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About
Christo Zouves has been doing IVF since the procedure was new to this continent. He trained in medicine at the University of Cape Town, then completed surgical and obstetric-gynecologic residency and fellowship training with the Royal Colleges in London, before Canadian board certification in 1981 and reproductive endocrinology training at the University of British Columbia. He ran UBC’s IVF program as medical director for seven years, moved to San Francisco in 1992, and in 1999 built his own center — Zouves Fertility Center — which he led until HRC Fertility acquired it in 2025, bringing him and his team into the group’s Silicon Valley practice in Foster City.
That four-decade arc is why his research is on embryo genetics rather than away from it. He has published on embryonic mosaicism, PGT-A chromosome screening and mitochondrial DNA measurement in Fertility and Sterility, Human Reproduction, PNAS and Scientific Reports, including a 2023 Fertility and Sterility paper on the chromosomal, pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of mosaic embryos that the journal designated a Seminal Contribution. Mosaic results — embryos whose cells test mixed — are the most confusing call in modern IVF, and clinics that never published the data are the ones least equipped to interpret it. He also wrote Expecting Miracles, a book on navigating IVF.
He is equally known for a less orthodox posture: his program combines conventional ART with nutrition, lifestyle change and acupuncture rather than treating those as something to do elsewhere. Fellows of the Royal Colleges in London and Canada, and member of ASRM, the AMA and the CMA, he practices across the two-medicine seam more comfortably than most.
Clinical Expertise
- IVF full-cycle management: 40-plus years of stimulation, retrieval, laboratory and transfer experience, including patients with prior failures
- PGT-A and mosaic embryo counseling: the interpretation of a “possible aneuploid” or mosaic result, and the transfer decision that follows — his published research area
- Mitochondrial DNA and embryo assessment: quantitative approaches to embryo selection explored in peer-reviewed work
- Advanced maternal age and diminished reserve: protocol design and cumulative-cycle strategy for patients with limited time and eggs
- Male factor infertility: evaluation and ICSI-era management, informed by training that predates routine ICSI
- Reproductive immunology and implantation failure: published work in the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology
- Integrative IVF: nutrition, lifestyle, supplements and acupuncture coordinated with the medical cycle instead of bolted on afterward
Why Choose Dr. Zouves
He has seen every phase of this field from the inside. IVF moved from experimental to standard care during his career. That is worth something specific: he can tell you which recently hyped add-on has already failed once before under a different name.
He wrote the mosaic-embryo literature you are relying on. When a lab reports a mosaic embryo, the counseling you get is only as good as the physician’s familiarity with the outcome data. His 2023 paper on mosaic embryo outcomes was singled out by Fertility and Sterility as a seminal contribution.
He built and ran his own center for 26 years. Founder-physicians tend to design for the whole patient journey — lab, counseling, follow-up — because they carried the reputational risk personally. That program now sits inside HRC’s network with its laboratory culture intact.
Conventional and integrative medicine in one plan. For patients who want acupuncture, nutrition and sleep work alongside stimulation, having it prescribed by the reproductive endocrinologist — rather than coordinated between two unrelated providers on two calendars — removes most of the conflict.
Cross-jurisdiction credentials. Canadian board certification plus fellowships of the Royal Colleges in London and Canada; a career spanning South Africa, the UK, Canada and the US. International patients often find that breadth useful.
Professional Affiliations
Canadian Board-Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology; Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (London), and fellow of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons in London and Canada. Member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the American Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Association. Author of Expecting Miracles; publications in Fertility and Sterility, Human Reproduction, PNAS, Scientific Reports and the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology, including a 2023 Seminal Contribution on mosaic embryo outcomes. Founder of Zouves Fertility Center (1999), now part of HRC Fertility.
Suitable For
Patients over 38, or after two or three failed cycles. Experience measured in the entire history of the technique, and a research program on the genetic reasons cycles fail.
Anyone holding a mosaic or low-mosaic PGT result. This is the narrow, high-anxiety decision where his published work applies directly.
Families with a heritable condition or recurrent pregnancy loss. Genetic evaluation of embryos with a physician who helped develop the methods rather than only ordering the test.
Patients who want integrative care without abandoning conventional medicine. Nutrition, lifestyle and acupuncture written into the cycle plan by the physician running it.
Canadian, UK and international patients who prefer a physician credentialed in their own systems of practice.