San Antonio (Oct. 22, 2004) – Robert S. Schenken, M.D., professor and chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, is now the president of the nation’s largest society of physicians who specialize in fertility, sterility, menopause and other issues that surround reproduction.
Dr. Schenken was installed as president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine at the ASRM’s 60th Annual Meeting, which ended Oct. 20 in Philadelphia. Dr. Schenken succeeded Marian Damewood, M.D., a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Dr. Schenken, who joined the Health Science Center faculty in 1980, has served the ASRM and its affiliates in many capacities, including seven years on the board of directors and terms as vice president and president-elect. As a member of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, an ASRM affiliate society, he received the President’s Scientific Achievement Award in 1994.
The ASRM has 9,000 members representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 100 countries. Of the 7,000 physician members, 80 percent are obstetrician-gynecologists and 7 percent are urologists. The other members include 500 Ph.D.s and 1,200 allied health professionals such as nurses and technicians.
Dr. Schenken holds the Humana Foundation Distinguished Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Health Science Center. Before becoming department chairman in 2002, he was director of the Health Science Center’s division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility and served as director of the reproductive endocrinology fellowship program.
After completing his bachelor of science degree in chemistry at Stanford University, Dr. Schenken returned to Texas and studied at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, receiving his M.D. in 1977. He completed his residency in ob-gyn at the Health Science Center in San Antonio and a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology at the National Institutes of Health.
He is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. He helps others to achieve certification through his service as a director of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and an examiner for the board’s basic and subspecialty oral examinations.
“I am pleased and honored to be chosen to serve the Society as president in the coming year,” Dr. Schenken said. “We have before us many opportunities to further the Society’s scientific and administrative goals, and I am looking forward to the challenges.”
ASRM Executive Director Robert Rebar, M.D., said: “Dr. Schenken’s insight and intelligence are great assets to the Society, and we anticipate a successful and productive year under his leadership.”
Dr. Schenken heads one of the nation’s top ob-gyn departments. In July of this year, the department’s South Texas Fertility Center was recognized as one of “America’s Top Infertility Clinics” in Town & Country magazine. The article listed Dr. Schenken as a noted physician who sees patients at the San Antonio center.
The Health Science Center was the only center in the Southwest and one of only 12 centers to make the list. Others included Johns Hopkins, the Cleveland Clinic and Stanford.