UW News

June 25, 2004

UW Fertility and Endocrine Center to close in September

The University of Washington’s Fertility and Endocrine Center at UW Medical Center-Roosevelt will close Sept. 24, 2004 following the decision by four faculty physicians to move into private practice this fall.

Fertility services at the Eastside Specialty Center in Bellevue will no longer be provided after Sept. 24, 2004 as well. UW Medical Center-Roosevelt Clinics and the Eastside Specialty Center will continue to be open for all other clinic specialties and services offered at each location.

“We have notified all our Fertility and Endocrine Center patients of this news,” said Dr. David Eschenbach, chair of the UW Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “We will do everything we can to ensure a seamless transition for all our patients to a new practice.”

A special phone number is available for patients with questions about the transition: 206-598-7482. Care for those patients planning in vitro fertilization cycles prior to Aug. 15 will not be affected. Those patients with frozen embryos or sperm in storage at the UW Embryology Laboratory will be notified regarding options for moving them to another facility for safekeeping.

UW Medical Center and UW Medicine will continue to provide all other women’s health services such as mammography, obstetrics, perinatology, midwifery, gynecological oncology and gynecological surgery. Evaluation and treatment of women with reproductive endocrinology problems, including infertility, will continue, Eschenbach said.

“In vitro fertilization clinics around the nation are moving from academic medical centers to private practice,” Eschenbach said. “We’re grateful to Drs. Michael Soules, Nancy Klein, Paul Lin and Angela Thyer for their years of patient care, medical education and research at the UW, and are pleased that they will remain in Seattle.”

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