Jacksonville Center for Reproductive Medicine

04/27/2026

Patient stories like this remind us why we do what we do 💛

“We were welcomed by a warm and caring team that did everything they could to get us to a successful outcome, which they obviously did! After 11 years of longing, I’m just so thankful to welcome H into our family. It was so fun to hand him to Dayanna specifically because it was like I was handing him back to her since she held him first as a little embryo. After 3 miscarriages, you kind of hold your breath the whole time since loss is all you know, and walking into the clinic with H having heaved a sigh of relief at getting him here safely was a real treat. The team was so understanding of what it’s like to walk the path of infertility and I loved sharing in the joy with them. I know that’s not always the outcome, so the victory is all the sweeter. 

I have PCOS with recurrent pregnancy loss, so we began our fertility journey with testing in 2022 since I’d had 3 miscarriages prior beginning in 2015. After getting our health up to where we had the best chances, we went for retrieval in late 2024 and had a positive outcome with 2 viable embryos. We had a successful transfer in May 2025 and welcomed H in February. IVF can take longer than a lot of people think, especially if you’re doing it right to give yourself the best chance of success, and with the right team and attitude, it can happen even if it takes a while.”

04/24/2026

Happy (belated) Birthday, Dr. Hearne! 🎂🎉 Your dedication, compassion, and care make such a difference in the lives of so many. We’re so grateful for you, hope your birthday was as amazing as you are!

04/22/2026

Myth: Birth control causes infertility ❌
Fact: It doesn’t.

In honor of Infertility Awareness Week, we’re here to clear up the facts and support you every step of the way. 🧡

04/20/2026

A reminder to anyone on this journey - you are not alone. This is a time to recognize the millions of individuals and families navigating infertility and to bring greater visibility to their experiences.

From evaluations and personalized treatments, our team is with you every step of the way 🧡

04/16/2026

Trying to get pregnant or planning ahead?
Not all “healthy” trends actually support fertility…

We had Dr. Hearne rate some of the most viral ones:
✨ Prenatals
🥑High fat / low carb
💊 Inositol
📦 TikTok supplements
🔥 Heated workouts
🧘‍♀️ Acupuncture

Some might surprise you 👀

04/13/2026

Everyone thinks fat is the enemy… but when it comes to fertility, it might actually be the key 👀
Dr. Fox breaks down 5 high-fat foods that can support pregnancy.

04/05/2026

Wishing you a joyful Easter filled with hope, renewal, and time with those you love 🤍

04/05/2026

This Easter, we’re reminded of the power of hope and new beginnings 🌸
From our JCRM/ARS family to yours, we wish you a peaceful and joyful holiday.

04/02/2026

We will be closed on Friday, April 3rd in observance of Good Friday.

Wishing you a beautiful and relaxing Easter weekend spent with your family 🤍🌿

04/01/2026

Some things just aren't jokes.

Infertility, pregnancy loss, and infant loss affect more people than we realize and for many, it's an ongoing deeply personal journey.

Before posting a "fake" pregnancy announcement, take a moment to consider who might be affected. 💛

03/24/2026

Here's the most common question we get from the infertility patient without pain in whom we believe has a very chance of endometriosis:

How can I have endometriosis, I have never had any of the symptoms.

After 30 years of intense study and treatment of patients with endometriosis, I would propose the most common symptom of Endometriosis is infertility. We now believe that roughly 80% of women who seek our infertility services have endometriosis. The other issue we see on epidemic proportions is hypothalamic dysfunction or what I call "stress physiology." Probably 80+% of the women we see today have the latter issue caused by many things but most commonly aerobic exercise, underweight, low calorie or 'starvation' diets, low blood sugar and sleep disturbances. Many women who suffer from this had onset in the teen years. The end result of this physiology is low estrogen resulting in thinner, less developed endometrium (lining of the uterus) during the menstrual cycle resulting in less or no pain with bleeding at cycle time. Some patients have no cycles but most have near regular cycles even with significant stress. This is the same mechanism by which the birth control pills control pain with endometriosis. As a result when we are interviewing our 32 year old infertility patient with endometriosis, she may have experienced this entire physiology and reports to us that she has never really had pain and therefore could never have endometriosis. Unfortunately, with worsening of stress on our females today, more and more patients have this very scenario, to the point of this now becoming the more common presentation of endometriosis infertility. Much less common do we have the patient who presents with painful cycles and infertility. The last pearl of information for endometriosis is the natural lessening of pain with cycles in the 20's only to often resurface in the mid 30's in some women. This too deflects a woman's thoughts from endometriosis.

