Kelly Baek

Dr Baek has been an invaluable addition to our fertility care. We saw a different doctor for 14 mths, had a pregnancy and a miscarriage did 9 cycles all up. It was a LOT and we were at a loss by the end. Upon seeing Dr Baek for our initial comprehensive consult a few months after leaving the previous clinic, she recognized a problem on my scans that needed correction. Straight away, we had a new course of action and she was so helpful in explaining the prognosis, let alone being kind and encouraging along the way to keep us moving forward. A few months later, we are finally doing our first cycle with her and her management of our particular case feels personal, thoughtful, and innovative. Our "success" remains to be seen, but switching our care to her has already proven healthier, happier, and much more progressive than our previous doctor.

Save your questions for the nurse team! Dr Baek is incredibly good at her job, but the questions we have as patients are sometimes better disseminated and explained in a calmer/lengthier sit down with the nurses, post-appointment. I find it better to bite my tongue during our appointments with Dr Baek, let her do her (expert) job, and then ask for clarification from the nurse thereafter!

We have started with estrogen priming patches for about a week, along with an antagonist for 2 days to synchronize my follicles, as I had larger lead follicles showing up. This, so far, has proved successful. We then started our first stimulation protocol - Clomid, Follistim, and Menopur - all in lower doses and in a staggered every other day capacity. My understanding for this is because I am advanced age, these "mini" protocols are helpful in preserving egg quality (if the good egg is already there), even if follicle count is reduced. We are halfway through this cycle now, so its success remains to be seen.

At our previous clinic, we would pay the lump sum of the cycle up front. Any costs we didn't incur would retroactively be refunded. At CFP, you pay-as-you-go. As we are only in the first cycle currently, we haven't determined whether this method of payment is helpful or not. For one, you're not over-paying for services that you don't utilize - if a cycle gets cancelled, for instance - but on the other hand, it's hard to keep up with tally of costs as billing is done internally after each appointment and it's the patients responsibility to keep checking the portal for itemized receipts. I think this way will work out, but we're only halfway through. It appears as though the costs at this clinic, however, are more expensive than our previous. Labs, as an example, are costing far more it would seem. Upon completion of a full cycle, I'll be able to better assess!

We have not gotten there yet with Dr Baek, but she has proven to be spot-on with her assessments so far, so we are inclined to trust her instincts and expertise.

I came into Kelly’s office 6 months into trying just to get an idea of my fertility. After asking me some questions, she took me into ultrasound and almost immediately diagnosed me with uterine scarring. When we went back to her office she told me I have Asherman’s syndrome and when I asked for me information she told me to “look it up at home” and literally spelled it out for me and told me to write it down in my notepad. She immediately went into discussing surgery and the 2 specific surgeons she recommends for scar revision/removal. I had no history of D&C, miscarriage, pregnancy or abortion and she instead harped on the fact that I had an IUD and was confident that my IUD caused the scarring. This is ALL without first doing an HSG - just ultrasound. She could have said “I see some sort of defect, and I’m not sure what it is. Let’s do further testing”. Instead, she was very quick to diagnose me with ashermans (even though I have perfect menstrual cycles), and went as far as discussing surrogacy. Fast forward 3.5 weeks later during which I was confused, scared and truly in anguish - I do my HSG. The report comes back with zero adhesions, no scarring and definitely no ashermans. Radiologist finds a slight contour on my uterus which he explains as a normal irregularity in my uterine shape. Dr Baek sees the report and emails me that her diagnosis was correct and that the defecr the “correctly” diagnosed is a fibroid, and needs surgical removal from my uterus. No explanation of the fibroid size, alternative solutions, etc. I have since shown my HSG results to 3 different doctors and NONE of them see a fibroid. I’m sharing this story as I hope that no other woman has to go through the same experience as me. It’s unclear if Kelly’s misdiagnosis was due to incompetence, overconfidence or pure mendacity - either way she is unfit to me a physician.

Stay away and get multiple opinions.

Used ultrasound to misdiagnose me and jumped to conclusions which were then found inaccurate from my HSG.

I have very good insurance from Meta so I was taken care of.

