Mark Leondires

Dr. Leondires is a very good communicator, he's approachable and always keen to answer questions. He's very knowledgeable about LGBTQ patients' specific needs and you feel supported in your desire to build a family without judgment. He went through it himself, he's a gay dad and I liked that. He's also quite conservative when talking about IVF (SET vs. twins etc.), and I relate to it.

Ask all the questions, even the ones that sound stupid. He can sometimes get carried away and do all the talking. The clinic he's built seems up to high standards and that will prove very important when making quality embryos.

Going through egg donation and surrogacy, the process has been pretty straight forward: - I got tested for any STI's, got cleared, then gave my sperm specimen. It was analyzed then cryopreserved. - I chose a donor through the clinic bank. Attorneys (outside RMACT) drafted an agreement, which took about one month. - My egg donor followed her treatment for about 10 days then eggs were retrieved, fertilized, PGS testes, then cryopreserved. From 17 eggs retrieved, I ended up with 5 PGS tested high quality ones. (3 embryos didn't pass the genetic test). - I am now waiting to match with a surrogate to continue my journey.

RMACT In-House Egg Donor, Gestational Carrier, Surrogacy Plan: $46.825 including: Donor fees: $16,281 Gestational Carrier Fees: $2,819 Surrogacy plan with PGS: $27,725

Dr. Leondires is a strong advocate for eSET. I am not sure whether he would accept to transfer more than one embryo.

Dr. Mark Leondires and the team at RMA of Connecticut truly made our dreams come true. We had a very difficult case, with so many failures trying to have our children prior to coming to RMA of Connecticut. Dr. Leondires agreed to try to help us and came up with a different protocol specific to our needs. Throughout the process the whole team at RMA was in constant communication, explained everything thoroughly and clearly, and helped us get through our most difficult times. After having 1 child through 15 transfers elsewhere prior to RMA, Dr. Leondires helped us get our 2nd and 3rd children in 1 transfer each, 2 for 2! The lab is second to none, the staff is amazing and supportive, and the results speak for themselves. We are still in awe that it worked both times after so much difficulty, and cannot express our gratitude enough to Dr. Leondires and RMA of Connecticut. They really did make our dreams come true!

Please go see him if you want to be successful in your fertility journey. The results are amazing and we only wish we saw him sooner.

The costs were very manageable and lower than other places we went to.

Our experience with Dr. Leondires and RMA-CT was a horror show. My 30-year-old sister offered to donate an egg to me and my husband so that we could make a family with genetic linkage to both of us. We live in NYC where there are many great fertility practices, but we chose Dr. Leondires due to the passion he purports to have for gay family building and the desire to use a facility in a state where surrogacy is legal. Dr. Leondires was arrogant and distracted. I am a physician, and I assured my husband, “it doesn’t matter how arrogant he is; if he gets good results, that’s all that matters.” My sister’s stim was a disaster. They could not figure out how to coordinate monitoring closer to her home at Northwell, though they had promised that would not be an issue. They would only even communicate with Northwell after we called multiple times saying that my sister was having trouble getting in. She ended up having to go to RMA-CT for her monitoring, but saw Dr. Leondires zero times. He was apparently monitoring her stim, though did not seem to have a good grasp on it. Initially he thought she would have plenty of eggs, then a few days later feared that she would only get 8. A couple days later at her retrieval, she got 30. After this roller coaster of a stim, ALL OF THE EGGS died at one stage or another. Of the 30, 21 eggs were mature; 15 were fertilized and 6 were put aside for her to keep. Of the fertilized eggs, 13 of 15 died before they reached blast stage. One had abnormal PGS testing and the other was inconclusive. They thawed the second embryo for rebiopsy and it died. He called my sister to tell her and said, “have you heard the diagnosis of PCOS?” She said, “yes I told you I had PCOS in our first consultation.” My sister then offered to let us fertilize the remaining 6 eggs. On thaw, 4 of 6 died. The remaining two fertilized. Neither made it to blast stage. We had to practically beg for communication during this time. RMA-CT would not return emails and Dr. Leondires would be impossible to get on the phone. He gave us his cell phone number to assure us he was invested and then would not text back. When he did call, it would be at 9 pm, of course with bad news. He would robotically tell us about the statistics again: “If you start with 10 eggs, 8 of them might fertilize, right? And then of those 8…” (as if we were supposed to believe that what happened was run of the mill) and we would have to stop him and say, “We KNOW about the statistics. Can you tell us what exactly happened IN THIS CASE?” And he would say, “Well we don’t really know.” Meanwhile, a second opinion suggested that it was a poor stim. Of course, he would not admit that. Then, because of this heavy handed stim, my sister got hyperstimulation syndrome. She had 7 extra lbs of ascites. She called the office to tell them. She was scared and uncomfortable and called me every day saying she was not sure what to do. He returned her call FIVE days later. By then it was already starting to get better. Because of the terrible experience, she is reluctant to cycle again and anxious about her own fertility. Please – save yourself from the heartbreak, the difficulty, the begging for communication, and stay away from this man and this clinic.

