HRC Fertility

Above L to R, back: Alison Peck, MD, Rachel Mandelbaum, MD, Sahar Wertheimer, MD Front: Irene Woo, MD, Sasha Hakman MD

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Since 1988, HRC Fertility has aided hopeful parents in building families by providing them with personalized assisted reproductive technology. HRC Fertility was honored by Newsweek as one of America’s Best Fertility Clinics in 2023. Here we ask Alison Peck, MD, Irene Woo, MD, Sasha Hakman, MD, Rachel Mandelbaum, MD, and Sahar Wertheimer, MD, about their work as reproductive endocrinologists and infertility specialists with HRC Fertility.

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Speak about the importance of community.

Dr. Peck: Having a supportive community around you is one of the most important aspects of life. Our job is to be the best version of ourselves and do our best in all things we do. But we need support, wisdom and guidance along the way—and that comes from our community. Since I joined the HRC family in 2012, I have felt supported both professionally and personally as an integral part of our team. From the first phone contact our patient makes to graduation day and each encounter in between, the HRC community welcomes our patients into our family while helping them create theirs. Community happens in the office environment, and it also happens outside our doors. The people and professionals I have surrounded myself with throughout my career have had the strongest impact on my success.

I have been blessed to have a network of OB-GYNs and other expert women’s health professionals in the fertility industry by my side as I’ve navigated my career and helped my patients achieve their fertility goals. We are meant to lean on each other and support each other in the challenging times and the wins of life. It truly takes a village to create a family, and I am grateful my village has helped me create a beautiful life in the field that I love. You have to find your people—those who motivate and inspire you—and I am fortunate to have found mine.

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How do you support other women in business?

Dr. Woo: As a doctor, supporting other women in business begins with recognizing and celebrating their achievements. It’s vital to acknowledge the hard work and dedication that women entrepreneurs and professionals contribute to their fields. By publicly recognizing their successes—whether through sharing achievements with colleagues, discussing innovations in health care forums or promoting businesses among patients and peers—we can elevate their visibility and inspire others.

Tangible ways to demonstrate solidarity include collaborating with women-owned health care practices, recommending their services to patients or investing in their innovations. By actively supporting women in health care entrepreneurship, we contribute to their growth and success. As doctors, our support for women in business within health care goes beyond clinical practice. It involves championing their achievements, offering mentorship, expanding networks, advocating for equality and actively promoting their businesses. These actions collectively empower women to thrive professionally and contribute meaningfully to advancing health care delivery and innovation.

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Tell us about your work.

Dr. Hakman: I am a double board-certified OB-GYN and reproductive specialist treating all causes of infertility, such as ovulatory disorders and polycystic ovary syndrome, diminished ovarian reserve, endometriosis, tubal factor infertility, male factor infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss. I also help couples in the LGBTQ+ community who want to start a family. In addition, my practice heavily focuses on fertility preservation, whether it is elective egg-freezing to delay childbearing or preservation due to a cancer diagnosis. I am proud to assist patients in achieving their long-term family goals through compassionate care, aiming to transform their treatment journey into a positive experience.

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What is your current passion project?

Dr. Mandelbaum: As an admitted needle-phobe and after hearing so many patients express anxiety over the injections involved with in vitro fertilization (IVF), I became motivated to improve the process by removing self-injections from the equation. Needle-free IVF is a program I created using a small subcutaneous catheter to administer all the medications for ovarian stimulation. I first trialed the catheter on myself two years ago during my own IVF cycle and subsequently completed a clinical trial, now published, proving that the catheter led to equivalent hormone levels as if needle injections were used. I am so thrilled to now offer this technology to my patients to hopefully remove this barrier to treatment and improve the experience of IVF or egg-freezing.

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What struggles have you faced in your work?

Dr. Wertheimer: The biggest challenge I had to overcome during residency was that of trying to grow my family and nurture my relationships. The residency training hours are long and grueling, and I felt little grace for the physical challenges that come along with pregnancy and new motherhood. There is a famous saying that women are expected to “work like they are not mothers and mother like they do not work,” and I have found this to be true time and time again. It is for this reason that in my current practice, my team and I will try all reasonable measures to accommodate our patients’ needs during their stimulations. Fertility treatments are hard enough without thinking of your life’s responsibilities and deadlines as well.

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Photographed by Jeffrey Fiterman