Dr. Baek is really invested in my quest to have a child. She took the time to carefully review all my history at previous clinics and RPL and built a protocol to improve on my results. Which she absolutely did. She doubled the quantity of eggs from previous cycles... and quadrupled the quantity of embryos. Ultimately PGT testing was unsuccessful, but she has adjusted each cycle as a result. She has also paid more attention than other doctors to my partner's stats and how to improve them, which may be part of our improved numbers. She and her partners run a very tight ship, meaning there is absolute clarity and never a dropped ball about the next steps.

Provide her with as much background information on your fertility history - she really does factor in a lot to tailor your protocol.

Estrogen priming then antagonist protocol with a HCG trigger. The estrogen priming was to keep from suppressing my ovaries too much and to synch all the follicles. Dr. Baek would only proceed on months where there was a good number. She adjusted the meds trying to get to an earlier trigger to preserve quality.

$15k egg retrieval $4k additional monitoring $5k meds $2k PGT-a

Kelly Baek is a great doctor. She is trustworthy due to her skill, competence, and ethics. I have met with her for all my appointments and she is kind, efficient, and directly communicates. Sometimes it is a lot information thrown at me, and especially if the news isn't great, it's hard to process all the details while having an emotional response. It'd help to have a summary in writing to follow the visit, for us visual learners. I have worked with Dr Baek since 2016, when she has advised me on timed intercourse, which was successful twice, but only lead to one live birth. More recently, we did an IVF cycle for my second child, but had no embryo success. We are going to try again, and Dr Baek has outlined a new strategy for retrieval. We are hopeful and I have a lot of confidence with Dr Baek's support.

Do what she says and you'll most likely end up happy.

Gonal F and Menopur. I had some negative side effects from the Menopur. Because of my diminshed ovarian reserve and age, she didn't want to "overcook" my eggs. She thought she'd be able to retrieve 3 eggs of the 8 since they grew at different rates, but on day of retrieval only 2 were large enough. One had a abnormal PN, and the other embryo didn't grow to a blastocyst by day 7.

We have Progyny insurance so the IVF cycle was covered, with the exception of Zygot sperm procedure for $520.

First of all, she initially didn’t have an appointment available until January, but agreed to adjust her schedule so that she could see us before the holidays in November. At our initial consult, Dr. Baek was more clinical than I would have necessarily wanted, but she found a congenital defect in my uterus that 3 other doctors failed to find. Not only that, after my last doctor told me my only option was to pursue natural cycles, Dr. Baek had other ideas as to how to proceed with treatment for me. At that point I had to make the decision to look past the clinical tone and feel of the first appointment and decided to switch doctors. I’m glad I did because when I saw Dr. Baek to start a new cycle at the beginning of February, she was anything but cold and clinical. At my first ultrasound appointment for the start of my first cycle with Dr. Baek, I found her to be very warm, friendly and engaging. She cancelled my cycle that day because I’d been sick with the flu but she was very thorough in explaining why she cancelled. It’s been a few months and now I’m working with her to try to figure out why I still haven’t gotten my period since having the flu and she’s been very thorough, communicative and willing to see me for ultrasounds and testing despite the pandemic.

She’s very smart so don’t mistake her clinical tone as unfeeling. I believe she really cares about her patients.

We haven’t been able to implement our strategy yet but it is to monitor a natural cycle and trigger ovulation when the lead follicle gets to 18. Then add estrogen and maybe an objective to sync the follicles in the luteal phase and then do an egg retrieval.

Every ultrasound appointment is $285, initial consult was $350-400 I think and phone consult was $315

We have been very happy for Dr Baek so far. We have done one IUI with her and currently are in our first IVF cycle now. We just did an egg retrieval. While previously diagnosed as "Unexplained", Dr Baek dug further and figured out that I have Endometriosis. She was very thorough in her approach and I felt like she was a detective working on our case. Dr Baek did all of my ultrasounds herself and called me the day after my egg retrieval to check on how I was doing.

Dr. Baek’s ultrasounds are fairly quick, she has a lot of patients and a busy schedule so this is understandable. It’s best to be proactive, ask questions, and she will take the time to explain things to you.

We did 11 days of stims, two triggers (HCG and Lupron) and many ultrasounds to be sure she did not overly cook my eggs. She was very careful to base my treatment off my lab-work and not just the ultrasounds.

