PROFILE: LEADING Fertility Specialist

Dr. Arlene J. Morales

Education: Dr. Morales graduated from the Johns Hopkins University-School of Medicine and was a resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.  Dr. Morales completed a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of California, San Diego, and is currently Board Certified in both Ob/Gyn and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.  After fellowship, Dr. Morales was an Assistant Professor in the UCSD School of Medicine.  After UCSD, she served as the Director of Reproductive Technologies as an Associate Professor at Emory University.  She has authored over thirty peer reviewed journal articles, including an often cited paper introducing the effects of DHEA.  After 8 years in academic medicine, Dr. Morales moved back to San Diego to found Fertility Specialists Medical Group. 

Awards:  Dr. Morales received the Miriam Torrey Mathematics Award, the Watson Sellard Scholarship for Study Abroad, the Harold Lamport Biomedical Research Award, the Laurel and Clarence H. Koennecke Obstetrics and Gynecology Award., the Berlex Foundation Resident Education Award, the Outstanding Resident in Gynecologic Endoscopy Award from the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopy.  She has appeared in San Diego Best Doctors from 1996 to 2002.  Note that Fertility is no longer a reviewed category of physicians in San Diego Magazine.  She appeared in Guide to Top Doctors from 2004 to 2005, and has been named to Best Doctors from 2007 to 2009.

Ethics:  Dr. Morales has always had a strong commitment to the ethical practice of medicine and has given her time to many committees whose purpose has been to determine and interpret policy regarding ethics in patient care.  Dr. Morales became involved while she was as an Assistant Professor at UCSD, serving on the Ethics Committee and Consultation at UCSD School of Medicine from 1994 to 1997.  She then served on the Ethics Committee at Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta Georgia from 1998 to 1999, as Chairman of the Ethics Committee from 2003 to 2005 in the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, and on the San Diego County Medical Society Ethics Committee from 2000 to 2003. Since her return to San Diego in 2000, Dr. Morales has been a member of the Ethics Committee at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Sharp Memorial Hospital.  Her area of special interest lies at the intersection of reproduction, technology, and ethics. 

Associations:  Dr. Morales is a current member of the Johns Hopkins Medical and Surgical Society, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Society of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (Secretary of Women’s Council Board for 2009 - 2010), the Society of Reproductive Endocrinologists, the North American Menopause Society, the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the California Medical Association, the American Board of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (Board Examiner 2000 - 2001), Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (Executive Council 2007 - 2008), the Endocrine Society, and the San Diego Reproductive Society (President 1995 - 1996). 

A supporter of the local community, Dr. Morales has made over one hundred presentations to the local medical community and served on eight different committees at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Sharp Memorial Hospital.  Dr. Morales is also involved in the National Charity League, fund raising for The Bishop’s School, and a participant in the 2008 and 2009 Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure.