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Caitlin Whyte (Host):  Our doctors know so much about us but what do we know about our doctors? Sure, we can Google their credentials and resumes, but what about their passions, how they got into their field, where they grew up? In this episode of All Things Fertility, we’re going to get to know a bit more about our doctors, Molina Dayal and Maureen Schulte.

This is All Things Fertility and I am your host, Caitlin Whyte. So, Dr. Dayal, I started with you last week, let’s jump in with Dr. Schulte. I see you are one of the newest members. How did you get to this point?

Maureen Schulte, MD, FACOG (Guest):  Yes. So, I joined SIRM in April and essentially it was I completed a fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, so after completing my fellowship, I was with a large practice based in New Jersey and was traveling back and forth to see patients and they do a lot of IVF cycles a year so that was great experience. And then decided to join Dr. Dayal after meeting her because I love sort of the boutique personalized feel of this practice. When I was with the large practice, patients were seen by their provider once for their new patient visit but then they really didn’t get to see their doctor throughout their treatment. And in my opinion, I know how emotional, fertility is an emotional roller coaster and so I wanted to be more hands on with my patients and so at our practice, there’s three providers and a small staff and we really know everybody who comes through the door. And it just honestly makes - I think the care is improved because we all provide insight into each other’s patients and it just makes it more fun because you get to develop close relationships with your patients. You get to see them through their treatment and that’s really why I went into the field.

Host:  And Dr. Dayal, how about you? How did you end up at SIRM St. Louis?

Molina Dayal, MD, MPH, FACOG (Guest):  I was at the Washington University in St. Louis for my OBGYN residency and went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for my fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility and at that point, when I was trying to figure out what to do in terms of jobs, I was kind of honing into the DC area, that originally from where I am. And part of the reason was my mom was terminally ill at the time and so I really wanted to be closer to her. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to get a job at the George Washington University as faculty and it was kind of a neat job because it was a combination of providing patient care and doing research and doing resident teaching and education as well as medical students. And I was there for about nine years and there was a wonderful opportunity that my then husband had to come back to St. Louis. He also trained at Wash U and so when there was that opportunity and actually because I was also visiting my friends once or twice a year out here, I thought it would be a great way for us to just come back and settle here. And then I ended up becoming the Director here at SIRM St. Louis.

Host:  So, I was given some notes by SIRM and I’m told that obviously with Molina and Maureen, pretty similar names that you guys both go by Mo, sometimes the Mo Show?

Dr. Schulte:  Yeah so, my parents named me Maureen Margaret and my mother still refuses to call me Mo, however from the minute I was born my dad and my brother deemed me Mo. And I’ve been Mo ever since. And then when I joined, Molina obviously has a nice Mo ring to it and all of her friends called her Mo. So, we really kind of became the Mo’s and it’s the Mo Show over here at SIRM but it is kind of funny because we’re also in Missouri because the state is MO so, yeah. It’s kind of crazy.

Dr. Dayal:  It is kind of crazy and the other thing is so as Mo is mentioning my nickname was Mo for a long time and what was really, I was telling her this just the other day, that Mo’s maiden name is Bolina and so some of my friends used to call me was Mo Bolina which is hilarious. And we are like what?

Dr. Schulte:  I know. It’s so crazy too because yeah obviously so that was my name like growing up before I got married Mo Bolina and I played soccer in high school and college and so there used to be soccer chants in high school I’ll never forget Mo Bolina and it was like we should bring it back and put it through the office.

Host:  I was going to say, do you ever just chant in the hall and everyone is like what’s happening down there.

Dr. Schulte:  Pump ourselves up before transfers.

Dr. Dayal:  That’s right. My nickname in residency was Mad Dog, Mad Dog Mo. I don’t know why.

Host:  Don’t know why. I was going to say that was my next question.

Dr. Dayal:  So, funny. Oh I think they thought it was hilarious. Because I think they were like you’re the opposite of a Mad Dog, but it just sounded right.

Host:  Right yeah. All right so for the question round I guess you both touched on this a little bit obviously talking about your careers but why did you get into fertility?

Dr. Dayal:  I mean just looking back, it’s been a journey going into this field. Originally, actually I was kind of interested in the opposite. I was interested in contraception and I did some work in India and I did a public health degree, I was kind of interested in that side of things and when I realized that I was actually starting to become more and more interested in the fertility side, I went to the University of Pennsylvania as I mentioned, for fellowship and they have a really good program both in contraceptive research as well as sort of an IVF clinical side of things. So, as I learned more and more about prevention of pregnancy, I started getting more and more interested in the fertility side. Like well how do people get pregnant? And as I started just seeing patients, seeing their journey, being with them along their journey and helping them successfully have a family; I realized that I mean it can’t – I mean it’s such a wonderful field. I mean there is not just the relationship you make in this field but it’s the cutting edge of technology, there are a lot of ethical considerations that are constantly coming up. It’s a constantly changing field but it’s really the patients and the couple that we see and it’s their journey that really made me go into this.

Dr. Schulte:  So, my journey was actually a little different. I was in medical school and I always said OBGYN was the last specialty I would ever go into.

Dr. Dayal:  Same.

