Version de esta pagina en Español

Standing: L to R: Joanna Jongsma, Pamela Thomas d'Auteuil, Randi B. Weinstein,
Dr. Scot Hutchison, Elena Ruiz, Joan Dahnke, Conchita Rosas Alexander, Tresa White
Seated: Left to Right: Dr. Jose J. Hernandez,Holly Hutchison,
Not Pictured: Mark D. Gilbert, Della Estrada

The Reproductive Health Center and Fertility Specialist Dr. Scot Hutchison in Tucson

As a fertility specialist at the Reproductive Health Center in Tucson, Dr. Scot Hutchison relies on the expertise of his colleagues and staff as he assists couples in realizing their reproductive goals.

• Meet Dr. Scot Hutchison
  • Teaching Appointments
  • Patient Philosophy
  • Memberships and Certifications
  • Certification Process
• Embryology and Andrology Staff
  • Jose J. Hernandez, PhD
  • Tresa White, BS, TS (ABB)
  • Holly Hutchison, MS
  • Pamela Thomas d'Auteuil
  • Randi B. Weinstein
• Integrated Medicine Staff
  • Mark D. Gilbert, MD, FRCP(c)
  • Della Estrada, Licensed Acupuncturist
• Reproductive Health Center Staff
• Insurance Billing and Payment
  for Services

Meet Dr. Hutchison

Dr. Scot Hutchison was raised in Arizona and graduated in 1984 from the University of Arizona with a degree in biology. He attended medical school at the University of Kansas and obtained his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree in 1988. Following medical school, Dr. Hutchison completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) at the University of Kansas in 1992.

During his time as a resident physician, Dr. Hutchison became interested in infertility medicine and decided to continue his studies with a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (REI). Over the next three years, Dr. Hutchison studied at the John Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1994, he became the co-director of Assisted Reproductive Technologies at John Hopkins. He served in this capacity until returning to Arizona to begin a private practice specializing in REI. He opened the Reproductive Health Center in the fall of 1995.

Teaching Appointments

In addition to serving as fertility specialist at his Tucson clinic, Dr. Hutchison is also a Clinical Assistant Professor of OB/GYN at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and serves as the director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, overseeing the Embryology and Andrology Laboratories and the Assisted Reproductive Technologies Program. He lectures and teaches frequently on various topics related to reproductive endocrinology, has extensive research experience, and has published articles on infertility treatment.

Patient Philosophy

Dr. Hutchison takes his time with patients, as he enjoys patient interaction and assisting couples in achieving resolution of their problems. He is kind and good-hearted, and will readily admit that he worries excessively about his patients.

Memberships and Certifications

Dr. Scot Hutchison was board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1995 and received his certification as a Specialist in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in 1999 (board certified). He belongs to several reputable professional organizations, including:

• The American Society of Reproductive Medicine
• The Society for Male Reproduction and Urology
• The Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology
• The Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility

The Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (SREI) is an organization of physicians dedicated to promoting excellence in reproductive health through research, education, and patient care. Membership in this society is strictly limited to physicians who have been certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) and in the subspecialty of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. To date, fewer than 800 physicians worldwide have achieved this special distinction.

The Certification Process

To be board certified in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, a physician must:

1. Complete four years of training in Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN), after graduation from an accredited medical school.
2. Pass a written examination in OB/GYN.
3. Pass an oral examination in OB/GYN after a minimum of one year of independent specialty practice.
4. Complete three additional years of subspecialty training in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (REI).
5. Pass a second written exam in REI.
6. Pass a second oral exam in REI after a minimum of one year in independent subspecialty practice.

Subspecialty certification in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and membership in SREI are highly prized professional credentials. The members of SREI are a select group of highly trained and qualified physicians with advanced education, as well as research and professional skills in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.

Embryology and Andrology Staff

Fertility specialist Dr. Scot Hutchison has assembled an elite group of professionals at his Tucson clinic to assist in patient treatment. His colleagues share his enthusiasm and dedication to helping patients achieve their reproductive goals.

Jose J. Hernandez, PhD
Director of Laboratories

Dr. Hernandez, affectionately known as Dr. H, is a pioneer of in vitro fertilization. He and his wife are happy to have transplanted to Tucson, AZ where we have a dry heat and are close to Mexico, his home country. Dr. H. began his career as a doctor of veterinary medicine (DVM). He took his degree from the Universidad Veracruzana in Vera Cruz, Mexico and specialized in bovine (cow) reproductive physiology. His experiments in animal science were with the same hormones and technologies now being used to treat human infertility.

