Asgerally T. Fazleabas, Ph.D.

Factors that regulate implantation, particularly in the human endometrium, are very complex. The physiology and pathology of implantation in human and nonhuman primates are of a top priority to the readers of Seminars in Reproductive Medicine. In this issue, I have asked Asgerally T. Fazleabas, Ph.D., better known as Asgi, to serve as the Guest Editor on the mechanisms regulating implantation.

Dr. Fazleabas began his career after he graduated from California State University in the field of dairy science. He remained in this field and trained at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he received his Ph.D. degree in 1980. Thereafter, he focused his career on reproductive medicine and biochemistry, and molecular biology of the endometrium and implantation. He served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Florida, Gainesville, from 1980 to 1983. Then he ventured back to Illinois in 1983 and became a Research Associate in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He became an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois and has remained there during his career; he is currently the Director for the Center of Women's Health and Reproduction at the University of Illinois, and Professor in the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois in Chicago. Asgi has had an exemplary career. He has served many times on National Institutes of Health (NIH) study sections and chaired study sections. He is on numerous editorial boards and has received several prestigious awards. In 2001, he was named the Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois, and he received the Beacon Award in 2005 from the Frontiers in Reproduction, Marine Biological Laboratories (Woods Hole, MA). He has been very productive in obtaining research grants. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator on two NIH grants and Coinvestigator on two additional grants. He has published more than 145 peer-reviewed articles in outstanding-quality journals. His research remains focused on the endometrium and implantation, and he remains one of the world's experts in this field.

Dr. Fazleabas has been very successful in recruiting outstanding national and international investigators in this important area of research, and in this issue provides a comprehensive summary to approaches to understand the complex biology that is required for successful implantation, as well as potential adverse consequences of ovarian stimulation and benign gynecological disease on uterine receptivity and embryo implantation. This issue will serve as a reference for years to come for readers of Seminars in Reproductive Medicine.