Dr. Laura T. Lawrence, MD

About

Laura T. Lawrence ran an IVF laboratory before she ran IVF cycles. In Fort Worth she served as medical director of the Harris Methodist ARTS laboratory, the role that decides how eggs are handled, how fertilization is judged and what gets reported to the physician at 8 a.m. the next morning. Five years in the Fort Worth market preceded her move to the Dallas group. Few cycle physicians have sat on the other side of the micromanipulator, and it shows in how she frames a poor fertilization or a thin lining: as a lab-and-patient problem rather than bad luck.

The other fact that defines her panel is personal. She was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome as an adolescent, and PCOS is the diagnosis she now treats most deliberately — the insulin and weight component, the risk of over-response to gonadotropins, the patient who ovulates on letrozole and conceives, and the patient who does not and needs a protocol change. She holds dual certification from the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, in obstetrics and gynecology and in reproductive endocrinology and infertility, after residency and fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis and an MD from Baylor College of Medicine.

She divides her practice between the Medical City Dallas office on Forest Lane and the Southlake office, so north Dallas and western-suburb patients can be monitored near home. Her published and presented work includes PCOS research supported by national grant funding; she has also received a Society for Gynecologic Investigation presidents’ forum presentation award and her residency program’s annual teaching award. Fort Worth Magazine has named her a Top Doc in repeated years.

Clinical Expertise

• PCOS and ovulatory disorders: weight and insulin management first, oral agents second, gonadotropins and IVF third, with hyperstimulation risk actively managed
• IVF with attention to the laboratory: protocol design informed by prior fertilization and embryo-grade data, from someone who directed an ART lab
• Diminished ovarian reserve: changing the question from “why did this cycle fail” to what the next protocol can realistically retrieve
• Recurrent pregnancy loss: chromosomal, anatomic, endocrine and immune causes evaluated together
• Ovulation induction and IUI: for patients who should not be in an IVF laboratory yet
• Donor egg and third-party cycles: assessment, preparation and transfer management when own-egg attempts are finished

Why Choose Dr. Laura T. Lawrence

Laboratory medical director experience. She was responsible for an IVF lab’s operation and quality, which is the part of treatment a patient can see at most through a single phone call about fertilization results.

A PCOS physician who has PCOS. Diagnosed as a teenager, she has lived the metabolic side of the condition her patients are told to manage, and she says so on her own profile.

Dual ABOG certification and Washington University fellowship, with a Baylor MD, plus recognition that came from teaching: a residency teaching award and a national presentation award from the Society for Gynecologic Investigation.

Professional Affiliations

Board-certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in obstetrics and gynecology and in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. Trained at Washington University in St. Louis (residency and REI fellowship) and Baylor College of Medicine (MD). Former medical director of the Harris Methodist ARTS in-vitro fertilization laboratory in Fort Worth. Research training and presentation recognition includes a Society for Gynecologic Investigation presidents’ forum award and a residency teaching award; her PCOS work has been supported by national research funding.

Suitable For

• PCOS patients who have ovulated on tablets without conceiving, or who responded too strongly to injectables
• Patients with low ovarian reserve who need a different protocol, not the same cycle repeated
• Recurrent pregnancy loss, where the workup should be completed before another transfer
• Donor egg candidates, including preparation and transfer management after own-egg attempts