History of Memphis Fertility
We believe the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (REI) Fellowship at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in Memphis, Tennessee, is among the strongest and most well-balanced training opportunities in the nation. The fellowship has a longstanding tradition in Memphis, dating back to its establishment at UTHSC in the 1980s and continuing into the 1990s.
In 1996, Dr. William Kutteh, an internationally recognized leader in the field, was recruited to lead the division. During his tenure, the in vitro fertilization (IVF) program expanded significantly. In 2003, Dr. Kutteh and Dr. Raymond Ke, who was serving as the UTHSC REI Medical Director of IVF at the time, left the university to establish a private practice—Fertility Associates of Memphis (FAM).
Over the next two decades, FAM experienced substantial growth. In 2012, Dr. Paul Brezina joined the practice, followed by Dr. Amelia Bailey in 2014, after completing their REI fellowships at Johns Hopkins and Harvard (Brigham), respectively. With this expanded team, the practice flourished both clinically and academically.
In 2015, FAM partnered with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to provide fertility preservation options for cancer patients. In 2021, FAM established a formal partnership with the OB-GYN residency program at Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women, where residents began rotating through the clinic for their REI clerkship. In 2022, FAM rejoined UTHSC as the REI academic division within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, integrating UTHSC residents into its clinical rotations. In 2024, Dr. Todd Chappell, an expert in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery (MIGS), joined FAM to expand the breadth of surgical therapies offered to patients.
In 2023, FAM joined the Ivy Fertility Network, one of the nation's premier networks of leading infertility clinics. With this new partnership, the decision was made to pursue the establishment of a UTHSC REI fellowship program. Ivy Fertility Network enthusiastically supported this initiative, and the fellowship was officially approved in early 2025, with the first fellow set to begin training in the summer of 2025.
The REI fellowship at UTHSC is truly unique. Fellows gain extensive clinical experience in a high-volume infertility practice, encompassing a comprehensive range of surgical procedures and IVF treatments. Additionally, the REI faculty includes nationally recognized leaders in the field, collectively responsible for hundreds of peer-reviewed publications. The Ivy network provides fellows with unparalleled access to clinical research opportunities—not only through FAM’s extensive patient volume but also through the aggregated data from Ivy’s 14 nationally recognized clinics. Moreover, fellows can engage in research collaborations with a wide array of academic institutions and industry partners affiliated with UTHSC and the Ivy Fertility Network.
With these exceptional resources and training opportunities, we are confident that graduates of the UTHSC REI Fellowship will be among the best-trained specialists in the country, excelling both clinically and academically.