Caleb Kallen

Dr. Kallen is an incredibly talented, kind, compassionate doctor. He is up-to-date on the latest studies and values his patient's input. He takes the time to educate, inform and listen to all of his patients. He works seamlessly with his nursing and clinical staff, which you can tell through their communication. While he has a very calm and serious demeanor, he is incredibly caring and compassionate. When we received less than great news, he was the one who called us personally to share that news. He listened to all of our concerns and worries and thoughtfully shared his thoughts, while never once pushing us in any direction. I fully trust Dr. Kallen and know that I am in good hands.

Look no further! We came to Dr. Kallen as a second opinion and knew we'd found the right doctor upon our first consultation with him. Bring any and all questions and concerns to him and he will guide you through everything.

Dr. Kallen makes you feel like you're his only patient. He spends as much time as needed with you and has never once made us feel rushed. I have always gotten an appointment when I needed one, even last minute.

Since we had had diagnostic testing done at our previous clinic only a few months prior to coming to Dr. Kallen, we did not have to repeat our genetic blood screening. (I was not a carrier for any conditions the test screened for). My husband repeated his semen analysis and completed an infectious disease blood panel. I also repeated a complete blood work up. Prior to beginning our IVF cycle, I had an HSG done, a saline sonogram, and mock embryo transfer. This was our first IVF cycle, and we followed the Antagonist IVF Protocol. This entailed being on an active birth control pill for 21 days which commenced on the first day of my menstrual cycle. A few days before injections were to start, I came in for a baseline ultrasound and bloodwork. Once they verified that my levels were where they needed to be, 3 days later I started my injectible hormones. I began on 225 IU of Gonal F and 150 IU of Menopur daily. I came in 3 days later for my first monitoring appointment and my dosage of Gonal F was increased to 300 IU per day. Monitoring appointments became more frequent and my dosage of both Gonal F and Menopur increased. Once my follicles were large enough, I began Cetrotide and came in for monitoring almost daily. Then we got the go-ahead and exactly 36 hours before egg retrieval, we used an HCG injection. Egg retrieval was successful and we waited to see how many made it to Day 5 blastocyst. Since we were doing PGS testing, our blastocysts were biopsied and sent to the lab and embryos were frozen. PGS test results took about 2 weeks to come back, and in the meantime I waited for my next menstrual cycle to begin active birth control pills again to begin my frozen embryo transfer cycle. After we received our normal embryo results, I also began Estrace oral pills, three times daily. Then I began progesterone in oil injections five days before our frozen embryo transfer. Once the embryo was transferred, I continued both Estrace and PIO until 10 weeks gestation.

Chrissie was amazing to work with. She was caring and compassionate and knew her stuff. She communicated flawlessly with Dr. Kallen and never left any question unanswered. Whether I called or emailed, I knew I could expect a call from her almost immediately. Whenever she said she'd call, she always did. We had quite the time figuring out our insurance pharmacy coverage and she, without hesitation, sent multiple scripts to multiple pharmacies and filled out pre-authorization forms. This was definitely time consuming and she did it in a very timely manner. Thanks to her help, we managed to get our insurance to cover our medicine. She shared in the joy of our first positive pregnancy test.

Shady Grove Fertility - Chesterbrook is like a well-oiled machine. The waiting times are minimal (10-15 minutes max, although it was usually closer to 5). When you first walk in the receptionist always greets you with a smile. The medical assistant/phlebotomist is extremely skilled and makes you feel at ease when getting blood drawn. When getting ultrasounds done, they are gentle and explain everything that they're doing and what you're seeing on the screen. I've always been able to get an appointment when needed, even on a last minute or emergent basis.

There are global fees for procedures. Global fees for IVF is based on maternal age and they have 3 packages - one cycle, multi-cycle, Shared Risk money-back.

Dr. Kallen prefers eSET, as there are now studies that show that transferring multiples does not increase the chances of success, rather the chances of multiples which is risky. He explained the risk of multiples and the probability of an embryo splitting. Due to our age (25 and 26) and this being our first pregnancy, he highly advised going with an eSET. We were planning on doing an eSET anyway.

Dr. Kallen does not have good communication skills and struggles giving individualized protocols and recommendations (especially for DOR). He does not stay up to date on infertility research and studies. As his background is in Academia, he likes to lecture about topics he feels comfortable with. If you ask questions (especially about IVF) he does not respond to them directly. It took him two weeks to answer very standard questions about the quality of the lab and even then his answers were very vague (I had been a patiend of his for 4 months at this point). During my time being treated by him, I felt I was just a number. At one point during a medicated cycle, he recommended I trigger 4 days earlier than I had in the previous cycle (the follicle sizes were the same as the previous cycle) which would mean I would only trigger with one mature follicle. I challenged his recommendation and triggered a few days later to give the other three follicles a chance to mature (that cycle resulted in pregnancy). When I asked why he had decided on the random date for the trigger, he did not have a good reason and told me it's ok to trigger later. It seems like he just didn't care when I triggered. After speaking with other women and seeing other doctors, I now know that my treatment by Dr. Kallenn was subpar.

