Meet Our Team

Laboratory Staff

Close teamwork between the medical and laboratory phases of ART treatment is crucial for the best outcome.

Andras Szell, Ph.D. has been the Embryology Laboratory Director at Alta Bates since 1996. Dr. Szell acquired extensive experience with in vitro fertilization, embryo micromanipulation and freezing techniques in animals before training in advanced human IVF and ICSI at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, where many of the key advances in ART were first pioneered.

Marissa Viale, B.S., the Laboratory Technologist who runs the hormone laboratory, draws blood and prepares sperm specimens for inseminations, has been with the ABIVF program since 2000.

Alta Bates IVF Program provides the full range of infertility services, including IVF, ICSI, MESA, Donor Eggs, Gestational Surrogacy, IUI, Ovulation Induction and Reproductive Surgery. The program was established by Dr. Richard Chetkowski in 1984 and it operates in affiliation with Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley, California. The Alta Bates IVF Program offers the best of clinical care to infertile couples, same-sex couples, single men and women in a warm, comfortable, and supportive community hospital setting. Each patient receives personalized care from a single highly experienced physician. Many of our patients have complex infertility factors or have failed treatments elsewhere, so they often benefit from the individualized care, meticulous attention to detail and the depth of clinical experience unique to our program.

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