Choose a different doctor. There is a great deal of emotion involved in this process: you want someone who gives you realistic expectations and feels trustworthy. Dr. Leondires fulfills neither of these requirements.

We had Dr. Leondires's stim cycles reviewed by two other prominent fertility doctors, and both disagreed with his approach. He seemingly forgot that our donor had PCOS, something he mentioned to her only after.

We were told monitoring appointments could be performed in Brooklyn. Not the case. We ended up making three trips to Connecticut during the nine day stim cycle.

As a gay couple, the cost was largely not covered by insurance and was about the expected cost of an IVF cycle.

Can't recommend Dr. Leondires highly enough. His results are fantastic and he's always striving to do better. He is very professional and trustworthy. While he can be blunt (which many doctors are), we appreciated his straightforward presentation and willingness to joke around.

Although Dr. Leondires can seem very sure of himself, you should still feel free to voice any concerns or ask any questions you have. You're your own best advocate!

I do not remember particulars, but we had great results from our egg donor's retrieval, the PGS testing was crucial, our surrogate responded well to the medications to get her ready, and our first transfer (albeit of a high-grade embryo) was successful. No qualms about the strategies or their rationale.

Dr. Leondires is best described as mildly anti-twin. He is realistic about the additional risks posed by a multiple embryo pregnancy. Of course he's willing to transfer multiple embryos, but we did not want to pursue that course, and with results as good as his, it thus made little sense to transfer more than one embryo.

The doctor is both knowledgeable and practical. When we were getting close to transfer time, He presented us with pamphlets on ERA testing, as well as websites we could use to learn more about it. When we told him that we would require a gestational carrier, he provided us guidance on that as well. Stating the pros and cons of going independent v. With an agency. He himself has used a gestational carrier, so we appreciated his insight and support. Through out or process so far, he has remained as objective as possible while presenting us with facts and it genuinely feels as if he has our best interests at heart.

Take the time to research all of the information he provides you with. Some Doctors will make decisions for you or try to lead you in a certain direction. It’s your life, do the legwork!

For our Gestational Carrier, we began with an ERA cycle. During the first attempt at an ERA cycle she began with Estrace 2mgs for a week, increased to 4mgs by week two, then began progesterone in oil injections and prometrium suppositories. Unfortunately, the progesterone in oil caused spotting and her lining was not thick enough for the first biopsy to be done. Second ERA attempt: used estradiol valerate injections instead of estrace pills. Switched out the progesterone oil for an olive oil base for less irritation and incorporated the same suppositories with baby aspirin. This Cycle resulted in a successful biopsy. We are currently in our first transfer attempt cycle. Protocol from the last ERA cycle is being replicated with a slight adjustment on the timing of progesterone injections. The biopsy showed that she was slightly Pre-receptive.

Because we are using a carrier, many payments had to be made out of pocket. (All of the fees associated with her monitor care at her own clinic are not included) $3,819 - Gestational carrier medical Screening $1000 - ERA testing $5,000 - transfer fee

Though we would love twins, the Dr. has a strong stance on SET. He, again, presented us with the data on SET v. DET. And explained the risks associated with multiples. With Multiples, each baby is completing with the other for nutrients. With only one embryo developing in the womb, it is able to keep all of the focus on itself. He also stressed how a woman’s body was made to carry one baby at a time and multiples pregnancy put the carrier at a higher risk as well.

He is compassionate and kind and took his time with us. He once called me on his weekend off because the nurse told him I was upset. He made me feel like he had our best interests in mind. He was very up front about our chances of success.

