More About Geoffrey Sher, M.D.

The science of in vitro fertilization was in its infancy in 1982 when Dr. Sher first took an interest in it. Just four years removed from the birth of the first “test tube baby” in Great Britain, the procedure was facing an arduous uphill climb, dealing with the objections of religious groups and a skeptical American public still reeling from the economic and political set-backs of the 1970’s. Despite all of that, Dr. Sher saw that IVF was a procedure that could bring hope and success to couples desperately trying to conceive children. He rolled up his sleeves and dove in, working to evolve the fledgling science into a viable mainstream option.

Pacific Fertility Medical Centers

Between 1987 and 1998, Dr. Sher founded and operated the California based Pacific Fertility Medical Centers (PFMC) with three locations. During his tenure with PFMC, Dr. Sher was largely responsible for the Group's emergence as one of the leading IVF programs in the nation. In 10 years he propelled PFMC into the forefront of clinical performance and research, introducing several major medical break-throughs that impacted positively on the treatment of infertility. Dr. Sher was one of the first to point to the fact that ultrasound evaluation of the uterine lining prior to IVF, allows for prediction as to the likelihood of a subsequent pregnancy. In the field of reproductive immunology, he was the first to link immunologic problems (often mild in nature) causally, to female-related resistant infertility and repeated IVF failure, introducing immunotherapies that virtually doubled the IVF birthrates.

Previous Positions

Educated in South Africa, Dr. Sher was a Senior Specialist of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the prestigious Groote Schuur Hospital (the teaching institution for the University of Cape Town), where the world's first human heart transplant was performed. In 1975, he was recruited by the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill to a faculty position in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In 1979, Dr. Sher entered private practice in Nevada where he is currently a Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. In 1982, Dr. Patrick Steptoe, the father of In vitro Fertilization (IVF), afforded Dr. Sher an opportunity to study under him at Bourn Hall in England. Dr Sher returned to the United States and in January 1983 opened the nation's first private, non-university based IVF center (the fourth IVF program in the USA), in Reno, Nevada.

Board Certification

Dr. Sher is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology in the following countries:

• South Africa
• England
• United States

He also has a sub-specialty board certification in perinatal medicine.

Publications 

He has more than 200 accredited scientific publications and about 60 scientific presentations to his credit and is the author of two consumer-oriented medical books: Your Pregnancy, published by Simon and Schuster in the 1980s; and In Vitro Fertilization, the A.R.T. of Making Babies, published by Facts on File. The latter is currently one of the most widely read consumer books on the subject of IVF in the USA. This book was written to assist infertile couples in evaluating their options with regard to the various advanced fertility procedures.

Consumer Advocate

 In 1995, Dr. Sher and his team introduced a novel consumer-friendly concept in fee structuring for IVF. This arrangement granted eligible patients a 70-100% refund of medical fees, if they did not have a successful outcome after IVF treatment. In the absence of IVF insurance coverage, this risk-sharing financial arrangement was welcomed by IVF patients across the board, but was strongly criticized by almost all IVF physicians who felt that widespread introduction of such an arrangement would place them at financial risk. After waging a relentless and often single-handed crusade, Dr. Sher was successful in getting this plan accepted by SART, the IVF medical governing body, as well as by the IVF medical community. Currently, more than 50 of an estimated 350 IVF programs in the nation offer it as an option, in one form or another, to their patients.

Dr. Sher is a strong proponent of accountability on the part of IVF programs for the success rates they report to consumers, favoring the establishment of an accreditation process for all centers that provide IVF and related services. He advocates legislation that would lead to mandated insurance coverage, in the hope of rendering infertility treatment affordable to all Americans, regardless of their socioeconomic status.

Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART)

Dr. Sher was founding board member of Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, serving from 1984 to 1986.

There are currently nine offices under the umbrella of Sher Institutes for Reproductive Medicine in the United States, a testament to the success of the IVF and IUI protocols we have put in place and a direct result of the work of our founder, Dr. Geoffrey Sher. It is his dedication to helping women overcome infertility that has led to the credibility and popularity our centers now enjoy. Dr. Sher himself still works a full time schedule performing IVF procedures and infertility consultations while refining some of his earlier research and discoveries in the field.  He continues to push the boundaries of reproductive medicine every day.

The in vitro fertilization Las Vegas clinic operated by Dr. Sher today is staffed by kind and compassionate individuals who share his beliefs that reproductive science is never in conflict with morality. The ability to conceive a child is there before we perform an IVF or IUI procedure. All we do is help nature do its work. The human body provides all of the elements needed: the egg, the sperm, the uterus, and the womb. Infertility most often happens because one of these elements isn’t functioning properly.

Under Dr. Sher's vision and philosophy, SIRM offers many IVF package plans and discounted fertility services to those who can’t otherwise afford them. His belief is that everyone should have the chance to conceive children if they want to.