Introduction to the Guest Editor: Valerie L. Baker, MD

Serdar E. Bulun, MD

Valerie L. Baker, MD, currently serves as the chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Stanford University School of Medicine and medical director of the Stanford Fertility and Reproductive Medicine Center. Dr. Baker received her MD and Master in Public Policy degrees from the Harvard Medical School, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She completed her residency training in obstetrics and gynecology and subspecialty fellowship training in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of California in San Francisco.

Dr. Baker is a member of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART), executive council and chair of the SART Research Committee. As the chairperson of the SART Research Committee, she oversees all requests for datasets from SART Clinical Outcomes Reporting System (CORS), thus helping investigators who wish to use SART CORS for their research. She has been a lead or contributing author for projects utilizing SART CORS and other databases which have examined research questions relevant to outcomes from IVF. She serves on the Board for the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. Dr. Baker is board certified in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and has been performing ART for more than 15 years.

Experience in patient care and work in professional organizations such as SART led Dr. Baker to develop an interest in the maternal and infant outcomes from in vitro fertilization. She thus developed an interest in not only determining factors that will maximize the chance of pregnancy with in vitro fertilization but also in examining issues that affect the course of pregnancy and the health of the baby. One of her current research projects is examining how ovarian stimulation protocols influence the incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Prevention of multiple pregnancies via embryo selection is clearly one of the most important ways to improve maternal and fetal outcome. She serves as a medical director at an institution which has had a long-term interest in issues of embryo selection, including blastocyst culture and recently, in time-lapse imaging.

Dr. Baker received career development and research training awards from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. She has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, and book chapters in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. Her work has been recognized by numerous professional awards, most notably, American Society for Reproductive Medicine Star Award in 2011.