Natan Bar-Chama, MD

About

Natan Bar-Chama is the urologist on a team of reproductive endocrinologists, and he has run the male side of this clinic for two decades. He directs RMA of New York’s Center for Male Reproductive Health, a role that puts him in charge of the diagnosis most IVF programs refer out: azoospermia, severe oligospermia, and the surgical sperm retrieval that decides whether a couple uses their own genetics at all.

His training is deliberately narrower than his colleagues’. Undergraduate at Yeshiva University, medical degree and urology residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, then a fellowship in male reproductive medicine and surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in 1995 — the subspecialty route that leads to micro TESE rather than away from it. He has since led the two societies that occupy that niche, serving as past president of the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology (SMRU) and of SSMR, and he holds an NIH RO1 research grant.

For patients whose infertility is male-factor, his presence on the team changes the plan: the evaluation, the microdissection retrieval and the IVF cycle are coordinated in one practice rather than handed between specialties.

Clinical Expertise

• Azoospermia and severe oligospermia: systematic evaluation of the causes, obstructive versus production failure
• Micro TESE: microdissection testicular sperm extraction, the retrieval procedure most clinics send elsewhere
• Sperm quality assessment: semen analysis, DNA fragmentation testing and pre-treatment optimization
• Male surgical andrology: procedures inside the male-factor workup rather than referral out of it
• Translational research in male reproduction: NIH RO1 funding and leadership in the two societies covering the field

Why Choose Dr. Bar-Chama

Twenty years running one center. His profile puts him at the head of RMA of New York’s Center for Male Reproductive Health for two decades — a subspecialty most fertility clinics treat as a referral.

He led the field’s own organizations. Past president of SMRU and of SSMR — reproductive-medicine societies, not general urology.

Federally funded research. An NIH RO1 grant, and recognition including the New York Academy of Medicine’s F.C. Valentine Fellowship.

Listed among New York’s best urologists by New York Magazine and named a New York Super Doctor.

Professional Affiliations

Member of the American Urological Association, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the American Medical Association. Past president of the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology (SMRU) and of SSMR. His materials record an NIH RO1 research grant, the New York Academy of Medicine F.C. Valentine Fellowship, and inclusion in New York Magazine’s Best Doctor list of urologists.

Suitable For

• Men with no sperm in the ejaculate or a very low count: the center he directs exists for this diagnosis
• Couples needing surgical sperm retrieval: micro TESE performed in-house rather than referred out
• Patients told IVF must use donor sperm: a second opinion from the retrieval surgeon changes that decision
• Men wanting sperm quality assessed before a cycle: DNA fragmentation and optimization as a named service
• Couples with male-factor infertility as the primary diagnosis: evaluation and treatment coordinated with the clinic’s own IVF team