Norbert Gleicher

Norbert Gleicher (born August 20, 1948) is an American obstetrician-gynecologist active in obstetrical practice, in vitro fertilization, reproductive endocrinology, and reproductive immunology. He is a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FACOG) and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and currently serves as president, medical director and chief scientist of the Center for Human Reproduction (CHR) in New York City, a clinical fertility center that he founded in 1981. Simultaneously, he is President of the Foundation for Reproductive Medicine, a not-for-profit research foundation. Gleicher maintains additional academic appointments at Rockefeller University, and Medical University of Vienna.

Early life and education Gleicher was born in the Polish city of Kraków. He was awarded the Dr. Solomon Silver Award in Clinical Medicine for his "ability to apply the advance in research to the practice of clinical medicine".

Career Beginnings In 1979, Gleicher was appointed assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mount Sinai, division director of the Division of Reproductive Immunology and director of undergraduate (medical student affairs) and graduate education (residency program) in the department. He served in all of these functions until 1981. he was put in charge of rebuilding an academic teaching department in the inner city. His department established the first in vitro fertilization (IVF) program in the city of Chicago and the Midwest. Gleicher traveled for training to René Frydman's Paris-based IVF program in preparation for the program's establishment. As the number of programs in the U.S. was still minuscule then, The Chicago Tribune dedicated a two-day series of articles to its opening. In 1982 was appointed as founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer (JIVF-ET), holding this position for approximately 20 years. By the end of 1999, Gleicher was in charge of IVF centers in Chicago and New York City, splitting his time each week between the two cities. In 2003, he sold the Chicago operations, and moved full-time back to New York City, where he continues to pursue both clinical care and research.

While maintaining his role in clinical patient care and research at the Center for Human Reproduction in New York, Gleicher has continued his academic work as a professor or adjunct professor at educational institutions such as Yale University, New York University, Rockefeller University, and the Medical University of Vienna.

Publications Since the 1970s, Gleicher has published hundreds of scientific articles, abstracts and book chapters on reproductive endocrinology and infertility. He was one of the founders of the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology, where he also served as editor-in-chief. For 30 years, he was editor of the Journal of In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer, now known as the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. Gleicher was the first to report on a successful transvaginal tubal catheterization to open occluded fallopian tubes. Gleicher led Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center's successful push to reduce Caesarean section rates without negative impact on obstetrical outcomes. Gleicher and collaborators were one of the first groups to report on the unacceptably high high-order multiple pregnancy rates following intrauterine inseminations (IUIs).

DHEA controversy Gleicher, in collaboration with his CHR colleague David H. Barad, introduced androgen supplementation by way of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), to improve in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes in women with diminished ovarian reserve in 2005. However, none of his studies used randomized, controlled trials; results have been mixed for researchers who did.

Gleicher has been criticized for recommending his own brand of DHEA to his patients without always informing them that he owns the brand. His brand costs much more than competing brands.

Personal life Gleicher is divorced and the father of two daughters. In 2019, Gleicher was the subject of a social profile in The New York Times. He lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.