Maren Shapiro, MD

About

Most reproductive endocrinologists arrive at science communication after residency. Maren Shapiro did it before becoming one: during medical school she completed a one-year global health media fellowship run jointly by Stanford University, the World Health Organization and NBC News, and wrote health explainers for NBCNews.com and Today.com along the way. That detour still shows in the exam room — she describes her goal as distilling complex reproductive topics into language patients can actually use.

Her clinical focus is the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and fertility preservation through egg and embryo freezing, plus the everyday endocrine conditions behind many fertility problems: irregular periods, PCOS, recurrent pregnancy loss, early ovarian failure and endometriosis. She provides fertility services to LGBTQ patients and counts helping all kinds of people reach their family-building goals as a core part of her practice.

Shapiro earned a bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology at Harvard College, with a special focus on health policy, and her MD at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She trained in obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital — Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals — and completed her reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellowship at UCSF. She is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Clinical Expertise

• Infertility evaluation and treatment: Full diagnostic workup and treatment planning for couples and individuals
• Fertility preservation: Egg and embryo freezing, both for medical indications and elective family planning
• PCOS and menstrual disorders: Ovulation management and metabolic considerations
• Recurrent pregnancy loss and endometriosis: Assessment and assisted-reproductive options, informed by her own research interest in ART outcomes in endometriosis patients
• LGBTQ+ family building: Fertility services tailored to donor-based and reciprocal conception pathways
• Telehealth: Video visits available for consultations and follow-ups

Why Choose Dr. Maren Shapiro

A physician who explains. The media fellowship is not a footnote — patients navigating IVF decisions get a doctor whose stated specialty is making complex reproductive science comprehensible.

She helps train the field’s next doctors. Shapiro sits on ASRM’s sub-committee on residency education and has collected multiple teaching awards, an unusual national education role for a practicing clinician.

Her research is about your actual experience. She studies lifestyle factors and patient experience during fertility treatment, and ART in endometriosis patients — questions that stay inside the treatment process rather than above it.

Full UCSF pipeline. Harvard, Penn, Brigham and Women’s/Massachusetts General, UCSF fellowship — trained at each stage of the reproductive endocrinology pathway and board certified.

Professional Affiliations

Board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology; Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FACOG); member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, where she serves on the sub-committee on residency education. Stanford/WHO/NBC News global health media fellow.

Suitable For

• Anyone starting an infertility workup: Diagnosis-first care with plain-language explanation at every step
• Women freezing eggs or embryos: Preservation is one of her two named clinical focuses
• PCOS, endometriosis and recurrent loss patients: Common ground between her practice and her research
• LGBTQ+ patients and couples: A provider who treats fertility services for the community as a point of professional pride
• Teaching-hungry patients: Those who want to understand the why behind every protocol choice