Our first cycle was about $20,000 including medications. For Los Angeles this is average. Her care and devotion is well appreciated.

n/a yet

My husband and I love that Dr. Baek is a scientist. After (and during) every cycle, she is modifying and fine-tuning the treatment. When we went in for a consultation after our first failed IVF transfer (no pregnancy), we were inspired by her explanation of what could be fine-tuned to get a better result on the next cycle. It wasn’t just “I’m sorry, you can try again”, it was “here’s what I saw when I examined the eggs and here’s what we can do differently”. She will lay out all the possibilities, make recommendations, and support our choices when they are viable. Our second round of IVF, after refining the process through her evaluation of the data she collected, resulted in a successful pregnancy. Four years later, we are trying again. We are confident that if anyone can help us get pregnant again, it will be Dr. Baek.

She’s worth the cost.

In our current attempts, Dr. Baek is using less medication, starting the shots later, and triggering earlier. She has explained that as women age, the eggs mature quicker so triggering needs to happen earlier. I come in mid-cycle and use estrogen patches (2, switching every other day) from post-ovulation through period start then leave on the patches until I see her a few days later. She usually sees me around day 3 of my cycle to assess egg growth and quantity. I come in frequently (sometimes every other day) to monitor the growth of the eggs. She tries to start the shots (combinations of Follistim and Menopur) as late as possible and adjusts the dosage along the way. She monitors the egg growth carefully and is triggering a little earlier in each cycle we’re doing. She triggers twice, about 12 hours apart, to try to get the eggs that weren’t ready at the time of the first trigger but might be ready by the second (that’s my understanding, at least).

Probably between 16-20,000 per cycle.

CFP will now only transfer a maximum of 2 embryos at one time. During our previous rounds (2014), we transferred 3 embryos both times, the first resulting in no pregnancy and the second resulting in a singleton.

Dr. Kelly Baek is by far one of the best and most talented REs in LA. I was so lucky and fortunate to have found Dr. Baek and had her as my RE. I am 4 month pregnant and looking forward to what is to come. Yelp post is not long enough to describe what Dr. Baek can bring to any fertility case. I came to Dr. Baek after failed IVF at SCRC, after consulting with 8 different REs at other prominent clinics including Reproductive Partners, SCRC, HRC, USC, even flew to CCRM in Colorado… Dr. Baek is absolutely an expert. Extremely knowledgeable, with abundance of common sense and incredible attention to detail she will be the best detective on your case. I’ve seen so many women go through number of clinics and IVFs to be correctly diagnosed only after several failed attempts, sometimes not even then. Dr. Baek seeks those answers at start and checks everything. She was absolutely on top of every detail to maximize my results. She was always making sure my follicles are synched and grow close together so we can maximize number of mature eggs. She used less medication to help improve egg quality and has applied “early trigger” methodology that has resulted in better blast development and improved egg quality as well. I started getting normal tested embryos in every cycle. When I came to Dr. Baek, I was already tired of mistakes doctors were making and I had zero tolerance for mistakes as well as doctors not paying attention to things. Those mistakes cost me thousands of dollars, lost time and emotional stress. With Dr. Baek I always felt absolutely confident and safe, knowing that she has everything under control and has my best interest at heart. That is evident from her precise planning, calculations, inviting me for ultrasound even day in between to make sure we hit the best timing and don’t miss anything. This is absolutely incredible and very rare to find in this day and age when most clinics are factory lines, where patients interface with never ending phone systems, ultrasound technicians and see RE only at first consult, egg retrieval and to receive good or bad news on the phone. By the way, at CFP all RE’s do their own ultrasounds, no techs! Dr. Baek is honest, direct, will tell you as it is. She will be patient and methodical in her approach and will achieve results. I read some of the negative reviews here where people complain about lack of time Dr. Baek spend with them or lack of compassionate care. I do want to say this journey can be very emotional and difficult and if you are someone who needs a lot of hand holding, long conversations and need some difficult information sugar-coated this may not be the best match for you. Dr. Baek is focused most on your case and achieving results for you. She is direct, pragmatic and quick but that may be difficult for some people in this process. Without Dr. Baek, this journey would have been much longer, more painful, costly and possibly without results. I owe enormous gratitude to her and she will forever stay one of the key people who had profound effect on my life.

