Dr. Michael P Dougherty, MD

In my decades of personal and professional experience I have never met a doctor who unfailingly embodies what I consider to be the gold standard of compassionate, patient-centered care like Dr. Michael P. Dougherty. He is the kind of doctor a person struggling to be heard, cared for, and understood in the context of their lives would hope for but may seldom have the chance to encounter. I have spent 7+ years living with the challenges of primary and secondary infertility and 30+ years with an increasingly severe clinical presentation of a poorly managed PCOS prior to that. I have been under the care of 20+ specialists in this time; including some whose reputations are polished in prestige due to heavily marketed clinical outcomes. I also built a career working in physician and patient marketing for pharmaceutical companies. I have seen from within how our healthcare system trains and produces physicians to tenuously manage patient outcomes; it is not possible to find a better… physician and a personal health champion than Dr. Dougherty. From the first time I met him for a consultation till today I have not had a single conversation or interaction with Dr. Dougherty where he failed to speak to me with genuine empathy and the highest level of integrity. Not once. He is foremost a data-driven clinician, so his recommendations will always be led by what we have scientific evidence to be able to support. He will not paint a picture of likely outcomes that cannot be backed by science. He will also never speak to a patient as if they are a collection of broken organs and system failures or an opportunity to add another count to his metrics of clinical success. On the challenging journey of building a family there can be a lot of heartbreak and disappointment but if a path filled with negative outcomes have made you feel hopeless, I cannot emphasize enough how it feels to be treated with a deep empathy that preserves your dignity as a human being. If you are ready to be cared for by a doctor who ensures you feel comfortable with each step of your protocol, who takes an unheard-of amount of time to review your complete health history and engage in a discussion with you about your goals and concerns, who never meets a lack of results with an attitude of ‘your body failed’ contact Dr. Dougherty. The fact that he and Dr. Manara are supported by a phenomenally kind support staff is deeply reassuring. I don’t have a family support system and that often makes this journey incredibly lonely; there are tough days that have been made sunnier because of the warmth and kindness of the ladies that support the doctors. Calls are always returned, files are kept in order, and your care is always coordinated by a staff that is never short on smiles, prayers, and words of encouragement. If you are looking for help in building the family you desire, I wish you incredible peace, deep strength and I also hope you find a doctor who cares about your health and well-being in a manner I have only ever witnessed in Dr. Dougherty. You deserve that level of compassion and grace.