procedure, she was so happy that we were both jumping with excitement. Her bedside manner is impeccable. We always felt safe and secure at our appointments.

Relax, you're in great hands. No matter the outcome, Dr Chiles and her team will take great care of you.

We were diagnosed with male factor unexplained infertility. After completing all of the routine tests, Dr Chiles suggest sperm extraction surgery. She carefully explained how painful the surgery could be and that there were no guarantees sperm would be found. Dr Chiles was able to extract 4 vials of sperm which are now frozen, awaiting IVF.

The strength is that the doctors all meet once/week to discuss each patient so it seems it doesn’t matter which doctor is your primary at the practice. Also, they rotate procedure schedules so you might get any doctor for the retrieval or ultrasounds. Dr. Frankfurter leads the practice and I did like him a lot and he did one of my retrieval’s and transfers and he instilled a lot of confidence. You get a lot of attention in this practice, get a lot of face time with the physicians, who perform the ultrasounds. It’s hard to be unbiased since I did not have any success here, but I wonder how much larger clinics have an advantage of seeing so many more patients. I have heard that smaller, university places will take tougher patients, but I didn’t have any compounding issues other than age.

Dr Lalwani is very kind and was willing to schedule time to talk to us. We had an appointment after a procedure to talk about what happened and what we might try next time.

Sarah was a great nurse. She was very good with emailing me instructions (as I requested so I wouldn’t get confused) and called with results as well. She was very clear, could answer complex questions and scheduling questions, was thorough and kind. Her responses were very prompt. The other nurses I saw regularly were the flabotamists, Mia and I think Michelle. They were both quite good, very patient and kind. I had several different nurses for my retrieval’s, and I think they were all good.

Sometimes Dr Lalwani had difficulty explaining concepts, though she was patient and kind and answered questions. Some embryo transfers were tough, in that it took several times to place the catheter. It never hurt, but having to go to the bathroom and feeling like your doctor couldn’t get the catheter right was upsetting.

Make sure you read a lot about your procedures and ask questions at appointments, but know she will also take phone calls and answer you on the patient portal emails.

I used GonalF,225, menipur, 150, &cetrotide. I triggered with leuprolide. This seemed to work for me as I had 14 or 15 eggs retrieved each time. I used pills for estrogen and progesterone suppositories for preparing for transfers. My first 2cycles I had 1 & 2 5-day blasts, after PGS testing. I was able to do 2 FETs, because one blast didn’t survive the thaw. My other 2 transfers were fresh, because the doctors didn’t know why my FETs didn’t take, and thought with older eggs, maybe the embryos would do better in a fresh transfer.

You would sign in, wait in line for a blood draw, return to the seated waiting are for an ultrasound. There were two changing rooms for the one ultrasound machine, one patient would get undressed while the other was in the room. It actually ran very well and only a couple of times was it very crowded. Most of the time it was very busy but quick. Typically in and out in 30 minutes or less.

I believe each round with ICSI were $12000 plus PGS (plus meds, $6000) and the last two rounds were a package with ICSI of $17500, and the meds were still $6000/round)

For PGS tested embryos, they only do SET. They only tell you the sex once the lab chooses the best embryo. I was fine with that, I don’t know if they may have accommodated had I asked for a specific sex, but I think no. When the PGS tested rounds didn’t work, I had multiple embryos transferred at 2 & 3 days fresh. All rounds were negative. (Not even chemical)

I loved that the 3 REs and nurse staff met to discuss each patient even though Dr. Frankfurter was the one making the decisions for my care. This meant that no matter which RE was doing my monitoring or procedures they knew who I was, where I was in my cycle, and what I had previously done. Everyone was rooting for us and were so happy when we were successful. I always preferred when Dr. Frankfurter did my procedures since he was my primary RE, but was happy to have any of them -- they were all good!

Dr. Frankfurter, the other REs, the nurses, and the staff were all wonderful. They all knew who we were, where we were in our cycle, and were very caring. It's a busy office, so there can be waits for initial meetings, but once you are in a cycle they make sure you get everything you need.