If you want someone who will be honest, dedicated to your success and absolutely one of the best experts in the field then look no further.

Dr. Baek absolutely on top of every detail to maximize my results. She was always making sure my follicles are synched and grow close together so we can maximize number of mature eggs. She used less medication to help improve egg quality and has applied “early trigger” methodology that has resulted in better blast development and improved egg quality as well. I started getting normal tested embryos in every cycle.

I had a bad experience with my last RE, and never even started a cycle. Going to Dr. Baek (on the recommendation of my acupuncturist) was night and day. I had full trust in her as a expert in her field. While I only had one normal embryo in two cycles (we opted for PGS testing), I still believe this is a better outcome than any other RE could have provided. We are waiting to transfer the one viable, but I do fully believe that I have the best possible chance with Dr. Baek as my doctor.

If you are someone that needs a lot of hand-holding or are unable to advocate for yourself, she might not be the right fit. I am very happy with her, but my partner does not care for her. She is not for everyone, but she works for me!

Dr. Baek counseled on supplements (CoQ10) and acupuncture (weekly) and Chinese herbs. We went through 2 months of monitoring before starting and hormones. She monitored me very closely - at least once a week and was always the one conducting the US. She would constantly revise retrieval date based on the progress of my eggs during stimulation.

Each cycle was about $20,000 including medications. Not cheap, but I did not find this to be vastly more than other RE in the area.

She does everything herself. Ultrasounds, visits, retrievals, everything. Everything there was to do, she did. It was never left to a tech or anyone else. I did have a procedure with Dr March but she was there and they worked well together. I appreciated being able to see her every time I came in. If I had questions afterwards I went through a nurse but that’s to be expected. But she was hands on through the entire 3 cycles of IVF we did with her.

First of all, IVF is HARD. It’s tempting to make your doctor God, and to expect to have your feelings soothed, and look for comfort when some cases there is none. We had vast amounts of eggs- and a minuscule fraction were genetically normal. We spent all our money and we’re running ragged by the drugs and the worry and the strain of it all. None of this is the doctor’s fault. She is doing her best to figure out he best course of action. She is not warm and fuzzy as primary qualities. And we tend to expect that (unfairly) from women. Hold it together and try to approach her scientifically while you get your emotional needs met elsewhere (sliding scale therapy is a godsend.) that way you can have sole emotion processing and be able to hear what the doctor says with a Little more objectivity and less emotion. Dr Baek is taking care of one part of the equation and make sure you take care of the other parts- the pain and suffering and grief.

I produced scads of eggs- one time, 44. And only one in all my cycles was genetically normal. She could see from my first doctor that my eggs were post mature and that I was triggered too early. So she changed the protocol to include fewer meds and adjusted medication and timing each time with labs and ultrasounds. Each cycle was fitted to me- no cookie cutter protocol. She was ALWAYS adjusting. And despite all my egg production I was never overstimulated with OHSS. I thank her for that.

It was all out of pocket. She’s comparable to most clinics and i s surprised- I thought she’d be more expensive than others. I think with medication and all labs and procedures and everything, i rounded the number to figure about 25K per cycle. But that includes things like hysteroscopies and the endometrial function test so I may Jaheim paid more than someone who didn’t need those things. They are upfront about all costs and give you a sheet of paper with the rates.

We only had one normal embryo to use and she implanted one which so far has been a successful pregnancy.

I felt like I was a car on a factory line - she didn't treat us like we were human beings experiencing an emotional, somewhat stressful experience. She's robotic, irritated if you ask questions, and generally just made us super stressed and nervous to raise any concerns or even ask about what was coming up next. I'm a medical doctor myself, and I cannot imagine treating my patients with such a complete lack of empathy. I believe that a lot of the success in fertility treatment relies on the emotional wellbeing of the patient, not just on how technically good the doctor is. This is where she falls so far short of what you would (and should) expect from a clinician. She can't seem to see her patients as whole people with feelings, just eggs, sperm and a uterus.

Please look for another doctor - there are so many good doctors in Los Angeles. It's not worth it.

