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About
For 15 years, Dr. Melvin Thornton II ran egg donation inside Columbia University’s Center for Women’s Reproductive Health, holding both the medical director’s seat at the center and the directorship of its egg donation program. Third-party reproduction stayed his focus. In November 2024 he became owner and medical director of Global Fertility & Genetics, the Midtown Manhattan clinic where he now practices, and GFG announced that change of ownership and management itself.
His training is surgical as much as medical: a medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis, obstetrics and gynecology residency at USC Medical Center in Los Angeles followed by a fellowship in gynecologic and pelvic surgery there, then reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellowship plus advanced reproductive surgery training at the Cleveland Clinic. He is board-certified twice by the ABOG, in obstetrics and gynecology and in reproductive endocrinology and infertility, and is a Fellow of ACOG.
He is the only physician GFG lists on site; Dr. Amir Mor and Dr. Hajoon Chun appear on the clinic’s about page as collaborating specialists. The clinic’s profile for him describes him as one of the world’s leading experts in egg donation and surrogacy — a clinic-published characterization rather than an independent ranking — and credits him with more than 25 years building families in New York and the tri-state area, and 30 years of reproductive endocrinology experience. His research record includes fertility treatment for HIV-positive couples, more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and over 100 published abstracts. He holds an associate professorship at Quinnipiac University, sits on an ASRM committee and on the advisory board of Men Having Babies, and was named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for the New York region from 2017 through 2022.
Clinical Expertise
- Donor egg IVF: 15 years directing a hospital-based egg donation program, then the same work in private practice; GFG recruits donors aged 21 to 30 itself
- Gestational surrogacy: screening and matching of carriers, coordination of the legal route to parentage under New York’s Child-Parent Security Act
- IVF cycle management: stimulation, retrieval, ICSI fertilization, time-lapse embryo culture in the clinic’s own lab, and transfer
- ICSI and male factor infertility: single sperm injected per egg, used for low count, motility or morphology problems and for fertilization failure in earlier cycles
- PGT: embryo biopsy for PGT-A chromosome screening and PGT-M single-gene testing, which the clinic pairs with elective single embryo transfer
- Fertility treatment for HIV-positive couples: his stated research area, covering how serodiscordant couples can pursue conception
- Fertility preservation: egg and embryo freezing by vitrification
Why Choose Dr. Melvin Thornton II
He owns the clinic. Thornton is proprietor as well as medical director since November 2024, so lab staffing, protocol decisions and cycle scheduling run through him rather than through a hired director answering to a management company.
He has run an egg donation program, not just ordered donor eggs. A hospital-based program at Columbia puts donor recruitment, screening and recipient synchronization on his desk for 15 years — the part of third-party reproduction most clinics outsource.
Two boards, and surgical training underneath them. ABOG certification in OB/GYN and in reproductive endocrinology and infertility, plus advanced reproductive surgery at the Cleveland Clinic and a gynecologic and pelvic surgery fellowship at USC.
A research line patients can actually use. More than 50 peer-reviewed papers, more than 100 abstracts, and published work on fertility treatment for HIV-positive couples — a group that struggles to find clinics willing to take their case.
Recognized by the same body patients search. Castle Connolly Top Doctor for the New York metropolitan area, 2017-2022.
Professional Affiliations
Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and a member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, where our sources place him on a committee, listed as the education committee. He sits on the advisory board of Men Having Babies, an organization focused on family building for gay men, and holds an associate professorship at Quinnipiac University. Earlier, he served 15 years at Columbia University’s Center for Women’s Reproductive Health as medical director and as director of its egg donation program. Board certification runs through the ABOG in obstetrics and gynecology and in reproductive endocrinology and infertility.
Suitable For
Donor egg families. The pathway he has worked for 15 years and more: donor screening, legal and financial agreements, synchronization with the recipient, retrieval, transfer.
Intended parents using a gestational carrier. GFG’s carrier requirements are explicit — age 21 to 42, at least one prior healthy pregnancy and delivery, financial stability, medical, psychological and legal screening — and his clinic handles the New York parentage process.
HIV-positive and serodiscordant couples. His research area, and the reason to ask him directly rather than testing whether a general IVF clinic will take your chart.
LGBTQ+ patients and single parents by choice. The practice advertises family building for gay male couples and single men, and Thornton advises Men Having Babies.
Patients who want testing on their own embryos. PGT-A and PGT-M with biopsy done alongside the clinic’s time-lapse culture.