Dr. H. moved to the United States where he received his Master of Science degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC) in Reproductive Endocrinology followed by his Ph.D. at Washington State University where he trained in in-vitro fertilization, embryo and gamete micro-manipulation and cryopreservation of eggs and embryos. He continued his scientific career and accepted a post-doctoral position at University of Missouri-Columbia focusing on producing massive quantities of bovine embryos in vitro for research and commercial applications. There he applied his knowledge of gamete and embryo culture techniques and used molecular biology and biochemistry to further understand the mechanisms of the embryonic-maternal dialogue that must occur early in pregnancy for a successful outcome. It was in St. Louis that he got the call to help the human infertility specialist start the first in vitro fertilization laboratory at the University of Missouri-Columbia, a program he was with for 13 years. Later, he helped lay the foundations of another fertility center in Houston, Texas. In Texas, he helped grow the practice from seventy cycles a year to more than three hundred in just three years.

Dr. H is double-board certified (ABB) as a High Complexity Laboratory Director in Embryology and Andrology. He is a member of several scientific and professional associations. His published scientific contributions include topics in reproductive endocrinology and physiology in males and females, gamete and embryo cryopreservation, in-vitro fertilization, embryo culture systems, stress effects of reproduction and infertility and molecular biology of the pre-implantation embryo.

Dr. H. is very skilled in all specialty techniques of the reproductive laboratory, including: intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), assisted hatching and embryo biopsy for pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). As a Director of Laboratories for the Reproductive Health Center in Tucson he oversees and takes active part on all cycles and procedures performed in the IVF Laboratory. His scientific knowledge and strong commitment to success give our patients the best possible chance that the gametes and embryos cultured in our laboratory will reach their fullest potential for pregnancy.

Tresa White, BS, TS (ABB)
Technical Supervisor

Tresa White received her Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona. She joined the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the College of Medicine as a student. After completing her degree, she worked for University Physicians continuing in the capacity as embryologist and hormone assay technician. She joined the Fertility Treatment Center in Chandler, Arizona in 1998. While working in Chandler as an embryologist, she attained her certification as a Technical Supervisor in embryology and andrology. She returned home to join fertility specialist Dr. Scot Hutchison and the Reproductive Health Center team in Tucson in early 2002.

Tresa is the backbone of the embryology and andrology team. She has over 10 years of hands-on experience and has been trained by some of the leading fertility specialists in the field. She has the technical experience and competency required to successfully perform embryo culture, insemination, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), sperm preparation, embryo transfer, embryo cryopreservation and all other high-tech procedures in the field. She has the highest possible standards and attention to detail when it comes to laboratory procedures, labeling of specimens, and cleanliness in the lab, all very important when working with human gametes.

Holly Hutchison, MS
IVF Coordinator

Holly Hutchison was raised in Arizona with her younger brother, fertility specialist Dr. Scot Hutchison. She graduated from the University of Arizona in 1980 with a degree in biology. She continued her education in the University's Department of Genetics and in 1982 completed her Master's degree. She worked as a clinical cytogeneticist at the University Medical Center (UMC) and was also involved in genetic research until she saw her first human egg in 1991. From that point on, she knew she had to be in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. She spent the next few years as a research specialist assisting the chief embryologist at UMC. In 1995, she persuaded her brother to return home from the East Coast, and together they started the Reproductive Health Center.

Holly's areas of interest include egg (oocyte) quality and effective ovarian stimulation protocols. She is also concerned with quality patient care and offers patients a unique combination of experience, perspective, and compassion.

Pamela Thomas d'Auteuil

Pamela is a recent transplant from the San Francisco Bay area. She is a great addition to the Reproductive Health Center staff with 13 years of clinical experience in infertility. Pamela has set up two new clinics and has extensive experience in all aspects of IVF treatment, including care coordination and management of donor egg and gestational surrogacy cycles. Pamela does just about everything, from laboratory management to phlebotomy to patient care to backing up Joanna at the front desk.

Randi B. Weinstein, Ph.D
Egg Donor and IVF Coordinator

Randi Weinstein is a native of Buffalo, New York. After earning her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the State University of New York at Buffalo she moved across the country to the University of California, Berkeley where she received her Ph.D. in Integrative Biology. Following several years of post-doctoral research at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Stanford University, and the University of Arizona, Randi joined the faculty of the Department of Physiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in 1998. During her research career in the field of comparative biochemistry and physiology, Randi authored 17 peer-reviewed research papers, review articles, and book chapters. She also received grant funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Randi completed sea-ice survival training in Antarctica, hiked the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu, rode in an ambulance after glacier-skiing in Austria, tramped across New Zealand carrying a 20 pound backpack, and drove through the Namib Desert in a rental car without a spare tire. But she reports her most difficult and arduous journey was the one she experienced when she and her husband tried to have a child. After four years of infertility treatment Randi welcomed her first son in 2002. Her second son was born in 2005 following another year of infertility treatment.

