Alan H. DeCherney

Alan Hersh DeCherney, M.D.
Director, Program in Reproductive and Adult Endocrinology
Chief, Reproductive Biology and Medicine Branch
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development
National Institutes of Health

Alan Hersh DeCherney, M.D., received his Bachelor’s Degree in Natural Sciences from Muhlenberg College in Allentown Pennsylvania, where he was a member of the Board of Trustees since 2006- 2010, and now is the Board of Oversears and his Medical Degree from Temple University School of Medicine, where he was AOA and awarded the Henry Laughlin Alumnus of the Year Award in 2005. Dr. DeCherney also holds honorary degrees from, Aristotle University, Greece, University of Bucharest, Romania, and Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

Dr. DeCherney completed a research fellowship in Immunology at the Lister Institute in London, England, followed by an internship in Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Currently, Dr. DeCherney is serving as Director of the Program in Reproductive and Adult Endocrinology and Chief, Reproductive Biology and Medicine Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health. A position he has held since 2006.

A pioneer when IVF was first performed successfully in the U.S, he was among a handful of physicians who treated some of the earliest patients. Dr. DeCherney has mentored more than 100 Reproductive Endocrinologists over the years. 

Previously, Dr. DeCherney was the John Slate Ely Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale University School of Medicine and the Division Director of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and Women’s Health Services; Dr. DeCherney was the Phaneuf Professor and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Tufts University School of Medicine where he received the Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award.

He was the Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1996 to 2006 and was Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 1996 to 2002.

He is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; Past President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine; a Past President of the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, the Society of Reproductive Surgeons, and the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology.  He is a Member of the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society and a Past President of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation.  He is the recipient of the President’s Achievement Award from the Society of Gynecologic Investigation. 

He was the Editor–in-Chief of the journal, Fertility and Sterility, from 1996 to 2011.  He was an Associate Editor and Editorial Board Member of the New England Journal of Medicine and a Member of the Editorial Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr. DeCherney served as a Member of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and is a Fellow Ad Eundem of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, London.

Dr. DeCherney has been a Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (IOM) since 2004 and was Chairperson of the IOM Interest Group on Maternal & Child & Human Development 2008 to 2010.