A common response that patients have is their recollection of some friends who were "down on the floor" with cycles and they understand the possibility of endometriosis for those patients but not themselves. My response is if you hadn't played those sports in high school, you would have been on the floor with those friends. Endometriosis can be very subtle but due to its frequency in our patients, must always be carefully evaluated and complete treatment with peritoneal stripping, a unique surgical approach that cures the disease, increases pregnancy rates by at least 25%! This fact is not commonly understood amongst the reproductive community and in most situations, endometriosis is not considered or glossed over in the evaluation and treatment of infertility.

Michael D. Fox, MD
Advanced Reproductive Specialists�Jacksonville Center For�Reproductive Medicine�jcrm.org

03/22/2026

Endometriosis is truly a debilitating disease for many and it may present in several different ways. As a physician, it is truly frustrating that women are dealing with pain for years upon years without a diagnosis. It impacts everything - school/work/relationships... the list unfortunately goes on.

Most women with endometriosis have completely normal findings on ultrasounds, CT scans and MRI. That being said, their lives have been negatively impacted by something that is under diagnosed. As a matter of fact, women are passed from doctor to doctor, usually initiated on birth control pills and instructed to take some NSAIDs. The disease unfortunately progresses.

Our patients are diagnosed by a combination of "listening" to the symptoms and utilizing very basic testing. Our diagnostic accuracy is extremely high. As physicians, we learn that many times we can make the diagnosis simply by listening to a patient tell their story and I can't tell you how true that really is!

Endometriosis should be treated like cancer in that it should be excised. Our philosophy is that wide, peritoneal excision is the only way endometriosis should be treated. In the same way that a cancer surgeon attempts to excise all evidence of disease, both visible and microscopic, so should the endometriosis surgeon excise endometriosis. We feel that women that have multiple surgeries for endometriosis when it is cauterized is due to the persistence of lesions that are missed or not fully treated.

One of the comments highlighted the fact that hysterectomy is not the treatment for endometriosis and I couldn't agree more. Although it is an effective treatment for adenomyosis, it does not manage the endometriosis. Women that have both conditions may have persistent pain after a hysterectomy. It is essential to excise the endometriosis at the time of hysterectomy. Other more conservative ways to manage adenomyosis are available including presacral neurectomy which is a great option for many that desire to have a family in the future.

The last thing I would like to mention is the impact of endometriosis on fertility. Many believe it is due to scarring and problems with the fallopian tubes. In actuality, most women with endometriosis have open tubes. The condition causes a significant inflammatory reaction that can influence egg quality, endometrial (uterine) receptivity, and more importantly, egg reserve. We have performed several studies highlighting the fact that endometriosis is associated with diminished ovarian reserve. Since women are born with all of the eggs they will ever have, losing them at a more accelerated rate can significantly hinder ones ability to build a family. We perform ovarian reserve testing on women that have endometriosis to provide them with information for the future. When should I start to try for a family? How long should we wait between children? If I don't want to have a child now, is there something I can do to preserve fertility? These are questions that I help women find the answers to everyday. Endometriosis may pose many struggles - debilitating pain, hormonal implications, fertility issues or a combination thereof. As a physician, we need to be able to provide an effective plan for each.



Christopher W. Lipari, M.D.
Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility
Advanced Reproductive Specialists
Jacksonville Center for Reproductive Medicine
JCRM.org

https://signalhfx.ca/halifax-doctor-agrees-endometriosis-should-be-treated-like-cancer/?fbclid=IwAR0FVU1ba6zIhhcWM36cq9M_ogmGXzpnoodtdaPfOolKbsA0adgkionnjS8 #.XkazbuYEsKI.twitter

This article is more than 6 years old. Halifax doctor agrees endometriosis should be treated like cancer New study published in Canadian medical journal says endometriosis patients should be taken more seriously Feb. 14, 2020 | 10:00 a.m. By Lesli Tathum 5 min read caption Photo illustration of some...