Couples and individuals in the Wilmington area no longer must make the trek to the Triangle to access a full suite of fertility services. 
 
Wilmington Fertility Center opened in August in Bradley Creek Station. The center is a boutique-style clinic that specializes in assisted reproductive technologies and bills itself as Wilmington’s “only [in vitro fertilization] center and reproductive lab.”
 
In 2019, New Hanover Regional Medical Center closed its reproductive endocrinology and infertility location after the sole provider moved out of the area, according to a hospital spokesperson. 
 
A different provider, Carolinas Fertility Institute, announced its opening in June and lists IVF as an available service at the Wilmington location on its website (the company did not respond to multiple inquiries). 
 
Reproductive endocrinologist Donna Session, who most recently served as director of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s division of reproductive endocrinology and fertility, is heading up the new Wilmington Fertility Center clinic. “We’re very lucky to have Dr. Session,” said David Stern, CEO of Boston IVF, the parent company of Wilmington Fertility Center.
 
Though the clinic has only been open two months, Session said her hopes and dreams for the new location have already been realized. 
 
“Access to health care is so important, and building a family is a basic human right,” she said. “Our new fertility center removes the previous barriers individuals and couples in Wilmington faced when addressing their infertility treatment needs.”
 
As a medical student, Session trained under the mentorship of Georgeanna Seegar Jones, who is regarded as the pioneer of IVF in the U.S. Along with her husband, Jones aided in the creation of the first baby born via IVF in the U.S. in 1981.
 
“I feel so lucky to have worked alongside such a brilliant mind in reproductive medicine,” Session said. “She was a very special person who changed the face of medicine.”
 
Fertility care can be an emotionally – and financially – draining experience. Stern said that’s why his team strategically chose Wilmington for its first foray into North Carolina. 
 
“Patients shouldn’t have to be driving two or three hours to get quality care,” he said. 
 
Some levels of less-invasive fertility care are possible without an IVF lab, Stern said, but services such as egg retrievals or embryo transfers require it. Including Wilmington, the Boston IVF network has 11 IVF labs and more than 25 offices, mostly concentrated in the Northeast, Stern said. An IVF lab utilizing the latest technologies requires a more than $1 million investment, he said. 
 
“We’ve built the [Wilmington] lab with growth in mind,” he said. “We’re very bullish on the opportunity.”
 
In its first year, Stern said the Wilmington clinic has the capacity to assist several hundred patients. In a few years, he said he hopes to add another physician to the team. 
 
Services like intrauterine insemination – a less invasive procedure performed when a patient is experiencing unexplained infertility – cost between $1,000 to $2,000, Stern said. One round of IVF costs $12,000, he said, a flat fee that doesn’t itemize every ultrasound or blood test. “For us, it’s an all-encompassing fee,” he said. “We don’t nickel and dime.”
 
Wilmington Fertility Center works with financing companies that help patients pay for the costly procedures and is in the process of partnering with insurance firms, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and Progyny.
 
The Boston IVF network has helped with the birth of eight babies a day (125,000 total) since its opening 35 years ago, Stern said. A patient under 35 who has undergone three IVF cycles has an 85% live birth rate, he said. 
 
“It’s amazing the technology that continues to grow and evolve,” he said. 
 
Session said she is inspired by every patient and feels privileged to help them in their journey to parenthood. 
 
“The best part of my job as a reproductive endocrinologist – and what I enjoy most – is a mission to provide compassionate, down-to-earth care to my patients,” she said. “I want them to know that I’ll fight for their dream and be by their side every step of the way.
 
“Our patients are so appreciative of having a fertility center and IVF option right here in Wilmington,” Session said. “Fertility treatments can be emotionally challenging, especially when patients are balancing everyday life and also traveling over two hours to the nearest clinic for specifically timed medical procedures. It’s not optimal and it’s quite stress-inducing.”