Natalie Cekleniak, MD

Natalie A. Cekleniak, M.D., joined the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science in 2000 and currently serves as Practice Director. She also holds a position as Director of Resident Education for the obstetrics and gynecology resident rotation in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center. “I was drawn to infertility medicine,” says Dr. Cekleniak, “because it offered me a way to combine my long-standing commitment to women’s health studies with my interest in embryology and a strong desire to help couples conceive.” Dr. Cekleniak received her B.S. in molecular biology from Haverford College in 1989, and her medical degree from a combined program at Dartmouth Medical School and Brown University School of Medicine in 1993.

She subsequently completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, and a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “I know from my own life experience – having been raised in a very close family, and today, as a parent myself– just how important and basic it is to feel that desire to have a strong family. That is one reason I find it so wonderful to be able to help couples fulfill that dream. I can’t promise them success 100% of the time, but I can share with them the best possible options to achieve that goal.” Dr. Cekleniak’s areas of clinical interest include embryology, age-related infertility, and diminished ovarian reserve. Her research has focused on the maturation of human eggs in the laboratory, and she is the principal author of one of the seminal research papers in the field of infertility. Dr. Cekleniak’s professional affiliations include the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and the Society of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. Dr. Cekleniak shares a busy household with her husband Randy and their three young children.