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About
In 2018, patients arrived at San Diego Fertility Center from more than 40 countries to build families through egg donation and surrogacy with Dr. Said Daneshmand, whom the clinic describes as one of the principal US providers of third-party reproduction. That is the shape of his practice: donor egg cycles, gestational carriers, and the cross-border legal and logistical work that comes with intended parents flying in.
His clinical base is complex IVF rather than routine cycles. He trained at UCLA, completing residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology, and holds board certification in Obstetrics and Gynecology with subspecialty certification in Reproductive Endocrinology. He co-developed PTEC — post-thaw extended culture, an approach to timing a frozen-embryo transfer after the embryo has been thawed and observed — which the clinic calls one of the most successful IVF regimens available, and which was published in Fertility and Sterility. He has also served as a reviewer for that journal.
His research thread runs through endometrial receptivity: making the uterus ready at the moment the embryo arrives, the step that decides whether a good embryo becomes a pregnancy. He is credited on the clinic’s pages with developing and implementing newer embryo-genetics technology, including next-generation sequencing (NGS) for assessing embryonic genetic health. He has presented his work internationally, including repeated talks to IVF specialists in China, sits on the boards of several surrogacy advocacy groups, and consults in English, French, Spanish and Farsi.
Clinical Expertise
- Egg donation programs: screening and matching donor eggs for patients with diminished egg supply, age-related infertility, or no ovaries, including gay male couples and single men using a carrier
- Gestational carrier cycles: agency coordination, carrier screening, contract timing, lining preparation and transfer, then hormonal support through the first trimester
- PTEC (post-thaw extended culture): a protocol he helped create for optimizing frozen-embryo transfer timing, published in Fertility and Sterility
- Complex IVF and endometrial receptivity: cases where embryos look good and transfers still fail, which is where his receptivity work applies
- PGT with NGS: embryo genetic assessment using next-generation sequencing, a technology the clinic credits him with implementing
- International third-party reproduction: patients from more than 40 countries in a single year, across different legal regimes for parentage
Why Choose Dr. Said Daneshmand
He is a third-party reproduction physician first. Many generalists take a donor egg case now and then. Daneshmand’s published work, protocol development and advocacy board seats all sit in the same lane — egg donation and surrogacy — and the clinic positions him as one of the main US providers in that area. If your family is being built with a donor or a carrier, that concentration is the relevant credential.
He has a stake in transfer timing. PTEC is a protocol for giving a thawed embryo the best chance to implant, and he co-developed it. Ask him whether your cycle would use a post-thaw extended culture approach and what the evidence supports.
Four languages, no interpreter. English, French, Spanish and Farsi — enough to walk an international intended-parent couple through consent documents in their own language, which matters when parentage paperwork is involved.
Peer and institutional recognition. Named a Top Fertility Doctor by San Diego Magazine in 2025, an award built on physician nomination. He has served as president of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society’s Iota chapter, received the Eileen Pike medical school valedictorian award and the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society fellowship and practicing-physician research award, and was a Fertility and Sterility reviewer.
Professional Affiliations
Board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology with subspecialty certification in Reproductive Endocrinology, trained at UCLA. Member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology and the Decherney Society, and a past president of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society’s Iota chapter. Former reviewer for Fertility and Sterility. Board member of several surrogacy advocacy groups.
Suitable For
- Donor egg families: whether the reason is age, premature ovarian failure, genetic disease risk or the absence of ovaries
- Intended parents using a gestational carrier: male couples, single men, transgender patients and anyone who cannot carry a pregnancy, including those working with an agency
- International patients: cross-border third-party work is the center of his practice, with French, Spanish or Farsi consultation
- Repeated implantation failure: his receptivity and PTEC background targets the patients whose embryos are fine and whose transfers are not
- Patients choosing between transfer protocols: ask him directly how a PTEC-style approach compares with a standard frozen transfer in your case