Joie Guner, MD

About

Joie Guner has the credential most IVF patients cannot tell the difference between and should: a master’s degree in clinical embryology from the University of Oxford. The physicians who order a fertilization method, a culture length and a biopsy are rarely the people who trained at the microscope doing them. She is, alongside the standard double board certification in obstetrics and gynecology and in reproductive endocrinology and infertility.

Her training is built on basic science. She studied microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics as an undergraduate at UCLA, took her medical degree at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, then spent her clinical years at Baylor College of Medicine, where she completed an MS in clinical sciences from the biomedical graduate school, obstetrics and gynecology residency, and REI fellowship. That is three degrees from one institution’s clinical and research pipeline plus an Oxford laboratory qualification on top.

At the UCSF Center for Reproductive Health she treats infertility and the endocrine disorders that cause it, with clinical and research interests in novel infertility medications, PCOS, fibroids and uterine abnormalities, and fertility preservation. She performs minimally invasive gynecologic surgery — the laparoscopic and hysteroscopic route to structural problems — rather than referring them out. She explicitly welcomes patients of all backgrounds and family structures, and consults in English, Spanish and Turkish, a combination that is uncommon enough in US reproductive medicine to change who feels able to ask the second question.

Clinical Expertise

• IVF and assisted reproduction: stimulation, monitoring, retrieval and transfer planning, with embryology training applied to culture and laboratory decisions
• Reproductive endocrine disorders: thyroid, prolactin, insulin and androgen-related causes of anovulation and subfertility
• PCOS: ovulation induction and metabolic management
• Fibroids and uterine abnormalities: diagnosis, medical management and surgical decisions about cavity-distorting pathology
• Minimally invasive gynecologic surgery: laparoscopic and hysteroscopic approaches to the structural causes of infertility
• Fertility preservation: egg and embryo freezing for elective and medical indications
• Investigational and newer infertility medications: a stated research interest, which is where novel drug approaches enter a standard protocol discussion

Why Choose Dr. Joie Guner

An Oxford embryology degree behind the treatment plan. When a cycle is adjusted — insemination method, culture duration, biopsy timing, freeze-all versus fresh transfer — she has been formally trained on the laboratory side of those choices, which is not typical for a treating reproductive endocrinologist.

Boards in both halves of her specialty: obstetrics and gynecology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility, from the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Three degrees of research training — clinical sciences at Baylor plus molecular genetics at UCLA — underwriting her work on novel infertility medications rather than only their use.

Three languages. English, Spanish and Turkish consultations, and an explicitly open door to patients of any background or family structure.

Professional Affiliations

Double board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in obstetrics and gynecology and in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. Practicing at the UCSF Center for Reproductive Health in San Francisco. Residency and REI fellowship, Baylor College of Medicine, where she also earned an MS in clinical sciences from the Biomedical Graduate School; MSc in clinical embryology, University of Oxford; MD, University of Arizona College of Medicine; BS in microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, UCLA. Member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

Suitable For

• Patients whose cycle has been adjusted repeatedly and who want the laboratory reasoning explained by someone trained in it
• Endocrine causes of infertility: PCOS and hormonal anovulation treated as systemic conditions
• Fibroids and uterine abnormalities where surgery and ART timing interact
• Minimally invasive surgical candidates who want their surgeon and their IVF physician to be the same person
• Egg and embryo freezing, on a medical deadline or a personal timeline
• Spanish- and Turkish-speaking patients in the Bay Area
• Patients building non-traditional families who want that treated as routine intake rather than a special case