Eleni Jaswa, MD, MSc, MAS

About

Eleni Jaswa’s research portfolio has an odd item on it, and it may be the most useful one for patients: a study of what egg freezing actually feels like to the people doing it. Most preservation literature measures oocyte yield and survival after thaw. She asked about the experience — the scheduling, the cost pressure, the decision itself — and pairs that with work on fertility biomarkers, unexplained infertility, PCOS and mental health.

She came up through an unusually decorated academic path. She took a bachelor’s in human biology and a master’s in biological sciences at Stanford, then Weill Cornell Medicine, where she won the John Metcalf Polk Prize — the school’s highest scholastic honor, reserved for the three students who rank at the top of their class on scholarship across all four years — and was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha. She moved to UCSF for obstetrics and gynecology residency, where she earned an Excellence in Teaching Award, then completed REI fellowship there in 2019.

Her reason for the field is not abstract. Jaswa’s mother died of breast cancer at 35; she and her sister, a breast radiologist at UCSF, work toward advancing women’s health as a shared family project. That shows in the patient mix she keeps open: adults seeking infertility treatment or preservation, women navigating menopause, PCOS, menstrual abnormalities and early ovarian failure, patients with recurrent pregnancy loss, and adolescents with reproductive hormone problems — an age group most IVF clinics do not see.

Clinical Expertise

• Infertility evaluation and treatment: ovarian reserve and hormonal assessment, ovulation induction, IUI and IVF, including unexplained subfertility where the tests are normal and the answer has to be a plan
• Egg and embryo freezing: elective preservation and medical preservation, with published research on the patient side of the process
• Preimplantation genetic testing: PGT for couples carrying an inheritable condition, coordinated with the center’s genetic counselors so the result is interpreted, not just reported
• PCOS and reproductive endocrinology: ovulatory and metabolic management, plus research into the syndrome’s health impact
• Recurrent pregnancy loss: structured evaluation rather than another cycle and a hope
• Menopause and early ovarian failure: hormone care for patients whose ovarian function is ending early or has ended, and for younger patients facing treatment-induced failure
• Adolescent reproductive hormone disorders

Why Choose Dr. Eleni Jaswa

She studies the patient experience of the procedure she offers. Very few physicians who do egg freezing also publish on what the experience is like for the person going through it — a useful signal when the decision is elective and time pressure is social rather than medical.

Recognition that is graded, not granted. The Polk Prize is awarded on standing across four years of medical school; Alpha Omega Alpha selection follows a similar pattern. Teaching recognition at UCSF residency completes the picture of someone who explains things.

She covers the whole reproductive lifespan — adolescent hormone disorders through menopause — which matters for PCOS patients who want one physician from conception planning to later life.

The subject is personal. Her mother died of breast cancer at 35, and her sister reads mammograms at UCSF. Fertility preservation for cancer patients is, for her, an inside question rather than a referral.

Professional Affiliations

Reproductive endocrinologist and assistant professor faculty at the UCSF Center for Reproductive Health. Member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. John Metcalf Polk Prize and Alpha Omega Alpha at Weill Cornell Medicine; UCSF Excellence in Teaching Award in residency; published in reproductive medicine specialty journals and a recipient of multiple research awards. Stanford University MS in Biological Sciences, 2007; Weill Cornell Medicine, 2012; UCSF residency in obstetrics and gynecology, 2016, and REI fellowship, 2019.

Suitable For

• Patients planning eggs or embryos for later: she has studied the decision she is helping you make
• Couples with a known inheritable condition: PGT pathways with genetic counseling in-house
• Unexplained infertility and diminished markers: biomarker-focused evaluation when standard testing comes back clean
• PCOS, perimenopause, menopause and premature ovarian failure: hormonal care across decades, not one cycle
• Recurrent pregnancy loss: workup before the next attempt
• Adolescents with reproductive hormone concerns, and their parents