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About
Some physicians join a practice; Dr. Alan Penzias built one. He co-founded Boston IVF with Dr. Michael Alper in 1986, and nearly four decades on he is still the company’s Regional Medical Director and Fellowship Director, still an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, and still seeing patients at the Waltham fertility center. He is double board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, with 30 years of clinical and research experience across every corner of infertility care.
His fingerprints are also on the protocols other clinics follow. Penzias chaired the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s Practice Committee for six years and led the development of dozens of evidence-based guidelines used across US ART programs. He joined the ASRM board of directors in 2021, previously served on SART’s executive council, sits on ASRM’s Embryo Transfer Simulator Advisory Panel, and contributes to the World Health Organization’s Infertility Global Guidelines and Research Group. A past president of the New England Fertility Society, he is a former associate editor and current member of the editorial board of Fertility and Sterility, with more than 100 publications to his name, including over 50 original peer-reviewed papers.
He took the long academic route: a degree from the University of Pennsylvania, an MD from SUNY Downstate Medical Center, OB/GYN residency at Beth Israel Hospital (Harvard Medical School), and an REI fellowship at Yale. Today he directs the REI Fellowship Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, training the specialists he will one day work beside. In-person consultations happen in Waltham; telehealth is available to patients anywhere in Massachusetts.
Clinical Expertise
- IVF (In Vitro Fertilization): Full-cycle management from stimulation through embryo transfer, informed by three decades of program-level outcome data
- ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection): Micromanipulation for male factor and fertilization-failure cases
- PGT-A (Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidy): Counseling and embryo selection, a topic he has written on extensively
- Fertility Preservation and Egg Freezing: Timing and protocol decisions for patients delaying or protecting fertility
- Evidence-Based Outcome Improvement: His stated research focus, applied to lab quality and clinical results rather than bench science alone
Why Choose Dr. Alan Penzias
A founder still in the clinic. Boston IVF has grown into one of New England’s largest networks under his medical direction, and he continues to carry patients at the Waltham center.
He writes the guidelines. Few private-practice doctors chair the committee that sets ASRM practice guidance. When a protocol question is contested, his answer comes from having helped settle it.
Recognized for 17 consecutive years. Castle Connolly and Boston Magazine Top Doctor selections from 2009 through 2025 — a run no other physician in this group can match.
Teacher of record. As fellowship director at BIDMC/Harvard, he designs the training the next generation of REI specialists receives.
Professional Affiliations
ASRM Board of Directors (since 2021) and former Practice Committee chair; former SART executive council member and current Embryo Transfer Simulator Advisory Panel member; past president, New England Fertility Society; member, WHO Infertility Global Guidelines and Research Group; scientific committee member, Updates in Infertility Treatments (IFFS); editorial board, Fertility and Sterility; emeritus editorial board, Reproductive Biomedicine Online.
Suitable For
- Complex and repeat-failure IVF patients: Three decades of cycles plus a research program focused on improving outcomes
- Fertility preservation consultations: Guideline-level counseling on egg freezing and embryo banking
- Patients who want evidence over anecdote: His whole career is built on evidence-based medicine applied to IVF
- Massachusetts patients preferring telehealth: Remote consultations available statewide, in-person in Waltham