Howard McClamrock

Dr. McClamrock is a man of few words unless you come to him with questions/concerns. My husband liked his personality since he was candid, and often referred to statistics - concrete information. I would have prefered more anecdotal information, as going through a fertility experience can be very isolating. I would visit his office for my Day 3 bloods and monitoring throughout the cycle. He would enter the room, perform the U/S and tell me things looked good, and the number of follicles. I would need to ask if my number was sufficient, should it be more/less, etc. I would respond better to a physician that would be willing to sit and paint the picture of the appointment and the meaning. During the journey there is a lot to learn!

Ask questions to get answers. He won't overwhelm you with information if you don't seek it out.

Dr. McClamrock is very candid and thorough when asked detailed questions. Without questions he will not dive into detail. I found if I didn't ask questions, he wouldn't offer explanation. I didn't feel as if he was reporting results to ME and MY case, but rather going through the motions of his evaluations.

My husband and I were both tested, and diagnosed with "unexplained fertility". The first line of treatment for us was IUI. This treatment with Clomid and trigger should ideally help the the sperm close to the egg, and result in pregnancy. We are hopeful it will work although we understand IUI cycles only have approximately a 20% chance of working.

Danielle is very nice, and our communication is mainly when she provides test results.

For my husband and I, the clinic location was a strong reason why we selected Shady Grove over Johns Hopkins. With the amount of visits that need to happen throughout a cycle it was very convenient for us. That being said, Shady Grove Harbor East is very easy to reach. Mersedie answers the phone, and is familiar with patients names and faces over time. This creates a less sterile experience.

My insurance is pretty good, so I pay a $20 co-pay per visit and all of our infertility testing has been covered 100%. If I ever had a billing issue Mersadie would resolve it right away.

Strengths: excellent clinician, plenty of experience, great at getting back to me in a timely manner; in the end, we had 2 healthy babies!!! Weaknesses: not a super warm/fuzzy type; a little more humor could help lighten things up at times; there were times we had to dig a little to get answers or clarification (and he would happily clarify, but it wasn't always automatic).

Expect a matter-of-fact approach, don't expect a lot of joking or small talk, but do expect to be impressed by his knowledge, skill, and concern as a clinician. He will go as far down the fertility road as he can justify and his patients want--and he's very good at what he does.

My nurses with Dr. McClamrock were amazing--one even cried with me! Dr. M got us our results! I very much trusted in his clinical knowledge and experience. I initially found him less warm than I would have liked, but he grew on us through the years that we were under his care. Whenever I initiated a phone call or email, he was quick to respond.

IUI w/ injections. Given my numbers initially, he suggested we at least try more conservatively. After our response to the stim meds w/ our 3rd IUI, he then suggested we do IVF. 1 hysteroscopy w/ polypectomy. 1 IVF W/ retrieval (9, 5 fertilized, 2 day-3 transferred)--negative. 1 other cycle that was cancelled after 2 weeks of stims due to poor ovarian response. We were advised to consider donor egg. 1st DE transfer (single embryo) negative. This surprised everyone and Dr. M brought us in for a consult. Cyst found in uterus, surgical intervention discussed, but it did not show up on follow-up ultrasounds. 2nd DE transfer (single embryo)--first blood test positive, then numbers started to decline. Very early m/c. D&C done to ensure good uterine lining and remove likelihood of cyclic cysts. 3rd DE transfer--my spouse, doctor, and I agreed that we should transfer 2 embryos. They both took! 2 healthy babies!!!

Compassion, a hug when needed, available!

Overall really pleased w/ the system they have in place. Over the years we were at Shady Grove for monitoring for a LOT of holidays--and in single one of them the staff was smiling, professional, and attentive.

Oh wow. We had limited IUI coverage and no IVF coverage. We were able to take advantage of Shady Grove's shared risk program once we were using DE. Overall, w/ meds, through multiple IUIs and IVFs, and out of pocket costs associated with gynecological surgeries, it was about $70k. They also offer financing and education on different options for those patients who have poor or no insurance coverage.

Dr. M follows accepted professional guidelines. He took our history w/ multiple previous embryo transfers that did not result in pregnancy into consideration when we decided to transfer 2 on our 3rd attempt w/ DE.

As I said before, he was extremely blunt when it came to explanation of procedures and especially set backs. I did feel that he was extremely knowledgeable and would return to him again. Shady Grove is a huge clinic, so I think that had something to do with the feelings I had with the clinic being so large.

He’s blunt. Don’t take it personal. He knows his stuff, so trust him.

He was very blunt and provided little explanation for things that went wrong. He would say, “it was a fluke”. I am forever grateful to him because he helped us make our son, but he needs work in bedside manner.

I stimulated my ovaries on follistim and menopur. I used a shot to stop ovulation and a HCG trigger shot.

I loved my nurse. She was extremely compassionate. I felt she was a good offset to the bluntness of the doctor. I cried when I “graduated” the clinic.

Shady Grove is a very large clinic. That comes with positives and negatives. They have lots of knowledge behind them. They also can make you feel like one in about 1000. Although this can be daunting, I feel the overall success of the clinic far outweighs the negativity of it being such a large facility.

My ivf cycles were covered under insurance.

He urged us to transfer only 1 embryo.

I have had very good experience with him. He always covered everything and made sure I understood everything that was taking place during the time I was in the office. He also made my husband and I feel very comfortable even we were dealing with the miscarriages

Stick with it until the end

He was very nice and explain everything to my husband and I to help us understand.

She was very nice. She treated me as if I was one if her own. She was very loving and kind. She also was there for my husband and I when we had the miscarriages. She was always rooting for us to complete the whole process. She was the best nurse I have ever had

Very welcome and friendly place. Always there to help with any questions. From the time we first started the process up until the day we took a break everyone is the office has giving up a great experience every time we showed up

10,000

Dr. McClamrock is very matter of fact and direct, which can be a bit unsettling. But he knows what he is doing. He took time to answer all of my questions, although he did seem a little put out with all of the questions that I had.

Although he can seem uncaring, he knows what he is doing.

Dr. McClamrock is very matter of fact and direct.

She was very caring and took time to answer all questions.

Easy to schedule, and calm inviting atmosphere. Good sense of privacy. However, you cannot receive all services at the Baltimore Harbor office. You will go to Towson for certain procedures and for weekend monitoring visits.

we did shared risk, which was about $20,000, plus the cost of all tests before shared risk and medications for egg retrieval. In total, about $28,000.

He recommended single embryo transfer.

Dr McClamrock spent a lot of time with me answering my questions - I felt like my treatment was very personalized and I was very happy with the excellent care I received.

Ask lots of questions - Dr McClamrock is happy to answer them!

Dr McClamrock is extremely caring - he checked in with me after my retrieval and always took the time to answer my questions.

I had a freeze all cycle due to ovarian hyperstimulation.

Priscilla was amazing - she was kind, funny and provided us with thorough instructions.

It is a large clinic, but Harbor is a small office. We went to Towson for major procedures.