Dr. Rifaat D. Salem

About Dr. Rifaat D. Salem

Dr. Rifaat D. Salem is Medical Director & Chairman of Pacific Reproductive Center and the physician who sets the practice’s clinical and research direction. He graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) Medical School, earned a PhD in Neuroendocrinology from UCLA, and held two National Institutes of Health (NIH) fellowships — during this period he completed breakthrough research on how steroid hormones work in the body, laying a deep scientific foundation for his later reproductive endocrinology practice.

His clinical training spans leading institutions across North America: the University of British Columbia, Stanford, the Microsurgical Institute of San Francisco and Pacific Fertility Center of San Francisco. He also co-founded Pacific Fertility Center Torrance and served as its medical director for six years. The clinic’s own team page describes a “two generations of practitioners” family practice, with Dr. Salem at its core.

Dr. Salem holds master’s degrees in both Biochemistry and Physiology, is a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), and has published research in leading national and international fertility journals. Those publications are not just academic: they have advanced the understanding and treatment of infertility and shaped PRC’s “clinical and laboratory together” approach to care.

Clinical Expertise

• IVF: As Medical Director & Chairman he sets clinical direction for the practice and its in-house laboratory. The 60.7% live birth per intended retrieval under age 35 in the CDC’s 2022 report is a clinic-level figure for PRC, not a per-physician result.
• Infertility and reproductive microsurgery: He built his microsurgery experience at Stanford and the Microsurgical Institute of San Francisco, alongside his IVF practice (per his team bio). Our sources do not list which specific surgical procedures he performs.
• Reproductive endocrinology: His UCLA neuroendocrinology PhD and NIH research give him a mechanistic understanding of hormone-driven infertility and support individualized stimulation protocols.
• Advanced maternal age care: PRC’s CDC 2022 record shows 25.0% live birth per intended retrieval for patients over 40 — a practice-level figure from 20 intended retrievals in that band, so it is a small sample rather than a claim about any one physician.

Why Choose Dr. Salem

• USC Medical School plus a UCLA PhD in Neuroendocrinology: A reproductive specialist trained in both clinical medicine and elite basic science is uncommon in the United States — he understands why a protocol works at the mechanism level, rather than following guidelines alone.
• Two NIH fellowships: he completed two, and his team bio states that this work “helped establish the mechanism of certain steroid hormones.”
• Training at Stanford and other leading institutions: Clinical exposure at Stanford, UBC and the Microsurgical Institute of San Francisco means his practice standards and case complexity reflect a first-tier background.
• Founder’s perspective: Co-founding Pacific Fertility Center Torrance and serving as medical director for six years gave him direct experience of how laboratory quality and clinical decisions constrain each other — the logic behind PRC’s in-house laboratory model.

Professional Affiliations

• Member, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
• Member, American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM)

Suitable For

• Complex infertility cases: If prior treatment has failed and the picture may involve tubal or pelvic adhesions requiring surgical assessment, his microsurgery background provides a route beyond IVF.
• Patients with reproductive endocrine disorders: Hormone-driven problems such as ovulation disorders and repeated implantation failure need mechanistic analysis rather than simple medication adjustment — the value of his NIH research background.
• Advanced maternal age patients: The numbers to ask about are the practice’s own CDC 2022 figures — 25.0% live birth per intended retrieval over 40, on 20 retrievals, and 32.7% at 38-40, on 49. They describe PRC’s lab and program as a whole, and they come from the CDC rather than from SART, so compare them only against the same registry.
• Patients who value research depth: If you want a physician who both treats patients and can explain the evidence behind the treatment, Dr. Salem’s track record is first-tier.