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About
Every fertility clinic in the country files its cycle data with the federal CDC. At Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago, the physician who verified that report is Michelle Catenacci, MD — the practice’s Medical Director. She is also one of the clinic’s four reproductive endocrinologists and, like the others, a partner in it. The two facts connect: the person accountable for the numbers a patient can look up in the registry is the same person running cycles in the clinic.
She grew up outside Detroit, earned her medical degree at Wayne State University in Detroit, then moved to Ohio for postgraduate training — residency in obstetrics and gynecology at MetroHealth Medical Center / Cleveland Clinic Foundation, followed by a reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellowship, staying on at the Cleveland Clinic. No dates are published for any of those three stages.
Her biography narrows to one anatomical area: the clinic states she has extensive training in the diagnosis and treatment of fibroids, uterine septums and uterine adhesions. Her Areas of Specialty read Infertility, Operative Hysteroscopy, Laparoscopy, IVF, and Egg Freezing. She is board certified in both reproductive endocrinology and infertility and in obstetrics and gynecology.
The published record stops there. Hers is the briefest of this clinic’s four physician pages — training, specialties and an awards list, with nothing on research interests, publications, society roles or languages, and the clinic names no other physician here as Medical Director. Of the four, she is also the only one with standing entries on external physician directories: Castle Connolly Top Doctor since 2019 (including a 2026 listing), Castle Connolly Exceptional Woman in Medicine since 2020 (including 2026), and Chicago Magazine Top Doctor. What she says she is after is on the team page: “I find it rewarding to be able to tackle challenging cases.”
Clinical Expertise
- Uterine cavity pathology: fibroids, uterine septum and intrauterine adhesions are the three conditions the clinic singles out in her biography, and they are the cavity problems that have to be dealt with before an embryo transfer can be expected to work
- Operative hysteroscopy: the instrument used to treat that category of cavity disease, listed among her specialties
- Laparoscopy: the pelvic and uterine surgical route, also listed
- IVF cycle management: stimulation, monitoring, retrieval coordination and transfer
- Egg freezing: listed among her areas of specialty
- Complex and referred cases: her own stated interest, and consistent with the Medical Director role
Why Choose Dr. Catenacci
She verified the clinic’s own federal data. The SART clinic summary lists her as Practice Director and as the Medical Director who verified the report, and the CDC 2022 record carries the same verification. If you want to interrogate how the 2022 numbers were compiled, that is the accountable clinician.
One physician for cavity work and for the transfer. A septum, a submucosal fibroid or adhesions found on evaluation normally means a hysteroscopic procedure and then a decision about when to transfer. Her published scope covers both halves, so the surgical finding and the cycle plan sit with the same person.
Two board certifications, stated plainly. The clinic writes that she is board certified in both reproductive endocrinology and infertility and in obstetrics and gynecology. It publishes no college name, certificate number or certification year, so treat the wording as the clinic’s statement rather than a verifiable credential record.
Recognition with a boundary. The Castle Connolly and Chicago Magazine listings are physician-directory awards given to her as an individual. They are not institutional accreditation for the clinic, and the clinic does not claim they are.
Professional Affiliations
Board certification as published: reproductive endocrinology and infertility, and obstetrics and gynecology. Training: Wayne State University Medical School (Detroit), residency at MetroHealth Medical Center / Cleveland Clinic Foundation, fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. The page’s structured data records her specialty as Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.
Awards as listed on her page: 2026 Castle Connolly Top Doctor; Castle Connolly Top Doctor since 2019; 2026 Castle Connolly Exceptional Woman in Medicine; Castle Connolly Exceptional Woman in Medicine since 2020; Chicago Magazine Top Doctor. The clinic’s site-wide announcements about Castle Connolly name her specifically, not the practice.
Society memberships, committee roles and publications are not published in our sources for this physician.
Suitable For
- Fibroids affecting fertility or implantation: her named area of diagnostic and treatment training
- A uterine septum or other congenital cavity abnormality: explicitly listed in her biography
- Intrauterine adhesions, including after uterine instrumentation: the third condition named, typically handled hysteroscopically
- Recurrent implantation failure or repeated loss, where the uterine cavity is part of the workup: the three conditions above are cavity findings, and she is the physician here whose biography names treatment of all three
- IVF or egg freezing with surgical backup in the same practice
- Patients arriving from another program with a difficult case: the reason she gives for finding the work rewarding