Dr. Shahab Minassian, MD

I had and continue to have wonderful experiences with everyone in this practice. Dr. Minassian is very knowledgeable, he listened to me and I felt seen and heard. His staff is very responsive. I have horrible anxiety and I felt at ease when speaking with him and staff.

I had a bad overall experience with Dr. Minassian, and would caution anybody struggling with infertility to seek his help. During the time I sought treatment with Dr. Minassian, I noticed many significant problems: First of all, both Dr. Minassian and his staff are extremely disorganized. On numerous occasions, nurses and medical assistants did not know which medications (and at what doses) I was taking, and mistakenly assumed that I was on a different medication and dosage. I had to correct them on at least 5-7 different occasions, which created an environment of distrust where I always felt like I had to double-check their work. When I corrected an error, the staff never acknowledged or apologized for the error. The staff always said something along the lines of “Oh, I’m not sure why XYZ (aka someone else) made this mistake.” Basically, there was no ownership or sense of responsibility. This included both the medications used for stimulation and frozen embryo transfers - and this… can seriously adversely affect your cycle results. There is poor communication with patients, especially when I had less-than-ideal results, a common occurrence during the many ups and downs of fertility treatment. This may be a result of the poor organization and lack of responsibility I mentioned above. In any case, it is a real problem when doctorsa do not provide answers to WHY treatments failed. In most clinics, doctors schedule appointments with patients when treatments fail - so they can discuss what may have gone wrong and what to do differently next time. This never happened for me. On numerous occasions, I received a call from the medical assistant that the embryo transfer had failed. There was no follow-up or chance to talk to Dr. Minassian. I had to request to speak with him - over the phone, via email, and after appointments in the clinic - before I had a chance to sit down with him in person. Also, the clinic merged with Mainline Fertility in Jan 2019, and he never told any of his patients until Dec 2018. This impacted many treatment cycles and transfers, including mine. Dr. Minassian is not a good doctor. When I finally had the chance to speak with him regarding failed embryo transfers, he did not remember anything about what had happened. He did not remember the protocol used for stimulation, how many blasts resulted, which and how many embryo were transferred, which frozen embryo transfer protocol I was on, etc. etc. etc. In fact, the majority of our conversations consisted of me recounting all the facts, and him flipping through a large stack of unorganized papers (aka my chart) to look for the relevant data. It was scary to me how little he knew, as I expected that doctors take some time to look through patient records prior to an appointment. In spite of his lack of knowledge and effort, he always tried to reassure me that my case was a priority, and that he had spent lots of time and energy thinking things over. He behaves strangely like a sycophant, saying whatever he can to get patients to like him, regardless of whether it holds an ounce of truth. This is truly ironic, and even comical, given that the reality is usually the opposite of what he describes (In fact, there was one occasion where he laid out an entire treatment plan, then changed it completely after my husband and I reminded him of a fact that he had forgotten.) In retrospect, I should have left the clinic sooner, but I like to give doctors the benefit of the doubt in the beginning. I think I gave Dr. Minassian far too many chances. In the end, I think my experience (and the reasons I listed above) is part of why Dr. Minassian’s clinic performs so poorly. The objective data speaks for itself, and can be found on the SART database. On average, clinics have success rates of ~40-60% per egg retrieval cycle (for patients under age 35), with numbers closer to 60% at better clinics. Dr. Minassian’s clinic had success rates nearly HALF of that, at ~30%, over the last 2 reported years. This data may be obscured now because Dr. Minassian has merged his clinic with Mainline Fertility (from 2019 onwards, his data will be included with multiple other doctors at Mainline Fertility). I had such a negative experience that I would advise other patients to go elsewhere, even if Dr. Minassian is the only clinic that insurance will cover (as was my case). Yes, it’s nice to have insurance cover your treatment, but the entire idea is to have a fertility doctor who is capable of giving you a healthy baby. Many patients are on limited time as well, so I wouldn’t waste my time and energy here.

Dr Minassian is a brilliant doctor. He tried several things and did many test to get to the bottom of my issues. His staff, with exception of one nurse and one ultrasound tech was absolutely awful, and completely unprofessional. Its has been over two years since I have seen him. I hope he has better employees now!

I went to Dr. M a few years ago and spent four years at the infertility clinic. He apparently tells many women that they have PCOS (my OBGYN saw no indication AT ALL of this through my blood results). After my second transfer, I received the phone call that I was not pregnant. The last phone call I would ever have with this practice. All the nurse on the phone said was, I'm sorry but you are not pregnant. If you have any questions, give us a call. So 4 years and $20,000+ later I have no answers. I would NEVER recommend this Dr.

I was told by another Dr I would never conceive without IVF due to severe endo. Dr Minassian fixed me, in 3 months. He is truly amazing. He was incredibly thorough and covered all the bases- even finding a few metabolic things I had no idea were wrong. He performed a lap surgery and fixed my endo. I am so much healthier, happier and we are pregnant!! We are so grateful to Dr Minassian. If you want a Dr who listens, spends time with you, and looks at both the big picture and the littlest details to solve your medical problems, look no further. I will recommend Dr M to literally anyone who will listen to me. Also his infertility nurse was one of the most caring people I've ever encountered. She was so kind and helpful. Some of the other front desk staff were touch and go, but the nurses are top notch, caring providers!!!!

Great doctor! He performed my laparoscopy in order to see if I'm a candidate for tubal reversal and I recovered in less than 48 hours with little to no discomfort. I'm excited to know that he will be proceeding with the final surgery in less than 2weeks! Praying all goes well and that we are able to conceive. I would recommend him to anyone I know! He's great.

Would not recommend this Doctor. I transferred to another practice. New practice is so much better. The Doctor is absessed with PCOS. He tells you you have it with out any tests stating you have it. He orders blood tests that are not war intend and wastes your time.

EXCELLENT MD ,VERY INFORMATIVE , ALWAYS WELL PREPARED . NEVER RUSHED . FOLLOWS THROUGH . HIS NURSE IS VERY KIND AND HELPFUL. SURE WISH WE COULD CLONE HIM.

Great Doctor ,well prepared ,reviewed my records prior to my initial appointment. Explains findings. Eager to figure out my complex Dx. Asked tons of medical history questions. The ONLY MD who took the time and the extra mile to make me feel as though I mattered.

At first Dr. M seemed very caring and interested in our case. We were quickly passed on the fertility coordinator. I liked Deb however we never saw or dealt with her. We would be passed on to other nurses. The communication sucks between everyone. Dr. M just passes you on to this clueless group and you never see or hear from him again. The billing department is a joke. They would not bill our insurance because they insisted it was not covered. However our previous fertility doctor (who no longer cares our insurance) had billed our insurance and they covered monitoring. Dr.M told me stuff and then the nurses disagreed. When I asked to speak with Dr.m they said hes too busy. Well if you are too busy to even speak with me I will take my business else where. We have been with him almost a year and we have had no success and I feel like he has given up on us. We are changing doctors and game plans.He made a bunch of false promises that never happen. Plus his practice is unorganized and… unprofessional and WAY OVERPRICED. Do not waste your time go else where.