I do not recommend this doctor

His background is in academia, so I think he prefers to lecture rather than listen or explain. He seems to have the same presentation and talking points for every patient. He is very rigid in his thinking and does not stay up to date with all of the new IVF and infertility research.

We did 3 medicated cycles with clomid and Gonal F with timed intercourse. We had wanted to do IVF right away but we had a bad experience w/ Dr. Kallen, so we moved fertility clinics.

Tori is wonderful and extremely organized. I loved working with her.

Shady Grove is very well organized but overpriced for their success rates. Their facilities are beautiful but that hasn't transferred to their success rates yet as rates are correlated by embryologist experience/skill.

My insurance covered most but I needed to meet my deductible. I've spent about 3k on testing, 3 medicated cycles monitorring and the medications

If PGS testing, Dr. Kallen recommends just one embryo transferred.

At our first appointment I thought that Dr. Kallen pushed doing IVF a little too hard, but once I explained I wasn't ready for that he was immediately okay with trying another IUI. He explained the process he wanted to try and what results he expected. When things didn't work out as planned, he reassured me that things could still work out, and if they didn't, we could change our course for the next cycle without moving onto IVF right away. He was personable and honest and I appreciated the fact that he did all of my ultrasounds and the actual IUI.

Tell him what you're comfortable doing. Be honest.

We started with a sit down appointment with Dr. Kallen, he spent over an hour talking about our options and what would be best for us. Every time I walk in the clinic I see Dr. Kallen and a nurse. They always explain what they're doing and what the next steps are.

My first cycle with Dr. Kallen for my IUI I took Clomid 100mg CD 3-7 and a 75mg follistim injection on CD 7. I started estrace vaginally twice a day on CD 8 because my last cycle with Clomid it thinned my lining and the follistim and estrace were to make sure my lining was where it needed to be. I ended up having only one follicle but it was a big one. I used ovidrel and 2 days later had my IUI. I'm still in the TWW.

After almost every appointment I had a sit down with the nurse assigned to me and she explained exactly what I was to do. She showed me how to inject the meds and then emailed me several videos to help. She called with my blood tests and explained what they meant and all the next steps.

This is a very nice clinic! It's huge, and the exam rooms are large and have a large TV screen where you can comfortably lay back and watch the ultrasound happening. Sometimes in the morning there is a little bit of a wait.

I have a $70 copay every time I walk in the door except for bloodwork. I'm unsure of the actual cost of the IUI because I haven't been billed for it yet. They provided my follistim injection for free as long as I used their pharmacy for the ovidrel.

Caleb treated me as if I was money. Not a person. It upsets me because he don’t work around nor does he help with the situation. He basically makes you feel like your worthless. Thank god he won’t be my doctor anymore

Make sure he don’t treat you like money. Make sure when your paying cash for everything you accually get the time you payed for and the resolves of the work you have done

At first it was all good. Now it’s like he don’t care about any of his patients. When getting and ultrasound done he litterly wouldn’t let any pictures nor did he give me any medical records. I just felt like I was $ in his eyes and that’s all .

Ivf. He says clamping the tubes before transfer. That’s all he told me

The nurse staff are nice but when talking to a nurse she just like him. They don’t care because it’s not them

There very clean. The lady at the front desk is amazing and I love her !! She helps a lot and gave me a bunch of ivf financial routs that she known of. They need to keep her .. well for the others They talk nice but with a attitude. They lack on care , communication, organization. They really lack of checking on patients.

He wants to me pay 30,000$ for 6 cycles and that’s with out medication. Very crazy . That’s not the price for all the lab work and stuff before .

I really have nothing. He treated me so horrible and I can’t wait to go to cny fertility

Dr Kallen does allow you to email and he will often return messages directly by phone if it is something pressing or important. He is very much a scientist and thinks about things in terms of percentages. Sometimes I think he knows what we should do next, but almost involves us too much in the decisions, but I am not sure if that is because both my fiancé and I are also doctors!

Be very very direct with your questions and most important ask at every step how you are expected to feel. Also, ask what is the "usual" experience for a woman with a similar health profile. I was surprised by how I felt after egg retrieval and also how many embryos actually are mature, fertilize, and then grow! There is a drop off at every step and no one explained that to us! We will know better now if we have to do more rounds!

