Embryology Laboratory

Our Scientific Director

Dr. Ali Ahmady is a board certified lab director (HCLD) from American Board of Bioanalysis. He also has a certificate of qualification as lab director in Andrology and Endocrinology from New York State Department of Health. Dr. Ahmady has more than 18 years experience in clinical embryology. He has established a number of IVF research/clinical labs throughout the world including North America. Dr. Ahmady received his Ph.D. in embryology from National University of Singapore under the supervision of Professor SC Ng, a pioneer in micromanipulation and the scientist credited for producing the first SUZI (Sub zonal insemination, technique prior to ICSI) live birth in humans. Dr. Ahmady’s research is focused on male infertility. He did a systematic study of fertilizing ability of dead sperm (at cellular and molecular level especially DNA damage). He developed the Single Sperm Curling test for selecting a viable sperm in ICSI procedure. He has also developed the hamster-ICSI assay for evaluating the fertilizing ability of sperm. Dr. Ahmady produced the first live birth in the mouse using ICSI. Dr. Ahmady is an author of a manual for IVF, co-author of a chapter in the atlas of embryology, and has published more than 20 peer-reviewed manuscripts. His work on DNA-damage has been cited by several leading scientists in the field.

Affiliated Laboratory Staff

Dr. Catharine Adams,  holds a Ph.D. in Mammalian Embryology from one of the most prestigious universities in the world, University of Cambridge (UK), where she performed her research on blastocyst development. Since 1985, when she began her career in IVF, she has, among other distinctions, that of being the embryologist for the second successful frozen embryo transfer in the United States 15 years ago. Dr. Adams is one of the first fully certified High Complexity Laboratory Directors (HCLD) in the U.S. Although very skilled technically, she is also well known in the infertility community for her ability and willingness to communicate complex embryologic concepts to patients.

Linda Anderson, our Senior Embryologist, has over 20 years experience in IVF, prenatal diagnosis, and cytogenetics. This broad range of technical experience makes her uniquely qualified to perform our preimplantation genetic diagnosis testing and analysis. After receiving a B.A. in zoology from San Diego State University, she completed graduate work in genetics and biochemistry there. Before joining Reproductive Sciences Center, she held positions at Children’s Hospital, UCSD School of Medicine, and was Laboratory Supervisor at the Alvarado Hospital IVF program.