His office is quite far from where we live and he does not usually have office hours closer.

We did 6 IUI cycles - 2 with Clomid, 2 or 3 with combined Clomid and injectables and 1 or 2 with injectables alone. I believe he told us he would have moved on to IVF sooner, but our insurance covered 6 IUI cycles and no IVF so he wanted to exhaust the covered services before subjecting us to a fully self-pay service. We finally did one IVF cycle and transferred 2 of 14 embryos and froze 4 more. We had 1 full term singleton birth from the first IVF cycle. The remaining embryos were genetically tested but 3 of the 4 didn't survive the thaw. We later attempted 2 FET cycles with the last remaining embryo (delayed for more than a year due to complications, need for further testing and travel to a Zika zone). The first was cancelled before transfer for unfavorable uterine lining. The second resulted in an early miscarriage.

Usually very quick and organized. On weekdays, I could go to any of the 4 offices for monitoring. Even on weekends when all patients were at the same office, it was never too long of a wait, nor did the practitioners seem rushed

About $30000 total for copays & deductibles, IVF, genetic testing of embryos and FET

He briefly mentioned eSET for our 2nd cycle but it became irrelevant when 3 of the 4 frozen embryos were lost

Dr. L seemed nice enough at first. This was my first fertility doctor and I didn't really know what to expect. He originally diagnosed me with unexplained. Then after tests came back he said I had DOR. He was still confident we had a 66% chance of success and was confident that we would be parents. After my first retrieval I only had one viable egg to transfer. He changed the protocol for my 2nd attempt and I got 3 eggs but none were viable. After that he gave me the donor egg speech. I was totally shocked since he had shown me all these fancy charts that said I at first had and 85% chance and then 66% chance. Then he just gave up so I left.

ask his familiarity with your condition

IVF 1-Antagonist protocol IVF 2- Estrogen priming with microdose lupron

I would say mix between cattle call and well oiled machine. Large group of people waiting but usually in and out within 30 minutes

I had insurance coverage so copay only.

Multiple for greater chance

Dr. Leondires is brilliant and explained everything to us in great detail. He made us feel comfortable from the moment we met him. He is a wonderful doctor and person. Because he is a master of his craft our surrogate got pregnant on the very first try. He answered all of our questions promptly and never made us feel like we were asking too many of them. We cannot say enough positive things about Dr. Leondires.

Feel confident that you are in the hands of the best of the best. He is absolutely phenomenal and will treat you like family.

Leondires is a very thoughtful doctor - willing to spend time explaining process and steps. He also is very knowledgeable about current research and comprehensively covered risks / benefits and our percentage chance of success.

Let him guide you but ask all the questions you want! He's always happy to answer.

Standard IVF cycle - - Birth control - 10 days shots - Egg retrieval - 1 month pause while embryos were tested and frozen - Frozen Transfer + 10 weeks of intramuscular progesterone

Efficient well-oiled machine in the morning. Loved the way they did it.

All in costs of $50K Insurance covered everything except PGS ($5K out of pocket)

I couldn’t recommend him more highly - he is one of the most knowledgeable doctors I’ve ever encountered (and I work in healthcare!). I truly believe we wouldn’t be currently expecting a Child via surrogate if it weren’t for him. He was calm, thoughtful, compassionate and always had a clear way of looking at difficult situations.

Be ready with your questions. Write down the answers so you remember!

I don’t remember specifics as far as medications and exact names of procedures. He always explained things clearly and had a rationale for everything he did

IVF not covered by insurance was somewhere around 16-18k I thjnk

We’re forever grateful for Dr Leondires and his staff have done for us.Nurse Rachel and Tracy update information every time during my surrogate mother ultrasound check and bookwork test. They are the best!

Be positive !

I don’t remember everything,but we did ERA test ,biopsy test before embryo transfer.Dr Leondires gave us option,ERA test will increase pregnant chance.

My plan approximately cost $43000,surrogacy plan $17170,PGS testing $3725,medical screening fee $1863,egg donor fee $18621,gestational carrying fee $3819.In additional ERA test and biopsy test and monitoring ultrasound check.

I know multiple embryo transfer is so risky,so We decided to transfer one embryo each time.