They are just very good and are very supportive. They call when they are supposed to and email you if you don't pick up.

Initially When I Read The Reviews Online For All Of The Fertility Doctors At Shady Grove Fertility I Remember Whispering "Please Don't Let Me Get Dr. Kallen, He Sounds So Mean And Cold". I Scheduled My Consultation And Sure Enough I Was Assigned To Dr. Kallen. I Was So Worried But I Went In With An Optimistic Approach And Believed That Maybe All Of Those Negative Reviewers Had Him Wrong. In My Experience, He Is Very Straightforward, A Little Cold Or Serious, But When He's Being Sweet Or Warm You Have To Know How To Read It. I Met With Him Maybe 2-3 Times In Person; For The Consultation, For The OAR, & Finally For The Ultrasound To Check How Many Sacs After A BFP, And Once Over The Phone To Discuss Test Results. He Did Not Perform My IUI Which I Was Shocked To Find Out When 2 Women Walked Into The Room But I Understand He Can't Be Everywhere At Once. He Explained Everything As It Appeared And Let Me Know Whenever There Was A Small Moment Of Concern. Although He Seems Like He Could Use A Big Hug Or A Few Laughs, Dr. Kallen Was Exactly What Was Best For My Journey In The End.

Please Be Open-Minded With Dr. Kallen's Personality. He Shows His Warmth And Passion In Other Forms. Don't Expect For Him To Make You Laugh Or Smile But To Assist In Making Your Dreams Of A Family A Reality.

I Think That Most Of The Team, Except For Nurse Bonnie Treated Me As If I Was A Number. There Was No Warmth, Genuine Care, Or Compassion Other Than Nurse Bonnie. As For Doctor Kallen, I Rarely Saw Him But The Few Times That We Did Meet Or Our Phone Appointment, I Felt That He Treated Me Like A Human.

My Treatment Strategy Was A Natural IUI Cycle Using Donor Sperm From A Sperm Bank. I Had Recently Went Into Preterm Labor With Twins And Was No Longer Involved With The Father. I Did Various Forms Of Bloodwork, Dr. Kallen Checked Out My Egg Count, I Ordered 2 Vials From California Cryobank, I Checked Ovulation Using One Digital Ovulation Kit And Strips To Compare, Once I Got My LH Surge I Was Scheduled For My IUI The Next Morning, Started Vaginal Progesterone The Following Morning For Whatever Reason I Was Not Given An Explanation, Got My BFP 2 Weeks Later, SGF Checked That My HCG Levels Were Rising, And Then Brought Me In To Count The Sacs.

I Only Have Positive Things To Say About Nurse Bonnie C. She Just Has This Warmth And Genuine Care For The Work That She Does, What It Means To Her Patients, And She's Overall A Very Happy And Uplifting Nurse. I Was Assigned To A Nurse Lindsay After Bonnie And We NEVER Met In Person, She Wasn't Knowledgeable About So Much I Felt Like I Was Her Nurse, And Was Relieved When She Said She Would No Longer Be Employed There But Her Patients Were Being Transferred To Another Nurse. Unfortunately, I Didn't Feel That The Next Nurse Was Reachable & Probably Spoke To Her Twice And Contacted By Others On Her Behalf Maybe 3-4 Times. I Would've Preferred Nurse Bonnie Throughout The Entire Process, She's A Spectacular Balance To Dr. Kallen's Dry Personality.

I Have Already Recommended My Best Friend And She Brought Up How She Was Treated Like A Number Or Dollar Sign From The Beginning After They Found Out Her Financial Status Which Is Complete Opposite Of My Own. The Clinic Shows Its Weakness In Delivering The Same Services To Those Of Various Financial Status. The Receptionist Needs To Seek Other Employment. She (Camille, I Believe Is Her Name) Gets Frustrated And Overwhelmed Easily And By Late Afternoon Her Fake Smile And Approach Is Rude And Snappy. The Clinic's Strengths Consist Of Cleanliness, Availability, Location, Nurse Bonnie's Bubbly Personality, And It's Appearance To Be LGBTQ "Friendly".

The Costs Was All Out Of Pocket For Me. It Was A Lot Cheaper Than I Expected. My Insurance Was Not Accepted. Discounts Not Really Explained Came In Handy. I Filled Out Paperwork With A Financial Counselor Of Sorts And NEVER HEARD FROM HER. She Is A Terrible! Doesn't Answer Phone Calls, Emails, Or Voicemails. The Sperm Donor Vials Were The Most Expensive From California Cryobank.