Owen Davis

Cornell has a research profile and reputation that is nearly unmatched, as far as I can tell. And I know colleagues who have found success there. But I experienced it as a large, impersonal practice, which very little investment in whether or not I personally had a successful outcome. At the beginning of this process I thought I didn't need compassionate care if the research chops were there, but over time and repeated failures my needs changed, and I completed treatment elsewhere.

Let me start by saying that I hated pretty much everything about the way this clinic is run. it is impersonal. It is a factory but not a well oiled machine. All REs love to talk about how their labs are teh best. Literally every single RE will tell you they have the best lab. And while there are some labs that may be better than others in some ways, for the most part i think it's negligible once you get past a certain threshold of care. So I think Cornell hides behind "we have the best lab" argument to avoid actually providing quality continuity of care. The waiting room holds 100 people. You check in with a swipe card. It is incredibely impersonal. They do not run on time. When you get called in you will see random blood draw person- i swear I never saw teh same person twice. Then you will be assigned a room and random young dr will do your scan. I seriously had to ask a few of tehm if they were med students or not becuase tehy looked so young, and again, I never saw teh same person twice. This is a problem becuase everyone measures follicles differently and you are relying on their measurements being given to your dr to decide on what next steps are needed. So if you are deciding when to trigger and someone measures either generously or conservatively it can actually have a major impact on your outcome. I hated that I literally never saw Dr. Davis and they drs doing the scans were so clearly like- whatever- about their job. It is a factory. I also really, really have a major issue with how they handle retrievals. First of all, EVERYONE is required to come to a 6am class and sort of group blood work the day before your retrieval even if you have already done multiple retrievals. They come out with a clipboard and the order that your name goes on teh clipboard is the order that you are seen. So you sit around a conference table with all the women who are being retrieved the next day. Too bad about HIPPA and expectations of privacy- there are NONE. You could end up sitting there with your boss, or your sister in law, or your hairdresser. I actually can;t believe it's legal. Then they call yuo back one at a time to do blood and sign forms. I then refused to stay for the class ofw hat to expect becuase this was going to be by 4th or 5th retrieval which I told them. The nurses were not nice about it all and threatened to cancel my cycle if I messed up anything. I was like- you are handing me a piece of paper with the extensive instructions of what to do. i can read and I will follow them . And then I left. Then the next day I showed up at 6am again- for a 10am retrieval- which is just obnoxious. Then again, you are called by name and given scribs to change into they put the IV in your arm. And then you are put in a waiting room with all the same women AND their partners, parents etc... in scrubs... with an IV sticking in your arm. And you wait. Again. And then they call you by name in groups of 3 and take you to a tiny waiting room. There one at a time the anethesiologist pulls you into the hallway (i swear) to have a private converastion about any anethesia you may have. I had 2 very lovely girls I was sitting with and we kinda chatted a bit but honestly, what if you don't really want to be in scrubs with strangers having a convo right before your retrieval? Then they take you one at a time and you see whoever is on call for retrievals that day- you may or may not have ever met them. Then you go to recovery. They wake you up with mandatory pain pills and send you on your merry way. They do tell you how many eggs were retrieved and thats it. Having had a a fair amount of clinic experiences by the time I got there I had a lot of comparisons to other clinics and this model is by a loooong shot, my least favorite. I ended up moving my 10 frozen 2PNs to another clinic because I refused to ever cycle with them again.

The biggest strength is the higher chance of success for women of higher age. It is a big operation so you might see yourself waiting in a crowded room. But that is not a big deal either. (At least it was not before the Covid ...)

I am still in my fertility journey, and after many IUI and 7 IVF, I would consider myself experienced. I have used multiple clinics for IVF and have sought multiple second opinion consults. BY FAR, my experience at Cornell with Dr. Davis has been the best.

I believe they have the latest technology. And they dealt with big numbers of cases that I feel they know what they are doing. They are dealing with big numbers of people but quite organized. Blood works and ultrasound to monitor follicles during the cycle is very early in the morning from 6:30-8:30.

I found the clinic well run. I liked that waiting area is not too small. This is not directly about the clinic, but we drove to the clinic so it was hard at times to find a parking space. We used different parking facilities nearby.