Dr. Schulte:  Yeah. Of course I do the rotation and I absolutely fell in love because you really- you get to be – do women’s healthcare at such a fun point in their lives and really be involved in just this really special journey that they’re on. And then as I progressed and had exposure to reproductive endocrinology; I always used to joke around the only thing better than delivering a baby was to make one. And it really just the art and science of what we do is so special and to me, just taking care of women who have this goal in mind and really just couples in general who want to expand their family. It’s an honor to be able to care for them and help them on their way and it combines the ability to get to know patients and also the science of actual IVF, in vitro fertilization, what we do, and I just love it. So, really it was just exposure and I knew immediately I was like that’s exactly what I want to do. And with our specialty, there is a lot of research involved and so as a resident, I was very fortunate to work with Kelly Moley at Wash U who ran an impressive basic science laboratory and begin to understand sort of the scientific concepts behind what we do. And it just is so interesting, and l love it. So, that’s kind of my story.

Dr. Dayal:  And just to further promote how geeky we are, this is one of the fields – few fields in medicine where you combine clinical medicine with things that happen within the laboratory. Everything that we do, specifically with IVF, is all rooted in the lab. And so, we have to work very closely with embryologists and of course embryos are developing in the lab, but we modify things before we even get to an egg retrieval. We try to modify things within the lab but there’s just so much interaction on a scientific level as we assist these couples and patients.

Host:  Gosh that’s so cool. Well you said the art and science of it all. That was very – it stuck me. It’s such an interesting and everything goes you know just think of this whole field that way.

Dr. Dayal:  And it really is an art. ART stands for assisted reproductive technology and it really is an art because not every patient is the same. Each person has their own special characteristics that make them their own individual self and I feel like physicians can sometimes limit their treatment of patients due to their own limitations, whether it’s limited knowledge or awareness or openness but I think our field is one where it’s nuances and subtleties that are from not well studied regimens and I think a lot of what we do is truly being creative and trying to individualize treatment for couples and patients.

Host:  Great. So, next question SIRM is in St. Louis. What is your favorite thing about the city or being in the Midwest in general?

Dr. Schulte:  Oh I love the Midwest. So, I was born and raised in Chicago. So, I’ve always been a Midwest girl and then I love St. Louis. The people are so great, and I really feel like we have such a wonderful city especially to raise a family in. And the traffic is so much better than Chicago. It really is.

Dr. Dayal:  Oh yes. I was going to say the same thing. Being from DC, I think I have a little bit of PTSD from literally the traffic. I mean the quality of life here is so much easier and better and I think the people are extraordinarily friendly and as Mo said, I mean it’s a wonderful place to raise a family.

Host:  What are each of your proudest professional accomplishments?

Dr. Dayal:  I think for me from a professional standpoint, I don’t think there’s one particular thing that I’m most proud of. I mean I think anybody who has gone into the field has had publications, they’ve had – they’ve been honored by different societies that presented papers or their findings at conferences, but it’s not any of that that at least I’m the most proud of. I think for me, it’s really the day to day. It’s helping patients and couples achieve their dreams of a family. And I think that that helps me every single day because every day I feel really, really grateful for what I do and that’s what drives me.

Dr. Schulte:  Yeah, I totally agree. And not to brag about my amazing partner and myself, but I feel like we have been really fortunate. I mean we trained at wonderful academic centers. We have published in the literature. We have gotten grants to fund our research and really have presented at national meetings and although we love contributing to the literature and staying abreast of all the new science in our field and educating our colleagues; it’s really for both of us, I think the passion really remains in helping the individual patient achieve their dream. And for us, I think that is so important and it’s reflected in our practice and in the way that we practice.

Dr. Dayal:  For sure.

Host:  And on the other side, what is your proudest nonprofessional accomplishment?

Dr. Dayal:  I mean I can – yeah, I think for me from a nonprofessional standpoint, I know this is going to sound kind of corny, but I mean it’s taken me years and multiple sort of personal events to finally realize that it is so incredibly important to appreciate the moment. For every day that I wake up, I’m grateful because somewhere else, there is someone who may not have. And I realize now, after many, many years, that every moment matters. It’s not just the big ones but also the small ones, the seemingly irrelevant ones and you can’t take any of these for granted. And I think it’s – for me it’s the lesson that I’ve learned that I remind myself that this moment is the only one that I know that I have for sure. I try to instill that in myself every single day, remind myself every single day and I think that’s probably my proudest personal achievement.

Dr. Schulte:  Yeah, I think that was totally beautifully said and I can second that and I think for me, it’s been my personal growth on being a parent. I did not – everyone tells you you’re going to change and that kids change you and I can say that it definitely has and only for the better. So, I think from a – what I’m proudest of is just my relationships with my family like my husband and my kids and just the personal growth along the parenting journey. Because there’s a lot of curve balls that you have to throw and learn from.

Dr. Dayal:  We talk about this every day.

Dr. Schulte:  Right, maintaining your own – your sense of self and good relationships with family and friends throughout that time I think is what I’m proudest of.

Host:  Right and for my last question, here’s a big one. It is what is your astrological sign?

Dr. Schulte:  I’m an Aries and I mean that’s pretty much to me to the T.

Dr. Dayal:  I don’t know much about Aries.

Dr. Schulte:  They’re rams.

Dr. Dayal:  Okay got it.

Dr. Schulte:  You are like yes Mo, that is true.

Dr. Dayal:  Well St. Louis Rams, I was thinking Missouri Rams. Former football team. I’m a Virgo. So, I am very much like a Virgo.

Host:  Well ladies, thanks so much for the fun conversation. It’s always great to get to know our doctors as humans too. To learn more about the team at SIRM St. Louis, or to schedule an appointment, visit www.stlouisfertilitycenter.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, you can find more like it in our podcast library. Be sure to give us a like and a follow if you do. Don’t worry, we’ll be getting back to the medical talk next episode. This has been All Things Fertility. I’m your host Caitlin Whyte. We’ll catch you next time.