Dr. Meng-Shun Shen

About

Ovum research is an odd item to meet among clinical services: it is not a job title or a society post but a laboratory subject, sitting beside IVF, IUI and egg freezing, with the culture of immature eggs to a usable stage named alongside it. Dr. Meng-Shun Shen holds the Deputy Medical Directorship of Reproductive Medicine at NUWA Fertility Center, and that pairing of a treatment practice with a research subject is what sets it apart from routine reproductive endocrinology work.

The clinical path moves from hospital residency into clinic practice. Shen trained as chief resident in reproductive medicine at Mackay Memorial Hospital, then held physician posts in the reproductive medicine department at Taipei Medical University and in reproductive medicine at an integrative Chinese and Western medicine service, where the second of those came with the directorship of that institution’s reproductive international medicine department. Medical school was the College of Medicine at Taipei Medical University.

The remaining items describe a practice that reaches both the ovarian and the uterine side of a cycle. Ovarian function abnormality, premature ovarian failure, PCOS and endocrine disorder are on the hormonal side; endometriosis, hysteroscopic surgery and advanced gynecologic surgery are on the operative side; IVF, IUI and egg freezing are the treatment services that sit between them. Twelve named areas in total, which is wide for one physician and reflects someone who both writes cycles and operates.

Clinical Expertise

• In vitro maturation: eggs recovered before they have completed meiosis are cultured to a usable stage in the laboratory and then fertilized. This is the route that keeps a cycle with a low maturity rate from being written off as a failed retrieval.
• Diminished ovarian reserve and premature ovarian failure: reading anti-Müllerian hormone and antral follicle count against expected stimulation response, then deciding between gentle protocols, accumulating embryos over several retrievals, or moving to a donated-egg plan.
• IVF: writing the stimulation protocol, tracking follicles on scan, performing the retrieval and deciding what happens to the embryos that result, with the laboratory-side questions about egg quality handled inside the same practice.
• IUI: washing and concentrating the semen sample, then placing it in the uterus at the moment of ovulation, one tier below a retrieval cycle in both cost and physical demand.
• Egg freezing: eggs stored by vitrification for patients who need to postpone pregnancy or to preserve fertility before damaging treatment.
• Hysteroscopy and advanced gynecologic surgery: entering through the cervix to find and remove polyps, adhesions and septa before a transfer, and laparoscopic work on pelvic disease, so cavity problems are corrected rather than worked around.
• Endometriosis: assessing what endometriotic disease does to ovarian reserve, tubal function and implantation, and deciding whether surgery comes before the cycle or after it.
• Reproductive endocrinology: hormone assessment and correction where endocrine or metabolic disorder is the reason a cycle stalls.

Why Choose Dr. Shen

The bench question is answered by the treating physician. When few recovered eggs are mature, the decision about whether to attempt maturation in culture, accumulate embryos across cycles, or stop belongs to the person who wrote the stimulation protocol. Because ovum research and immature egg culture are practised alongside IVF rather than referred away, that discussion happens in one consultation, and NUWA runs its own embryology laboratory instead of outsourcing the work.

Both operative routes are practised. Hysteroscopy deals with the inside of the uterine cavity; advanced gynecologic surgery covers pelvic disease such as endometriosis. A patient whose plan needs the cavity corrected and the pelvis assessed does not visibly have to move between a surgeon and a cycle physician to get both judged.

Ovarian failure as its own subspecialty interest. Premature ovarian failure means reserve falling well before forty, which shortens the planning window and makes stimulation response unpredictable. It is treated as a separate area of practice here, and NUWA reports a 35-year-old with ovarian failure who conceived through IVF, and a 43-year-old patient who moved to donated eggs after IVF failed.

A directorship in international medicine. Shen has directed a reproductive international medicine department, a role built around organizing care for patients arriving from outside the local catchment. The caseload includes a 40-year-old Taiwanese-Japanese couple and a patient from Hong Kong using donated eggs.

Integration with Chinese medicine in one institution. The earlier post was at a service combining Chinese and Western medicine, working as a reproductive medicine physician inside integrative holistic care. NUWA is organized the same way, so scheduling fertility treatment alongside Chinese medicine support is arranged inside one clinic rather than between two.

Professional Affiliations

Appointments held: Deputy Medical Director of Reproductive Medicine and attending physician at NUWA Fertility Center; physician of reproductive medicine and director of the reproductive international medicine department at an integrative Chinese and Western medicine service; physician in the reproductive medicine department at Taipei Medical University; chief resident in reproductive medicine at Mackay Memorial Hospital. Degree: College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University.

The degrees and the specialty training come out of one Taipei Medical University and Mackay system, which places that reproductive training in a university hospital and a medical-center residency rather than in a single private clinic.

Suitable For

Diminished ovarian reserve or ovarian failure: these cases turn on whether another stimulation cycle will produce anything worth transferring, so reserve testing comes before protocol choice and the plan has to be revisitable mid-treatment. Ovarian function abnormality and premature ovarian failure are both named specialties.

Low egg maturity at retrieval: when recovered eggs are immature, the options are to discard them or to mature them in culture, and the second option needs a clinic that does it routinely. In vitro maturation is a named service, and NUWA reports an immature-egg cycle that went on to a live birth.

Endometriosis alongside infertility: operating on endometriotic disease can improve access to follicles but costs ovarian tissue, so the order of surgery and treatment is a real decision rather than a formality. Endometriosis, hysteroscopy and advanced gynecologic surgery belong to the same practice as IVF here.

Uterine cavity work before a transfer: polyps, adhesions and septa reduce the chance that a good embryo implants, and transferring into an uncorrected cavity wastes a cycle that cannot be repeated. The hysteroscopic specialty covers cavity assessment and correction.

PCOS with endocrine disorder: response to induction medication in this group differs enough between patients that dose and timing are set at each scan, and hyperstimulation is the risk being managed. Polycystic ovary syndrome and reproductive endocrinology are both named areas of practice.

Overseas couples planning treatment in Taiwan: cross-border cycles involve consent, donation rules, medication supply and a fixed travel window, which is where the international medicine directorship is directly relevant.