Why Our Program

Distinguishing Features of Our Fellowship

The University of Rochester’s Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Fellowship offers a comprehensive, individualized training experience that combines high-volume clinical exposure with a strong commitment to education, mentorship, research, and professional development. Strong Fertility Center is the longest-standing IVF center in Upstate New York, with a rich clinical history dating back to its first IVF live birth in 1983. Our large catchment area, breadth of our patient population and clinical volume provides fellows with extensive exposure to the full spectrum of reproductive endocrinology and infertility.

Some defining features of our program include:

Deliberate progression toward clinical independence: Fellows Clinic provides fellows with longitudinal ownership of patient care from the initial consultation through treatment planning. This continuity allows fellows to develop meaningful patient relationships while cultivating increasing autonomy and confidence in clinical decision-making. The opportunity to follow patients throughout their treatment journey has been particularly highly valued by our fellows and represents an important component of their transition toward independent practice. Fellows manage a variety of diagnoses, and develop proficiency in ultrasonography, hysteroscopy, IUI, oocyte retrieval, embryo transfer, and reproductive surgery under close faculty supervision. Training also incorporates meaningful multidisciplinary experiences in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery, reproductive genetics, urology, medical endocrinology, and pediatric endocrinology.

Focus on each fellow’s individual clinical interests and academic passions: We encourage and cultivate each fellow’s unique interests and focus, whether clinically or academically. Thesis selection and mentor connections are a deliberate process we guide fellows through, allowing them to pick topics that are of actual interest to them. This has resulted in a wide variety of high-quality thesis projects spanning topics from cost-effectiveness analyses, adolescent fertility preservation, and AI centered research. Third-year elective time can be tailored to individual career goals, with opportunities including advanced MIGS, pituitary clinic, transgender medicine, fertility preservation with Medical Oncology, and medical ethics and law.

Emphasis on education and academic development: Academic development is central to the fellowship. The second year is dedicated to a mentored research experience spanning 12 contiguous months, with opportunities for basic, translational, and clinical research, educational scholarship, and quality improvement. Fellows are supported through regular meetings and mentorship in developing a thesis suitable for presentation at a national meeting and publication. Our fellows’ projects have been commended on a national level, including nominations for travel awards and prize papers at ASRM. Throughout fellowship, fellows have protected educational time, weekly problem-centered didactics, multidisciplinary IVF conferences, journal club, quality-improvement conferences, and structured preparation for the REI certifying examination. Fellows also participate in national educational experiences, including the SREI Fellows Symposium, ASRM Embryo Transfer Simulation Certificate course, and Society for Reproductive Surgeons Surgical Bootcamp.

Caliber and national engagement of our faculty: Our faculty are recognized leaders in the field and maintain active involvement in national and international professional organizations and committees.

• Division Chief and associate fellowship program director Dr. Kathy Hoeger is an internationally recognized expert in PMOS. She is a past President and current Chief Development Officer of the Androgen Excess & PMOS Society, Associate Editor of Fertility and Sterility, and member of the International PMOS Network, contributing to the 2018 and 2023 international evidence-based guidelines for diagnosis and management of PMOS. She holds multiple NIH awards exploring AI in ovarian morphology, ultrasound diagnosis of PMOS and prediction of PMOS in adolescence. She is the medical director of our multidisciplinary clinic in PMOS.
• Fellowship Director Dr. Snigdha Alur-Gupta is a recent past Chair of the Androgen Excess Society’s Early Career Special Interest Group, current Chair of ASRM’s Androgen Excess Special Interest Group, member of the International PMOS Network and co-PI on a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute grant exploring long term cardiometabolic outcomes of PMOS. She is on the Editorial Board of Fertility and Sterility and serves as an invited member of multiple national organizational committees including the Society of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Strategic Plan Task Force, and Endocrine Society Special Programs Committee.
• Medical lab director Dr. Erin Masaba was a former Chair of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s Early Pregnancy Loss Specialty Group and helped author the 2026 Recurrent pregnancy loss ASRM committee opinion. She routinely presents at ASRM and serves as a writer for the REI qualifying exam.

Together, these elements create a fellowship that is both clinically rigorous and academically rich. Our goal is not simply to prepare fellows to meet the requirements of fellowship training, but to graduate thoughtful, confident, academically engaged reproductive endocrinologists who are prepared to contribute meaningfully to the future of the field.