Randi's life and career took a major detour as a result of her personal experience with infertility. Prior to joining the Reproductive Health Center in 2006 she had 2 ½ years of infertility-related work experience as a consultant for a national egg donor agency and the leader of a local infertility support group. Randi also began teaching Reproductive Endocrinology at the University of Arizona in 2005, a role she continues to enjoy. At the Reproductive Health Center, Randi uses her personal and professional experience to assist Holly with coordination of IVF cases and egg donor cycles.

Integrated Medicine Staff

Mark D. Gilbert, MD, FRCP(c)
Integrated Medicine and Mind-Body Medicine Skills Group

Mark D. Gilbert, MD, FRCP(c) is Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Director of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at the University Medical Center, and Director of the Mind-Body Medicine Skills Group Program. He runs the Mind-Body Medicine Skills Group programs for infertility, chronic pain and cancer patients, as well as Mind-Body workshops for residents and medical students at the University.

Dr. Gilbert graduated in Psychiatry from the University of California, after taking his Medical Degree at the University of Ottawa, Canada. As a lecturer at the University of Toronto, Dr Gilbert taught the Family Therapy program at the Hospital for Sick Children for almost a decade, taking special interest in consultation to families affected by physical illness.

After being a consultant lecturer to the Toronto Western Hospital and C.M. Hincks Treatment Centre, Dr Gilbert studied at Harvard's Deaconess Mind-Body Medicine Program, Georgetown University's Mind-Body Program, UCSF's Healer's Art Program, and the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington D.C. In 1994, Dr Gilbert opened and co-directed one of the first public integrated medicine clinics in Canada. In 1999, he established a Mind-Body Program for a large health care centre in downtown Toronto, and in May 2000 opened Mind-Body Medicine Canada and the Integrated Pain Treatment Center. In April 2006 he joined the Psychiatry Department at the University of Arizona as Director of the Consultation-Liaison program and as the Director of the Mind-Body Medicine Skills Group Program at the Arizona Health Sciences Center.

Dr. Gilbert has lectured extensively in his field, including key note lectures to Hospitals and Academic Departments across North America. He has been frequently interviewed by the Canadian Broadcast Network on radio and television, and in Canada's national newspaper, the Globe and Mail. He was recently profiled on PBS's Arizona Illustrated and in the Arizona Republic, and his given dozens of lectures on Mind-Body Medicine across the country. He has joined with Reproductive Health Center to help provide patients with a comprehensive whole body approach to infertility therapy. This is a new and exciting way of treating infertility using complementary practices of healing and wellness with high-tech advances in laboratory science.

The Mind-Body Medicine Skills Group Program at the Arizona Health Sciences Center

Infertility has an impact on every aspect of a woman’s life. It can affect the relationship with her partner, family and friends; her job and financial security; and her faith and self-esteem. Infertility exposes a couple to the promising technological and pharmaceutical regimens of the 21st Century, while simultaneously making them emotionally vulnerable to the stresses involved. In fact, many people in the community still do not understand or empathize with the hardships that the couple with infertility bears.

Research on infertility has definitively shown that Mind-Body Medicine Skills Groups enhance a woman's quality of life, decrease anxiety and depression, improve social relationships, and in some cases, significantly enhance fertility rates. Now a reputable and complete medical program for infertility, similar to those at Harvard, Georgetown, and UCLA, has been brought to Arizona by Dr. Mark Gilbert, a University of Arizona professor who is an expert on the psycho physiologic aspects of infertility. Mind-Body Medicine Skills Groups have helped those individuals touched by the problems of infertility to enhance their reproductive and emotional health through the use of specialized Mind-Body Medicine techniques. The Mind-Body Medicine Skills Group is now helping Arizonan women suffering from infertility to reclaim their lives. This comprehensive medical program for infertility helps participants to restore their sense of well being, control, and enjoyment of life; reduces mood problems (depression, anger, anxiety and social isolation); decrease physical symptoms (fatigue, headache, insomnia, pain) and benefits their chances of conception at least three-fold. Moreover, Dr. Gilbert has established an affiliation with the Reproductive Health Center in Tucson, a Clinic serving Southern Arizona whose philosophy is holistic in nature, providing the infertility patient with most up-to-date technology, expert knowledge, and best hope for conception.

