Every September, Women in Medicine Month provides an opportunity to recognize the contributions women make to medicine and patient care—and to celebrate the generations of women who have helped shape healthcare into what it is today. At Carolinas Fertility Institute, that celebration feels especially meaningful.
Women play an extraordinary role across our practices and throughout our clinical teams. They are physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, certified medical assistants, lab technicians, embryologists, and other healthcare professionals. They care for patients during some of the most personal, emotional and consequential moments of their lives. And every day, they bring expertise, compassion and a deep commitment to helping people build the families they have dreamed about.
Celebrating Women Across Our Care Teams
Women in Medicine Month was established by the American Medical Association to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of women physicians. Today, many healthcare organizations also use the occasion to celebrate the many women working collaboratively across clinical professions. At CFI, we want to do both.
We are proud to recognize Dr. Audrey Garneau, a specialist in infertility, fertility preservation, and reproductive endocrinology. Her expertise represents the highly specialized medical knowledge that makes modern fertility care possible, while her work with patients reflects the deeply human side of reproductive medicine.
We are equally proud of the many advanced practice providers who are an essential part of the CFI patient experience, including:
- Jordan Santaloci, Physician Assistant
- Jessica Adams, board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner
- Channen Dankle, board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner
- Catie Sullivan, certified Family Nurse Practitioner
- Davyn Griswold, board-certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner
- Auma “Kess” Thongteum, board-certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner
- Mariah Gipson-Leroux, Physician Assistant
- Beverly Huegel, board-certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner
- Caitlyn Coates, board-certified Physician Assistant
And those names represent only part of the story.
Across CFI, nurses, certified medical assistants, lab technicians, and other female healthcare professionals are essential to the care our patients receive. They are often the people answering questions, preparing patients for procedures, providing education and reassurance, coordinating care, and simply being there when someone needs a little extra encouragement.
Together, these women demonstrate something important about the way fertility medicine is practiced today: great care is a team effort.
Expertise Matters. So Does Connection.
Fertility care requires tremendous clinical expertise. But anyone who has experienced infertility knows that the journey involves much more than tests, procedures and treatment protocols.
There can be uncertainty. Disappointment. Excitement. Difficult decisions. And, hopefully, extraordinary moments of joy. The women of CFI are there through all of it.
They answer questions. They explain complicated information in ways patients can understand. They listen when someone is worried or discouraged. They celebrate encouraging news. And they help patients navigate decisions that are deeply personal and different for every individual and family.
That combination of science and human connection is at the heart of exceptional fertility care.
Women Caring for Women
There is also something particularly meaningful about the role women play in reproductive medicine.
Our female healthcare professionals understand that fertility is connected to so many different parts of a patient’s life—health, relationships, career, timing, and hopes for the future. Whether a patient is struggling to become pregnant, considering fertility preservation, navigating IVF, or exploring another path to parenthood, having a care team that listens and understands can make an enormous difference.
And while every member of the CFI team shares responsibility for creating that experience, Women in Medicine Month gives us an opportunity to stop and recognize the women who contribute so much to it.
Thank You to the Women of CFI
This September, we celebrate all of the women of Carolinas Fertility Institute—our physicians and advanced practice providers, our nurses and CMAs, and the many other female healthcare professionals who dedicate themselves to caring for our patients.
We celebrate their knowledge and skill. We celebrate their compassion. We celebrate the relationships they build with patients and families. And we celebrate the countless ways—large and small—they make CFI a special place for patients seeking help on their journey to parenthood.
To the women of CFI: thank you for the expertise you bring, the care you provide and the hope you help make possible.
Happy Women in Medicine Month.
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