Jeanne E. O'Brien, M.D.

About

The egg retrieval, the hysteroscopy, the procedure that needs an accredited suite rather than a procedure room — they happen in an ambulatory surgery center inside Shady Grove Fertility’s Rockville headquarters, and the physician accountable for that suite is Dr. Jeanne E. O’Brien, its medical director. That role is a second job on top of a patient panel: standards, staffing, safety and quality review for every procedure done at the address. Patients treated in the Rockville suite are treated under her oversight whether or not she is their doctor.

O’Brien’s training stayed with one institution through the years that usually force a move. She earned her medical degree through the Brown-Dartmouth Medical Program in Providence, Rhode Island, then completed obstetrics and gynecology residency at Prentice Women’s Hospital at Northwestern University in Chicago. Rather than leave, she spent the next three years at Northwestern as a clinical instructor — the teaching years that come before subspecialty training — and then returned as a fellow in reproductive endocrinology and infertility, this time adding a master of science in clinical investigation. A research methods degree is the difference between reading a trial’s conclusion and checking whether its statistics support it.

She is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and in reproductive endocrinology and infertility, a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and a member of both the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. She practices full time at Rockville, where Castle Connolly, Washingtonian and Bethesda Magazine have each named her a top doctor; Washingtonian put her in its Hall of Fame in 2026.

Clinical Expertise

• IVF cycle management: stimulation, monitoring and retrieval, with the surgical suite she directs used for the procedural steps
• Care delivery inside an ASC: candidate selection, pre-procedure workup and recovery standards for patients having procedures rather than only clinic visits
• Fertility preservation and egg freezing: cycles planned around a procedure date
• Complex infertility: patients whose history includes fibroids, adhesions, endometriosis or prior surgery, where the next step may be operative
• IUI: timed insemination as a first-line treatment in the right diagnosis
• Clinical investigation: a master’s degree in research methods behind the way she reads outcome literature

Why Choose Dr. Jeanne O’Brien

She is the physician responsible for the operating suite. Medical directorship of an AAAHC-accredited ambulatory surgery center is a quality-and-safety job, and it means the person setting those standards is a practicing reproductive endocrinologist rather than an administrator.

Northwestern for residency, faculty and fellowship. Three years as a Northwestern clinical instructor between residency and fellowship is a track record academic departments keep people on for.

A master’s in clinical investigation on top of fellowship. Statistical literacy as a formal credential.

Named repeatedly, by three different lists. Castle Connolly Top Doctor 2012-2013, 2016 and 2022-2026; Washingtonian’s Top Doctors for Infertility 2016-2023, 2025 and 2026 plus Hall of Fame 2026; Bethesda Magazine Top Doctor 2026; Patients’ Choice Award 2010-2012 and Compassionate Doctor Recognition 2010 and 2012.

She stays in one office. Her practice site is Rockville, not a rotating list of branches — continuity of physician and of lab through a whole set of cycles.

Patient review: “Dr. O’Brien remained hopeful even after our first IVF cycle failed and now we are fortunate and grateful to have a son.”

Professional Affiliations

Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and of the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. Board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. Awards: Washingtonian Magazine Top Doctor Hall of Fame (2026); Bethesda Magazine Top Doctor (2026); Castle Connolly Top Doctor (2012-2013, 2016, 2022-2026); Washingtonian’s Top Doctors for Infertility (2016-2023, 2025, 2026); Patients’ Choice Award (2010-2012); Compassionate Doctor Recognition (2010, 2012).

Suitable For

• Patients who will need a procedure as well as a cycle — retrieval, hysteroscopy, or a transfer requiring the surgery center. Her oversight covers that pathway end to end
• Complex histories: prior pelvic surgery, suspected adhesions or fibroids, endometriosis, where the operative question has to be answered before stimulation starts
• IVF patients who want one physician across multiple cycles, at a single office
• Egg freezing and fertility preservation planned against a procedure calendar
• Recurrent loss or repeated failure, where reading the evidence carefully is part of the consultation