About Braverman IVF & Reproductive Immunology
About Dr. Vidali
Reproductive Surgeon, Reproductive Endocrinologist
Dr. Vidali brings to Braverman IVF & Reproductive Immunology unique
expertise. As a fertility specialist with over 20 years of experience,
Dr. Vidali also has extensive experience in minimally invasive and robotic surgery.
Dr. Vidali specializes in the surgical treatment of endometriosis as it
relates to infertility, implantation failure and pregnancy loss. He has
specific interest in understanding and treating silent endometriosis in
patients with repetitive IVF failure or implantation failure.
He also specializes in non-invasive treatment of uterine fibroids with
laparoscopic myomectomy. In fact, Dr. Vidali pioneered the introduction
of laparoscopic myomectomy for infertility patients, helping to set a
new standard of treatment for women with fibroids who desire fertility1.
Throughout the course of his career Dr. Vidali has held leadership positions
within academics. He was the Director of the Reproductive Endocrinology
and Infertility Division of Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack,
NJ, and held two Directorships at Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical
Center in New York City where he was the Director of the Reproductive
Endocrinology and Infertility and the Director of Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery.
After completing his fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology at Columbia
University, Dr. Vidali embarked on a successful collaboration and partnership
with one of his mentors and laparoscopic surgery and Endometriosis treatment
pioneer Dr. Harry Reich. With Dr. Reich and colleagues, Dr. C.Y. Liu and
Dr. Tamer Seckin, Dr. Vidali partnered to create an advanced gynecologic
surgical practice at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York in 2001.
Dr. Vidali's fellowships include Obstetrics & Gynecology at Georgetown
University and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Columbia
University College of Physicians & Surgeons.
1: Ribeiro SC, Reich H, Rosenberg J, Guglielminetti E, Vidali A. Laparoscopic
myomectomy and pregnancy outcome in infertile patients. Fertil Steril.
1999 Mar;71(3):571-4. PubMed PMID: 10065802.
About Dr. Melvin H. Thornton II
Dr. Melvin Thornton is working with Dr. Vidali and carrying on the groundbreaking work of Dr. Jeffrey Braverman. This collaboration adds Dr. Thornton’s
extensive Fertility experience with the practice of Reproductive Immunology to provide new diagnostic testing with expert
analysis, treatments and protocols to aggressively and successfully treat the cause of what was once known as “unexplained infertility” and or multiple pregnancy loss.
Dr. Melvin H. Thornton, II is double board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine. He has been helping families in the Tri-state for over 18 years. Dr. Thornton completed his OB/GYN internship and residency as well as his Reproductive Medicine fellowship at the University of Southern California. He received additional training in advanced reproductive surgery at The Cleveland Clinic before joining the faculty at Columbia University.
While at Columbia, Dr. Thornton was the Director of the Egg Donation Program at the Center for Women’s Reproductive Care (CWRC) at Columbia University Medical Center. He has an extensive research background in the treatment of HIV sero-discordant couples and the relationship to infertility and fertility treatment. Additionally, while at Columbia he served on the Institutional Review Board for five years. He has published more than 30 papers, written several book chapters and presented nearly 40 abstracts at professional conferences on topics related to women’s health, infertility and third party reproduction.
Dr. Thornton had dedicated many years and countless hours teaching and mentoring medical students, residents and fellows. He is currently an Associate Professor at Quinnipiac University and provides lectures in reproductive medicine and infertility to OB/GYN residents at New York Medical College. He is an excellent educator and gives board review lectures for OB/GYN, Family Medicine and Pediatrics residents preparing for their board examination.
Although his interests include all aspects in the treatment of infertility, he is particularly recognized as being has one of the world’s leading experts in egg donation and surrogacy. His patients describe him as a reassuring, caring, and personable physician. He has been a member of the ACGME Clinical Competency Committee for Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia and currently sits on the ASRM Undergraduate, Graduate, Medical and Postgraduate Education Committee (UGMPEC). He is currently a member of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The American Society of Reproductive Medicine and the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
About Dr. Nadéra Mansouri-Attia
Dr. Nadéra Mansouri-Attia joined Braverman IVF & Reproductive
Immunology after coming here from France and being educated in the finest
French Universities. She received her MSc. cum Laude in Reproductive Physiology
from University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris VI, focusing on female reproduction.
She received her Ph.D. summa cum Laude in reproductive Physiology and
Development from University Paris-Sud School's of Medicine, Paris XI.
During her Ph.D., she worked on the bovine model in the context of early
pregnancy. Her research focused on studying the feto-maternal crosstalk
and the impact of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) such as In
Vitro Fertilization-Embryo Transfer (IVF-ET) on the pregnancy outcome
using state-of-the-art technologies to analyze global transcriptomic data.
Her work brought novel insight in the control of embryo implantation and
was the first in the world to raise a very new and important concept in
reproductive medicine, the active role of the endometrium as a biosensor
when confronted to the embryo. The same concept was demonstrated as relevant
and probably also essential in humans only three years ago.
During her post-doctoral training at the University College of Dublin (Ireland),
she gained extraordinary experience in the field of Immunology of Reproduction.
Her work characterized the maternal immune response to early pregnancy
with a particular interest on the fertility issues of the high yielding
dairy cows.
This has practical benefits and applications to improve reproduction management
and the use of ART for sterile couples. By screening the early response
of the mother to the embryo and by determining at an early stage the pregnancy
outcome, this work will ultimately lead to the development of new strategies
to counteract the maternal immune response defects. Her work has been
recognized as outstanding and was awarded by the French National Academy
for Agriculture and was published in several top journals in the field
of reproduction.
Most recently, she has worked on deciphering the molecular mechanisms and
dysregulation of the ovarian function that could lead to disease such
as ovarian cancer at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston. Her
knowledge and use of animal models to study reproductive pathologies will
contribute to the development of future therapies for women.
Katie Carlson
Katie Carlson joined Braverman IVF & Reproductive Immunology as a Clinical
Research Assistant in the summer of 2015. Katie graduated from the University
of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Biology and a minor in Science, Technology,
and Society.
During her time as an undergraduate, Katie served as a research assistant
at the University of Tennessee School of Veterinary Medicine, where she
participated in several projects that used animals to learn more about
cancer and cardiovascular disease. Her favorite project was designed to
study the efficacy of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus in treating cancer in dogs.
Katie went on to complete two years of veterinary school at the University
of Pennsylvania, but decided she wanted to get more involved in human
medicine. This experience was valuable as she can apply the knowledge
she gained about medicine and immunology to her position at BRI.
Katie is passionate about science and medicine, and especially educating
people about these subjects. She is excited to be working with the entire
team at BRI, and is thankful for this opportunity to help women make their
dream of becoming mothers a reality.