Dr Baek didn't really take the time to explain her treatment strategies or protocols. I truly don't really know what her treatment protocols are. We just arrived at the appointments, were seen hurriedly by Dr Baek, and then were shunted to the nurse who gave us a print-out with instructions for the next set of medicines for me to inject, and the date for our next appointment. It seemed like we were driving the process - IUI failed, so we asked if we could do IVF next and she agreed. We had to stop an IVF a few days into the cycle as my oocytes didn't synchronize, and she didn't suggest any alternative course of action after she told us. We sat there sad and disappointed, and then my husband then asked if we could convert to an IUI, and she said "yes, I supposed we could". I only found out a few days into that IVF cycle that she was planning to send our embryos for genetic testing, and she didn't bother to explain that would mean they would freeze and implant in a later cycle - I heard this from the nurse later almost in passing.

I don't know - our insurance covered this, so I'm not sure of the cost.

All she said (as she was running out the door) is that she would usually transfer one, but said we could transfer two if we were happy with twins. She didn't go into any of the risks or benefits or trade-offs.

Dr. Baek is extremely sharp, thorough and diligent. She does all of the ultrasounds herself compared to other clinics that have a nurse complete this procedure. She was dedicated to our treatment from beginning to end. She is extremely busy, so there were times when I felt rushed or felt that she was short with answers, but she ultimately answered all questions. Initially, I thought she was not warm but as I got to know her better, I experienced warmth and kindness.

Trust her process as she knows what she is doing. If you feel rushed during your visit, the nurses are there to provided support and are happy to answer questions.

Medicated IUI -- failed. 1st round of IVF: Follistom, Menopur, ganirelix antagonist, HCG trigger -- resulted in 2 poor quality embryos along with a few eggs that were premature. Fresh transfer of 2 embryos - Negative. 2nd IVF: Augmented minimal med cycle. Later administration of Follistom, Menopur, ganirelix antagonist, HCG trigger + Lupron trigger. Resulted in 5 eggs retrieved, 4 mature, all 4 made it to day 5 blast. 3 PGD normal embryos. Result: Positive pregnancy test!

Each round of IVF costs approx $10-$15k. Medications are additional $4k approx.

Dr. Baek was able to diagnose or at least explain a couple of small issues in a way that we hadn't understood from our previous doctor (who we also like and respect). She impressed us as being up to date on research and able to communicate clearly. She was warm enough for our taste, though I did refer a good friend who felt she was a bit abrupt in her communication style. While I could see this being an issue for some, we didn't feel it was an issue. We liked her straightforwardness and every once in a while her sense of humor came out.

Be ready with your questions, because sometimes she is in and out a bit quickly.

Because we had already had two failed IVF attempts (at a different clinic) due to my body not responding properly to the fertility medications, we wanted an approach that would be less taxing financially and use fewer medications. Dr. Baek suggested natural cycle IUI. We attempted this twice and unfortunately neither of these worked. At this point, we decided that we should pause and regroup once we figured out whether or not adoption or egg donor IVF would be a better path for us to pursue. Dr. Baek supported this approach.

If I remember correctly, the initial appointment was over $400, which gave us a bit of a sticker shock. In general, I remember thinking at the time that the prices for everything from the IUI procedure to sperm storage were all at least about 20-25% higher than those of our previous clinic.

We didn't get that far so we don't have any feedback on this.

Kelly Baek is extremely talented and committed to finding the root of the issue. She is meticulous and methodical. I love that CFP in general is not an IVF factory. They are conservative and will do all tests needed before concluding the course of action. I also love that Dr. Baek emphasizes the importance of accompanying treatments like Chinese herbs and acupuncture. With Dr. Baek's help, I got pregnant on my first round of medicated IUI and am now 32 weeks pregnant with a baby girl, after three previous miscarriages (at least one with a genetically normal fetus).

She can be a bit awkward at times and not always super warm, but she is very committed. After talking to many other women in this area who have gone to other clinics, I'm convinced she's arguably the best RE in this area and probably one of the best in the country.

Dr. Baek is all business in that she knows her stuff. I've met several REs who are super nice but are not skilled. She's incredibly up-to-date on the latest research and she's technically a very skilled RE. She is also very kind and warm and a mom herself. She's an extremely busy person but she still made time to communicate with my acupuncturist about my diagnoses and treatment. I needed all hands on deck to become pregnant and stay pregnant and she got that 100%. After I graduated from her care, she would still answer my emails, etc.

