Introduction to the Guest Editor: Marcelle Cedars, MD

 

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Our guest editor for this issue of Seminars in Reproductive Medicine is Marcelle Cedars, MD. Dr. Cedars is the vice chair for Clinical Affairs, the director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology, and the director of the IVF Program in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is a member of the Board of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), a former president of the Society of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, and a former clinical director of the Executive Committee of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology.

These myriad titles hint to the multitasking, multitalented leadership role she plays in our societies and reproductive medicine. In addition, Dr. Cedars has had a long and distinguished career as a researcher. She has published well over a hundred peer-reviewed articles in the field of reproductive endocrinology and women's health. She has been awarded multiple grants including several NIH-NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) RO1 grants in the area of ovarian aging. She and her team have assembled one of the largest cohorts of women in the world, which she has followed longitudinally to better understand ovarian aging. These roles bring a unique perspective in which to address the clinical conundrum of ovarian aging and our feeble clinical success to date in reversing the ravages of age on infertility treatment success. This issue stems from the 2012 ASRM-NICHD Workshop: Ovarian Reserve: Regulation and Implications for Women's Health held in San Diego, and many of the authors of this issue spoke at the conference and here elaborate on the issues in more detail.

Dr. Cedars stems from an impeccable education and has in her career achieved eminence in all major U.S. time zones (excepting some Alaskan and Hawaii zones, but she is still young). She is a graduate of Wellesley College (note: a Wellesley Scholar with Honors in Philosophy), a graduate of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Parkland Hospital (when the then current edition of William's Obstetrics still had a listing for misogyny in its index), a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology at UCLA in Los Angeles (where she at least avoided the public defense of research findings in response to the probing and painful inquires by her fellowship director, Dr. Howard Judd) to faculty positions at the University of Cincinnati (under the leadership of then chair and future long time ASRM director Bob Rebar), then on to the University of Colorado, until she settled at UCSF (now under the aegis of current ASRM president Linda Giudice). Excuse the name dropping, but this is to let you know that Marcelle packs a mean punch and has held her own among the heavy hitters in our field. She is clearly one of the most original thinkers and dynamic movers in our specialty, but then again what else would you expect from a devotee of philosophy? Our understanding of ovarian aging is greatly advanced by the articles in this issue which not only focus on the fundamental mechanisms behind it but also on the glimmers of hope for predicting it, preventing it, and treating it.