Shelun Tsai, MD, FACOG

About

Reproductive endocrinologists usually publish on embryos and stimulation protocols. Shelun Tsai also publishes on who never gets to that point — racial and ethnic disparities in fertility care sit on her research list alongside fertility preservation, egg freezing, preimplantation genetic testing and donor gamete use. She joined Pacific Northwest Fertility in 2024, and the clinical topics she studies are, roughly, the decisions a patient in her chair is being asked to make.

Her training ran through three academic centers. She took a BA in Neurobiology at Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude, then the MD at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Obstetrics and gynecology residency came at Duke University, where she held the Education Chief Resident title — the resident role responsible for organizing teaching within the program. The clinical fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility followed at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Her work has been published in Fertility and Sterility, Obstetrics & Gynecology and the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. She received a research grant from the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society, was named the winner of the Robert Sassoon Chief Residents’ and Fellows’ Research Day, and took the Suheil and Lisa Muasher Resident Award in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.

Clinical Expertise

• Egg Freezing and Fertility Preservation: Stimulation window, expected yield and freezing strategy — a stated research focus, not only a service line
• Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT): Whether to screen, and what a result does and does not change about transfer decisions
• Donor Gametes and Third-Party Reproduction: Donor egg and donor sperm cycles, included in her research agenda
• IVF and Reproductive Endocrinology: Evaluation, stimulation, retrieval and transfer after subspecialty fellowship training
• Access and Disparities in Fertility Care: A formal research topic of hers — who receives fertility treatment, and who does not

Why Choose Dr. Shelun Tsai

Her research topics are the questions in the room. Fertility preservation, egg freezing, PGT and donor gamete use are her published areas of study, and they are also the choices a fertility patient has to make — whether to do it, when, and what to do with the result. A physician who has written about those decisions tends to be able to say where the evidence stops.

She publishes in the specialty’s refereed journals. Fertility and Sterility is the American Society for Reproductive Medicine journal; Obstetrics & Gynecology is the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists journal; she has also published in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. These are peer-reviewed outlets rather than patient-facing columns.

Her research funding was competitive. The Pacific Coast Reproductive Society gave her a research grant, and she won the Robert Sassoon Chief Residents’ and Fellows’ Research Day and the Suheil and Lisa Muasher Resident Award in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility — the last a subspecialty-specific honor from her training stage.

She held Duke’s Education Chief Resident title. That is a named resident role within the obstetrics and gynecology program, and its work is teaching — explaining complex material so that other physicians can use it. For a first appointment where the whole plan has to be understood at once, the background is directly relevant.

She treats access as a clinical variable. Her research list includes racial and ethnic disparities in fertility care — the study of who receives treatment and who drops out of it. That is a reason to expect her plan to account for what happens outside the exam room, not only for the medical indicators inside it.

Professional Affiliations

Her PNWF profile lists her board certification under the heading “Board Certification” as Obstetrics and Gynecology, while the same page’s biography describes her as a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist and its credentials section lists a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The profile’s organization list records the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Board Certified, without naming the subspecialty; the two statements are reproduced here as published rather than reconciled. Her listed organizations are the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Training: Harvard University BA in Neurobiology (magna cum laude), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine MD, Duke University obstetrics and gynecology residency as Education Chief Resident, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellowship at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Research honors include the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society research grant, the Robert Sassoon Chief Residents’ and Fellows’ Research Day award, and the Suheil and Lisa Muasher Resident Award in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.

Suitable For

• Anyone deciding whether to freeze eggs now: Egg freezing is one of her research subjects, so expected yield per cycle and the age at which the math changes are answered from literature rather than impression
• Patients weighing PGT before transfer: Her published work covers preimplantation genetic testing, which is where the “what does this result actually change” conversation belongs
• Donor egg or donor sperm paths: Donor gamete use is a stated research area and part of her clinical scope
• Data-driven patients: She has refereed publications and a chief-resident teaching role, which suits people who ask for the basis of a recommendation
• Patients with real-world constraints on treatment: Her disparities research is about exactly that — why a plan that works on paper does not always work for everyone