Don't waste any time - go straight to her!

injectibles - higher doses dexamethasone (immune supressor) sythroid (slight hypo thyroid)

IUI was around $1,200 (for all appts, etc) not including meds

I was 42.5 yrs old. We had been told by a prior doctor to use donor eggs. Dr. Baek told us we owed it to ourselves to try at least one round with our own eggs! She said she would transfer up to 5 embryos. She checked, monitored and double checked my progress every step of the way and consulted her colleagues when questions about my care arose. She is an extremely experienced and detail oriented doctor.

Dr. Baek has a professional reserve. Sometimes I felt that she thought we understood more about the process than we did, even though we had been through it before with a prior doctor. I know many infertility patients are very educated about the process, their results and utilize online support communities. We didn't and as a result, I understood in a general sense what was happening, but I didn't have all the detailed data. Maybe that was for the best and it allowed me to not over stress about every little thing. I always felt like I should ask more questions but we didn't really know the right questions to ask. Dr. Baek asked at every visit if we had questions and when we said no, she didn't delve further.

Dr Baek is a miracle worker. Just do what she says. I’ve been to so many doctors and she’s the most thoughtful, talented and exceptional doctor. She won’t waste your time or let you do unnecessary procedures. I saw her every ultrasound. She answered every q I had for my very complicated case. She is result oriented and will not lead you astray. She is at the forefront of her IVF and I’m so happy I waited to see her.

The wait is worth it.

She wouldn’t start my cycle until my follicles were synced for the most optimal outcome. She tailored each cycle to my unique needs and understood my endo had to be managed. She was incredibly methodical and explained everything in detail

I had insurance and have also paid out of pocket as well. Billing is very clear on costs

I love that Dr Baek was involved in every appointment. She did all US herself - not just delegated to the nurses like the previous clinics. She spoke to us each appointment and tailored the treatment plan based on my results, not a general protocol. She is very smart. Her bedside manner can be less warm than we are used to, but didn’t bother us

Give her all the data! She’s good at connecting dots. Be patient. She will try to fix any issues so that the situation is most optimal to result in pregnancy. Can be frustrating when you’ve waited a long time to get pregnant, but I believe we will be more successful by following her advice than rushing her

Very expensive. She does not accept any insurance and out of network for me, so even US/labs were 5x the price of my regular ob or fertility clinic

Open to either, recommended single for us given young age, but did 2 for my sister in law. Recommended genetic testing first

I think she is smart, capable, but also has too many patients. The amount of time she takes with each is slim, we feel rushed to ask any questions and we don't feel many options are presented or explained, maybe they need the nurse to do some of this (i.e., mini IVFs vs full, ICSI vs not, PGS - what type are they doing, with what group... ). There's some information gaps that someone at the clinic could cover.

Do your research on your own, have your questions ready for you two minute slot with her.

It's expensive!!

This wasn't discussed.

She really covers all the bases and knows her stuff. I feel like she has the patients best interest at heart. She can be very matter a fact and rushed at times which can seem impersonal. However I can tell she cares

Don’t expect her to be super nurturing

She looked into my partners dna of his sperm- and also had me do a hysterectomy which other doctors over looked

She doesn't talk down to you and is fairly conservative. She also tries to trouble shoot in advance so that there will be less chance of failure. She doesn't engage in long conversations unless you schedule a consultation with her, and then you will have to pay a consultation fee.

Be ready for a lot of testing (which is good). She's not super warm, but she is very competent and knows what she is talking about. She is a bit inaccessible.

She prefers single transfers if you are more petite so as to not encounter any complications.

Kelly Baek is a skilled fertility specialist. She takes everything step by step and in my experience, has always been spot on in her advice, counsel and recommendations. Dr. Baek is constantly evaluating the treatment plan, making adjustments, and providing honest information regarding risks and outcomes.

She examined me and said I had retain placenta and an adhesion. No explanation was given and none of these issues were found by subsequent REs and OBs. She did not seem to understand basic medical terminology.

Do not go to her.

We were not able to proceed.

Not applicable.