Asgerally Fazleabas, Ph.D. received his undergraduate degree from the California State University in Fresno and his MS and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Fazleabas began his academic career at the University Of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago in 1983 after completing his post-doctoral training in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Reproduction at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He is currently Professor of Physiology in the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Physiology and Biophysics and Director of the Center for Women’s Health and Reproduction
Dr. Fazleabas is considered to be a leading authority in the field of uterine biology and blastocyst implantation. He has had continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his research since 1986. Over the years, his laboratory clearly established that the baboon is an excellent non-human primate model for studies of this nature. These types of studies are unique and are of enormous clinical significance since moral and ethical limitations will never enable us to obtain these types of data in humans. These basic studies have direct relevance to human fertility since at present the major obstacle to even greater success in human infertility therapy is successful implantation of the fertilized embryo. Understanding the critical cellular events that define synchrony between the developing embryo and the maternal uterus in a species that is phylogenetically related to humans will be paramount in improving the success of assisted reproductive therapies. More recently, his laboratory has established a baboon model for endometriosis. The focus of these studies are to understand the etiology and pathophysiology of Endometriosis, a poorly understood, enigmatic disease that affects five to fifteen percent of all women of reproductive age. It is reported to be the leading cause of infertility in women. These studies are also funded by the National Institutes of Health as part of the Specialized Cooperative Centers Program in Reproductive Research. The unique nature of the primate model that he has developed to study endometriosis and the strong multi-disciplinary group that he has established has led to important and fundamental findings regarding the causative effects of endometriosis on aberrant gene expression in the eutopic endometrium that may contribute to infertility.
Dr. Fazleabas’ scientific contributions have gained him national and international recognition. The University of Illinois honored selected him as a University Scholar in 2001 which is awarded for distinction as a member of its faculty. From 2001-2004 he served as the Lead Director for the Prestigious Frontiers in Reproduction Course held annually at Woods Hole, MA. In recognition of his efforts he was honored with the Beacon Award in 2005. The Beacon Award is bestowed upon an individual who has served as an outstanding source of enlightened guidance to the national reproductive science community’s "Frontiers in Reproduction program" in its efforts to advance promising young scholars’ research careers in the field of reproductive sciences research. For 2005-2006 academic year he was selected as a Committee on Institutional Cooperation – Academic Leadership Program Fellow. This prestigious program brings together leaders from the Big Ten universities and the University of Chicago in a consortium designed to develop leadership and administrative skills. He was a member of the NIH study section on Human Embryology and Development for five years (1992-1997) and then served on the Reproductive Biology Study section from 2000-2004 and also chaired this study section from 2002-2004. He also continues to serve regularly on several other NIH study sections and Special Emphasis Panels. He has also been asked to serve as a panel member to evaluate program projects on Incentives for Contraceptive Research outlined by the Institute of Medicine and supported by the Mellon Foundation. |