Crowded on UES location, and they don’t allow outside lab monitoring, so no traveling if you can’t get back every other day. The tribeca location was easy and civilized and little wait but of course Dr Davis isn’t there, so i never saw him.

It is a factory. On the plus side, they know what they're doing and they are efficient. On the minus, there is not a ton of personal connection here. The ladies behind the front desk at the monitoring station can be quite cold. If you want warm and fuzzies, this clinic is not the place.

Dr Davis is great and very knowledgeable. Be your own advocate with the nurses and ask questions. When necessary ask them to double check with the doctor. The billing department is inefficient and annoying.

Clinic is known to treat difficult fertility problems. They function like a machine and clearly have a high volume of patients. I liked that they had clear procedures in place... others feel like it's a factory.

Extremely busy, not always well coordinated, some amazing nurses and some pretty average once. Overall like any other large clinic I had been with - has good and bad sides. Over course of my treatment I really got to know some of the nurses and phlebotomists as well as attending and learned that if you request a certain doctor or attending- most of the time they will see you for your scans and that way there is a feel of some continuity through the treatment. I really like drPasternak - she was thorough and attentive with great reassuring attitude.

All of the staff including the physicians but especially the nurses, phlebotomists, scheduling staff, billing team and other support staff were always kind and compassionate even when we were having a tough day. Lovely waiting room, with very reasonable wait times.

They had a convenient satellite location downtown where I could go for monitoring. This location was much more efficient than the UES location. Working with Dr. Davis and his administrators was always easy. Once you have to come for monitoring, schedule of your procedure, preop, your procedure and recovery you feel more like you’re in a big institution.

World class doctors and staff. It's a very busy clinic but efficient - they do a good job with the monitoring process and I never had to wait very long. It's a one stop shop with radiology across the street if you need an HSG and the retrieval/transfers are also done across the street.

Strengths: very efficient and able to handle high volumes of patients. Flexible monitoring hours. Highly successful results. Weaknesses: some issues with billing/ filing insurance claims/ getting reimbursements. You don't see your primary Dr for most procedures. Retrievals are done at the hospital across the street vs in office, which is an added expense.

Many other patients have described CRM as a well-oiled machine. It is, which, when it comes to IVF, is a great thing. Having experienced both kind of clinics - more personal vs more automatic - I prefer this environment. Everyone is super nice and professional, but the automation keeps things moving smoothly. With this volume of patients, everything has to be timed to the minute. Despite the high volume, the obvious compassion and level of training from everyone - the billing team, receptionists, nurses, doctors - makes you feel like a person.

Expect high volume and the pros and cons that come with it. Less personal attention but very efficient. The retrieval procedures done through NY Presbyterian were as stress-free as I think they could possibly have been.

You will not meet with your doctor each time. For the early part of your monitoring, it will be done by a fellow (usually in their first year). As it gets closer to retrieval, you will be seen by an attending. For the actual retrieval, there is a rotation of attendings.

I believe they have the best Drs. I liked all of them. It was a very busy place in the morning when you are there for bloodwork and sometimes could wait up to an hour, sometimes just 10 min. There's no way to know. Everyone was friendly and compassionate.

It is a large clinic. Some days the wait time is long for monitoring, but the earlier you arrive the shorter the wait time.

The clinic is amazing. I have only great thinks to talk about it: the structure is great, process, technology used. The only down side is that due to the amount of patients you can wait for a long time to be monitored

Biggest strength is that the were willing to take me and made it all happen and were pleasant and efficient about it. Biggest weakness was one obnoxious phlebotomist. I hate the relatively new (done because of HIPAA) practice throughout Cornell of calling people by their first name and last initial when they call out for you in the waiting room as though we were all in kindergarten, but that's not their fault. I'd prefer they either ask me what I'd like to be called, or just have us all take a number like they do at the deli.

Strengths: unbelievably strong medical team & lab. Weaknesses: they're a big operation & necessarily run like one. (But if you think those compare in weight? That's your problem. Also: I grew up in NY and generally value competence & efficiency over politeness. So I'm happy when institutions I work with agree.)