Dr. Valerie Flores

About

Dr. Valerie Flores chairs the Endometriosis Special Interest Group of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the committee that organizes how US reproductive medicine approaches the disease. Her own research asks a narrower version of the same question: what molecular mechanisms turn endometriosis into pain and infertility, and what personalized therapies follow from that. She came to the subject through family — her aunt struggled with endometriosis and conceived only with fertility treatment, and Flores has written that watching what her aunt’s physician did to reduce the uncertainty of that diagnosis is the standard she holds herself to.

She is originally from Southern California and did most of her training on the East Coast. Medical degree at Yale University School of Medicine, obstetrics and gynecology residency at Brown University, then a reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellowship back at Yale. After fellowship she stayed on at Yale as Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences while holding a Reproductive Scientist Development Program K12 grant, a National Institutes of Health-funded physician-scientist development award. She still holds a Yale appointment as Assistant Professor Adjunct.

That combination shows up in the publication list. Her peer-reviewed articles appear in The Lancet, Endocrine Reviews and the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, and she is an associate contributor to Speroff’s Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility, the standard textbook of the specialty. Her research has been funded by the Society for Reproductive Investigation Early Career Investigator Award, which the clinic notes is NIH-supported, by an SRI/Bayer Discovery Grant and by the Bennack-Polan Foundation Grant, and she has been invited to present at national and international meetings and at individual medical institutions.

Her clinical interests are endometriosis first, then the conditions that decide whether a well-run cycle implants: IVF and infertility generally, fertility preservation, endometrial disorders such as Asherman’s syndrome, and polycystic ovary syndrome. She also works on the education side of the field — at Yale she served on the Medical Education Committee and the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Task Force and advised the medical students’ obstetrics and gynecology interest group.

Clinical Expertise

• Endometriosis-associated infertility: how disease stage, ovarian endometriomas and pelvic adhesions change the plan, which is the area she researches and chairs ASRM’s special interest group for
• Endometriosis-related pain in a family-building context: sequencing symptom control against the reproductive timeline, since some pain treatments delay conception
• IVF cycle management: stimulation, monitoring, fertilization and transfer for patients whose infertility has an endometriosis component
• Endometrial and uterine factors: Asherman’s syndrome and other endometrial disorders, on her declared interest list, evaluated before repeated transfer attempts
• PCOS: the endocrine and metabolic management of ovulatory dysfunction alongside stimulation choices
• Fertility preservation: egg and embryo freezing for patients whose disease or its treatment threatens egg supply, including preservation chosen before symptoms are dealt with
• PGT-A decisions: whether embryo genetic screening helps in a given case, including the risk that screening leaves no transferable embryo — the clinic biopsies blastocysts and sends samples to a PGT laboratory for analysis

Why Choose Dr. Valerie Flores

One physician in the country chairs this group. ASRM’s Endometriosis Special Interest Group has a chair, and San Diego Fertility Center lists Dr. Flores as holding it. Endometriosis is a disease frequently minimized in general practice — patients are told painful periods are normal, or that a normal scan rules something out — and the physician organizing the specialty’s discussion of it is the person to have it in front of.

A physician-scientist record rather than a marketing one. The Lancet, Endocrine Reviews and JCEM articles, an associate contributor slot in the Speroff textbook, an NIH-funded K12 scholar award and three research grants. In a field where add-on treatments proliferate faster than evidence, a physician who has written the primary literature tends to be conservative about claims — hers are specific and citable.

Her research question is your question. Mechanism-level work on endometriosis-mediated pain and infertility is aimed, in her own description, at novel personalized therapies. If you are choosing between operating, stimulating, freezing or transferring — or sequencing several of those — that is the evidence base your decision is being made against.

Training across the whole differential. Brown residency in obstetrics and gynecology before Yale reproductive endocrinology, plus declared interest in endometrial disorders and PCOS. That breadth matters when the picture is mixed: anovulation sitting on top of mild endometriosis, or a uterine cavity that nobody has properly assessed before another transfer.

Professional Affiliations

Chair of the Endometriosis Special Interest Group of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Medical degree and reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine; obstetrics and gynecology residency at Brown University; Reproductive Scientist Development Program K12 scholar, a National Institutes of Health-funded physician-scientist training award. Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Yale after fellowship, now Assistant Professor Adjunct there, where she served on the Medical Education Committee and the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Task Force and advised the Medical Student Ob/Gyn Interest Group. Research recognition includes the Society for Reproductive Investigation Early Career Investigator Award (NIH-supported), the SRI/Bayer Discovery Grant and the Bennack-Polan Foundation Grant. Invited presenter at national and international meetings. Her articles appear in The Lancet, Endocrine Reviews and the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, and she is an associate contributor to Speroff’s Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility.

Suitable For

• Endometriosis with a fertility goal: diagnosed or strongly suspected disease, where the choice between surgery and IVF — or both in sequence — has to be made deliberately rather than by default
• Pain and infertility treated by different doctors: patients whose daily symptoms and reproductive plan have never been reconciled in one consultation
• Long diagnostic delay: her stated mission is to “break that silence” around infertility, and patients who have been told their pain is normal or their history is nothing to worry about are the ones her subspecialty exists for
• Uterine and endometrial factors: Asherman’s syndrome and similar disorders, and patients being asked to transfer into a cavity nobody has properly assessed
• Fertility preservation in endometriosis: freezing before ovarian surgery or before disease progression reduces egg yield
• Evidence-first patients: a good fit if you want the reasoning behind a protocol, not only the prescription