The nursing staff was amazing! Unfortunately, there were a lot who left as I went through cycles (I believe most, if not all, left for reasons that were not about the clinic, but their commute, own health issues, etc.) but each new nurse was great. They were always available to answer questions, give results, and let me know next steps.

Dr. Frankfurter was great at explaining the procedures and protocols and why he was recommending them for us. He's friendly, but not overly warm, which was what we liked. He answered all of our questions fully and did not ever make us feel silly for asking. He's a little conservative on his approach, but not stuck in his way. Over the time we saw him he changed general protocols based on current peer-reviewed studies.

Be prepared for a wait to get in to see him at the beginning of each cycle, but know that once you get in he will do everything to help you out and make sure your cycle goes well.

Monitoring was set for early morning and you just showed up. They were well organized and got through a lot of people without huge waits or making you feel rushed.

Strengths are the individual care, the fact that the clinic is associated with a teaching hospital so has the newest research available and doesn't turn down patients, was willing to work with me on cost. Major weakness that I worry about now (looking back) is wondering if their lab quality is as good as some of the for-profit centers around our area.

Dr. Frankfurter went out of his way to ensure I received the level of information I needed/wanted. He understood quickly that I wanted to know everything personally so I could digest it, ask questions and then make my own decisions. He was quick to respond to emails and phone calls.

Over the course of several years, I had several nurses assigned--a new one was assigned each cycle as needed. I found the nurses to generally be very caring, it was a small clinic so I knew all of them by the end. Definitely a bonus at the clinic.

I liked the clinic because it was small and I felt like I received personalized care. Dr. Frankfurter was quick to provide me with information, I felt like he cared about me as a person and was always willing to discuss different treatment options. I ended up switching clinics when I moved to DE and liked that RE as well--the high quality treatment I received from Dr. F was one of the reasons I hesitated leaving his clinic.

Be sure to ask how the clinic can help in terms of cost, timing of appointments, etc. Dr. F was quick to help when there was a challenge.

There is a line but it wasn't horrible. If you arrived early, it wasn't ever a problem. They allowed me to bring my daughter when I was T42 to the monitoring appointments which was wonderful since I'm a single mother.

IUIs ranged from $500 to $2000 depending on the meds, IVF was $6900 for 3 cycles (they offered this when I asked for a better deal)

I never had embryos that made it to Day 5 so the idea of eSET wasn't really as appropriate for me, but we did discuss it when I did an FET with leftover embryos and I chose eSET with their support.

While you have 1 primary doctor, you will likely see all of the doctors in the practice for monitoring appointments. The monitoring appointments are early in the morning, but ran extremely efficiently. The “admin” side of the office is run smoothly from my experience. Billing, while not perfect, has been extremely responsive and helpful when issues/descrepencies arise.

I have always received a phone call explaining my results (good or bad) which allowed me to ask any questions I had. My thoughts/concerns/ emotions were never disregarded, but acknowledged as valid and warranted during our treatments.

I have had a few different nurses over the course of treatments. One was terrible and two were wonderful. The terrible one has since left the practice.

Dr. Frankfurter is extremely knowledgeable and an expert in his profession. He is not particularly emotional or overly sensitive in his approach; but We’ve chosen him for his expertise. He has always thoroughly explained each step, test, result, diagnosis, etc. and has answered any and every question we could think of along the way.

Trust his expertise

Dr. Frankfurter is very conservative in his approaches. .

Monitoring was a “cattle call” line, but surprising ran very efficiently. You could be in and out within 15 minutes if you arrive early.

Dr. Frankfurter strongly advised against transferring multiple embryos due to the risks

It's hard for me to evaluate since I don't know what other clinics are like. But as I mentioned before, the nursing staff provided me with the absolute best care. From a results standpoint, I do wish we were able to retrieve more eggs for embryo preservation, but I have no idea whether that had anything to do with the clinic. I am in my late 30s, so I wasn't exactly expecting a lot of eggs.

