'%20d='m0%200%2016%2011h61%2061%2061%2061%2060L47%2037h61%2061%2060%2061L16%2063h61%2061%2061%2061%2060L47%2089h61%2061%2060%2061L16%20115h61%2061%2061%2061%2060L47%20141h61%2061%2060%2061L16%20166h61%2061%2061%2061%2060L47%20192h61%2061%2060%2061L16%20218h61%2061%2061%2061%2060z'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)
About
Philip Chenette holds a patent for methods of embryo implantation, and separate patents on embryo preservation, taken out while he was building fertility laboratories at USC and Northwestern University. Most IVF physicians consume techniques; the small group that writes them is identifiable in the patent record, and he is in it. He also helped build one of the first web-support platforms for IVF patients, at a time when the standard was a printed handout — the same instinct, taking an unsolved logistics problem in fertility care and trying to engineer around it.
He joined Northern California Fertility Medical Center on June 16, 2025, described by the clinic as bringing more than 30 years of experience in fertility care. Before Sacramento he was Medical Director at Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco and an Associate Clinical Professor at UCSF, and he has served as Past President of both the San Francisco Gynecologic Society and the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society — the regional societies where Bay Area reproductive medicine actually argues about standards. His training ran Indiana University medical school, internship and residency at Magee-Women’s Hospital at the University of Pittsburgh, and an REI fellowship at USC.
The personal detail the clinic leads with is unusual: he was an orchestral oboist before medicine, and he describes running a fertility plan as conducting a room full of specialists who each own part of the score. Awards on his biography include the American Fertility Association’s Family Building Award, inclusion in “America’s Guide to Top Obstetricians and Gynecologists,” and Best Doctors in America listings spanning more than two decades, all as reported by the clinic.
Clinical Expertise
- IVF cycle management across more than three decades of practice, as the clinic dates his career
- Embryo transfer technique and implantation: the subject of his patent work, which is a practical difference for patients with prior failed transfers — the catheter, the timing and the method are variables he has formally worked on
- Laboratory development: he is credited with pioneering fertility lab build-out at USC and Northwestern, including preservation patents, so embryo work at the bench is not foreign territory to him
- Fertility preservation: his preservation patents and laboratory work sit in this lane; elective egg freezing is a service of the practice he joined rather than a personal program he is documented as directing
- Reproductive endocrinology and infertility: his fellowship training and the scope of his practice in San Francisco and now Sacramento
Why Choose Dr. Chenette
He invented parts of the equipment. A patent on embryo implantation methods is a specific, checkable claim, and it is attached to the transfer step that decides whether an IVF cycle produces a pregnancy.
Two society presidencies, in two different disciplines. The San Francisco Gynecologic Society is general OB/GYN leadership; the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society is the regional reproductive medicine group. Being president of both means standing in the specialty’s room and in the broader gynecology room.
He has run a large program. Medical director of Pacific Fertility Center San Francisco is a leadership role at one of California’s better-known fertility practices, with an academic appointment at UCSF alongside it.
He arrived with a long track record, and a documented one. Best Doctors in America for more than two decades, the American Fertility Association’s Family Building Award, and a role in the first wave of IVF patient-facing websites. Note these are the clinic’s biography entries, and his published profile does not state a board-certification claim for him.
Professional Affiliations
Past President, San Francisco Gynecologic Society. Past President, Pacific Coast Reproductive Society. Former Associate Clinical Professor, University of California, San Francisco. Former Medical Director, Pacific Fertility Center, San Francisco. Recognitions on his clinic biography: Best Doctors in America for more than two decades; “America’s Guide to Top Obstetricians and Gynecologists”; American Fertility Association Family Building Award. Training: Indiana University School of Medicine; Magee-Women’s Hospital, University of Pittsburgh; REI fellowship, University of Southern California.
Suitable For
Patients with failed transfers behind them. Implantation and transfer technique are his patented subject matter, which is exactly the question a repeated negative pregnancy test raises.
Anyone who wants the lab-side physician. Few California patients get a consultation from someone who helped design the laboratory and the preservation methods their embryos will live in.
Fertility preservation planning, where the decision involves egg or embryo banking logistics and the long-term storage consequences of what you sign.
Patients choosing by longevity and leadership. Three decades of practice, program direction at a named San Francisco center, and presidencies of two regional societies is a different seniority profile from the rest of this roster.