The Mind-Body Medicine Skills Group in Infertility is held for consecutive 10 weeks, with a 1 month and 4 month follow-up. Each consecutive session is 3 hours each, and the follow-ups sessions are 2 hours each. Each 3 hour session is divided into a didactic, experiential and groups process piece. The didactic sessions cover all evidence-based medical aspects of Mind-Body Medicine, including the history of the field, the latest research on stress physiology, imagery, spirituality, emotional awareness, the way individuals perceive themselves and their life, nutritional awareness, family roles and communication, humor, the research on forgiveness, and many other topics. Experiential exercises are taught in meditation, biofeedback, yoga, sound and health, and a variety of other coping skills. The group process piece is professionally facilitated in specific researched format, that provides safety, healing, support and purpose.

In order to receive a free, 30-minute introductory interview with Dr. Gilbert, please call 520-694-7664 and refer to this web page.

Della Estrada, Licensed Acupuncturist
Integrated Medicine Program

Della Estrada is a pioneer in the field of Integrated Medicine. She has been in private practice in Tucson since 1991 but has always been fascinated by the healing arts. Long before acupuncture was recognized by western medicine as a viable science, she trained at Guang An Men Hospital Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing, China with some of the leading world experts of Chinese Medicine.

Della is currently the Chairwoman of the Arizona Acupuncture State Board of Examiners and is the Acupuncture Supervisor for La Frontera Behavioral Health Services Acu-Detox Specialists. She has served as the Clinical Dean at the Arizona School of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine where she has been an instructor for the past 8 years.

She has served as a research fellow in two National Institutes of Health sponsored studies with the University of Arizona Psychology Department investigating the use of acupuncture in depression. She has also participated in a pilot study for La Frontera Behavioral Health Services on the use of acupuncture stimulation for addiction disorders

Della has traveled extensively though Central America with the Acupuncture International Brigade doing volunteer teaching to medical personnel in the use of acupuncture for the treatment of hurricane victims with post-traumatic stress disorder and providing free acupuncture clinics in undeserved communities.

Della has been providing acupuncture treatment for fertility since 2003. She joins the Reproductive Health Center team providing protocols tailored for the individual patient to improve the function of the reproductive organs, reduce the stress associated with infertility and aid in healing and overall well-being.

Reproductive Health Center Staff

Any clinic is only as successful and efficient as its support staff. The Reproductive Health Center has a devoted team of individuals overseeing the day-to-day operations of the facility.

Conchita Rosas Alexander

Conchita hails from the Sonoran city of Ciudad Obregon, located about eight hours from Tucson, in Mexico. Conchita earned her degree in Accounting and Marketing from the Instituto Tecnologico de Sonora in 1999. She handles all of the patient and insurance billing, accounting, and auditing for the Reproductive Health Center. She also helps coordinate care for our Spanish-speaking patients and translates for Dr. Hutchison in the conference room and exam rooms.

Joanna Jongsma

Joanna is not from Holland, but her husband is. She has lived in Tucson since 1988. She graduated from Cal State, Long Beach with a degree in Health Science and has always worked in medically related fields. Joanna is the front desk coordinator and is in charge of scheduling, reception, and insurance information. She joined the staff of the Reproductive Health Center in September of 1997.

Joan Dahnke

Joan was born and raised in West Allis, Wisconsin, and moved to Tucson 20 years ago with her husband and two children (now adults) to thaw out. Joan has experience in computer data entry, payroll, and office management. She worked for 12 years for the Veteran's Administration and Social Security Administration. After moving to Tucson, she worked for 17 years for a private church school as the office manager. She joined the Reproductive Health Center in July 2005 and works with Joanna as her front office assistant.

Insurance Billing and Payment for Services

At the Reproductive Health Center, we realize that infertility care can be expensive and make every effort to contain the cost of procedures. Before initiating any treatment, we recommend that patients contact their insurance company to determine coverage. Insurance coverage varies and, in many cases, treatment and prescriptions are not covered.

We are providers for the following major insurance companies:

• Blue Cross/Blue Shield
• Cigna PPO and HMO plans
• Health Management Network (some plans)
• Definity Health Plan
• Health Net
• Pacificare
• United Health Care

At the current time, we accept cash, check, Visa, and MasterCard as methods of payment.

Additionally, we provide our patients with the option of financing. We are members of Advanced Reproductive Care, Inc., a resource for patient financing and more. For more information, please contact our office at 866-906-7761 or refer to www.arcfertility.com.

Contact Fertility Specialist Dr. Scot Hutchison

For additional information on the infertility treatments offered at our clinic, or to schedule a consultation, contact fertility specialist Dr. Scot Hutchison at the Reproductive Health Center in Tucson.

Contact fertility specialist Dr. Scot Hutchison at the Reproductive Health Center with questions about the latest infertility treatments or to schedule a consultation.

* indicates a required field


message