My nurse, Ifeanyi, was the absolute best. She was kind, compassionate, easy to talk to and most importantly, responded quickly to my e-mail inquiries. I had to take a last-minute international trip during treatment, and she went out of her way to make sure I had all the medications I needed during my time away. My experience through the process made me realize that the nurses are just as important (or even more important) than the physician. They are the ones who you'll turn to for day-to-day advice and support.

Dr. Frankfurter is candid, personable and easy to talk to. He tries to inject humor into an otherwise arduous process.

If you want a doctor who'll tell it like it is, Dr. Frankfurter would be a good choice. He's not a warm and fuzzy doctor. But I liked him and trusted him with my care.

Monitoring appointments began at 7 a.m. It was first come, first serve. Some days were busier than others, but I don't remember having to wait that long to get through. It was a pretty efficient operation.

I was lucky that my care was completely covered by insurance.

Doctors are great, nurses are not great. Financial team is also pretty terrible. Refused to answer legitimate questions about the pricing of a cycle and gave incorrect info about what insurance would cover.

Dr Frankfurter was honest but kind. We’d had previous losses, including of living children, and he was able to express his condolences without dwelling. He explained everything beautifully and we really felt like he listened to us.

The nursing staff was not great. Many times our chart was not updated and our primary nurse wasn’t available. A different nurse called back after hours and left a message with outdated information. We almost missed a cycle due to this.

He made a comprehensive treatment plan based on science and evidence and communicated well. He explained al the risks and benefits of various treatments. We always felt well cared for and would absolutely see him again.

Be prepared to hear some information that you don’t want to hear. He’s very honest, which I appreciated.

We used an estrogen priming protocol for DOR, with ICSi. I was a poor responder.

Monitoring was quick and efficient

one cycle with monitoring and egg retrieval was about $10k.

As I noted above, the clinic is part of the GWU MFA program. It is not fancy, but it more than enough. I feel like there is a lot of commercialization of the IVF process; my husband and I purposefully avoided Shady Grove for this reason.

Dr. Frankfurter is not a warm human being; he is a scientist by trade, a great one at that, and that was why we chose him. I had to remind myself of this every time I interacted with him. I do admit to being emotional about the whole undertaking. My diagnosis of "unexplained infertility" gave me no solace whatsoever. My husband disagrees, but I felt that Dr. Frankfurter and his staff had no tolerance for big emotions. It may be that they are on the receiving end of many, many emotions, and have decided to take a decidedly more clinical approach to all aspects of the infertility treatments they offer.

We sought out Dr. Frankfurter because he is considered one of the best scientists in the area and not for his personality. We liked that we weren't being sold on some package deal or knowing that our money wasn't going to a marketing budget. We liked that Dr. Frankfurter was part of a university-affiliated system.

Remind yourself that you're there for his medical skills.

$7,500+ in 2011

The clinic was strong. I’d recommend them to anyone. They were organized and thoughtful. I felt my treatment was in good hands. The nurses who took the blood were also great at their work. The facility was clean and the staff were encouraging and kind.

Dr. Frankfurter and his team were warm and friendly. We trusted him and always felt as though we had a great interactions with him. He took a lot of time in our appointments to explain the procedures.

Wonderful nurses. Bright and sunny every day.

We loved everything about the experience. He remembered who I was during treatment and always made me feel comfortable. He was very clear in explaining everything and we had success the first time we transferred our embryos.

Trust him. He knows what he’s doing.

Honestly, I’ve put so much of it behind me now.

About $20,000 plus the medications.

Dr Frankfurter was the best doctor I encountered on my journey. He took time to thoroughly review my file, answered my questions and seemed interested in my concerns.

I appreciated his thoroughness, accessibility and willingness to think outside the box. He seemed to tailor the treatment plan to my patient history and when it didn't work, he thought about why.

If you want to meet with him, schedule as soon as possible.

It was a smaller practice with an individual focus

Wonderful physician who was straightforward and inspired confidence. She's very knowledgeable and extremely good at explaining scenarios and concepts about fertility treatment, gives her honest opinion without raising hopes. Best part is that she's very responsive to all our questions and straightforward and still compassionate without being overly emotional.

Come with good questions