The Alta Bates In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Donor Egg Program is committed to providing the best of clinical care to infertile couples and single men and women. Same-sex couples and individuals are most welcome. The Program was established by Dr. Richard Chetkowski in 1984 and it operates in affiliation with Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley, California. It is one of the oldest Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) programs in the San Francisco Bay Area. The fertility clinic has been in continuous operation under the same management and at the same location for 24 years. More than 1,000 children have been born as a result of various ART procedures performed at the Alta Bates clinic.

The Alta Bates IVF Program provides multiple services of the highest quality in a warm, comfortable, and supportive community hospital setting. Each patient receives personalized care from a single highly experienced physician. Many of our patients have complex infertility factors or have failed treatments elsewhere, so they often benefit from the individualized care, meticulous attention to detail and the depth of clinical experience unique to our program.

Since 1984, couples coping with infertility have looked to the Alta Bates In Vitro Fertilization & Donor Egg Program for:

• State-of-the-art reproductive procedures including: Donor Eggs, Surrogacy, Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), ICSI, MESA, TESE and Assisted Hatching.
• Standard Assisted Reproductive Technologies procedures such as ultrasound-guided ovum retrieval and embryo transfer, IVF, GIFT, and embryo freezing.
• An in-house egg donor program.
• Fertility preservation in the face of cancer or advancing age including a novel protocol for women with breast cancer, vitrification of unfertilized eggs and ovarian tissue cryopreservation.
• Sex pre-selection through MicroSort for family balancing.
• Thoughtful and sensitive handling of the frequently complex and difficult cases referred to our clinic.
• Individualized counseling and patient education.
• Consistently high live birth rates.
• Reasonable and transparent pricing.

The Alta Bates IVF Program was one of the founding programs of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) in 1987. We have submitted clinical results to the annual voluntary clinic-specific SART and CDC Reports since 1989. Multiple original research reports from the program have been presented and published in peer-review journals.

Our Embryo Laboratory is certified by the College of American Pathologists. In addition, the program holds California Tissue Bank and Clinical Laboratory licenses and is registered with the FDA.

The Alta Bates IVF Program was founded by Dr. Richard (Ryszard) J. Chetkowski who remains its Medical Director. Dr. Chetkowski is a board-certified Reproductive Endocrinologist as well as obstetrician-gynecologist, and he has published extensively in the field of assisted reproduction, infertility and reproductive endocrinology. Dr. Chetkowski has been listed as one of The Best Doctors in America since 1996 (bestdoctors.com).

A Comprehensive Fertility Program

Counseling and psychological support are an integral part of the treatment program, helping patients cope with the inevitable stress associated with infertility and assisted reproduction. We are sensitive to the many difficult decisions couples face while undergoing infertility evaluation and treatment. Therefore, providing accurate information through patient education is one of our highest priorities. We welcome your questions about our program, because we are committed to providing the best medical care to a fully informed group of patients. We think of each couple as vital members of our team working towards a common goal: your successful pregnancy!