Executive and Clinical Leadership

David Stern has over 30 years of women’s health experience and has devoted the majority of his career to the fertility industry. He has held executive leadership positions and built successful teams while launching numerous products in pharmaceutical and biotech markets world-wide.

Before joining Kindbody, David served as the CEO of Boston IVF, one the largest IVF center networks in the United States with 12 full service IVF centers and over 14 satellite centers nationwide. Boston IVF became part of IVIRMA Global, the largest fertility group in the world in 2024. David served as CEO of Symbiomix Therapeutics, a venture backed biotech company. He led the transition of the company from development stage to commercial launch in the US, prior to its acquisition by Lupin Pharmaceuticals in 2017. He served on the board of California Cryobank and has held executive positions in startup companies in the women’s healthcare market, building commercial teams, developing strategy and expanding scientific partnerships for Celmatix, Ohana, and OvaScience. David was the Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Business Franchise for Fertility at Merck Serono, responsible for the strategic development and growth of the portfolio world-wide. Prior to his global role, he was responsible for the US commercial operations in the Fertility, HIV, and Growth Hormone markets. David started his career in women’s health with Organon Pharmaceutics. He has an MBA with a concentration in International Marketing and Management from the F.W. Olin School of Business at Babson College and holds a Bachelors’ degree in Biology from Brandeis University.

He lives with his wife outside of Boston, likes biking, skiing, scuba diving, and watching sports. They have three wonderful children, one lives in the LA area and the other two in the Boston area.

Gina Bruzzichesi, Kindbody’s Co-CEO and President, first joined as Chief Operating Officer (COO), the company’s first in its five year history. Gina has a deep leadership background in human resources and has held senior operational roles at Aspen Dental Management, where she served as COO, as well as CLEAR, WeWork, and Avis. Earlier in her career Gina served as an employment attorney.

Shilpa combines practicality and ingenuity in her approach to business and legal affairs. With a unique background of representing health systems and hospitals, to serving in-house at a health plan and subsequently a health tech company, Shilpa’s broad perspective derived from each industry player is relied upon to generate holistic yet strategic outcomes. She previously worked at Quartet Health and Oscar Insurance Corporation. Prior to going in-house, she worked in the healthcare practices of Foley & Lardner, LLP, and Garfunkel Wild, PC. She received her BA from Tufts University and her JD from Brooklyn Law School.

Jason Barritt, PhD and High Complexity Laboratory Director (HCLD), is Kindbody’s Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to Kindbody, he served more than ten years as Chief Scientific Officer and Lab Director at Southern California Reproductive Center (SCRC) in Beverly Hills, CA, and before that he served 10 years as Lab Director at RMA of New York in Manhattan, which was recently acquired by US Fertility.

Dr. Sasan is a board certified and practicing Ob/Gyn who completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Dr. Sasan is also a member of the Business Group on Health’s Evidence Based Benefit Design Committee. As a practicing clinician for more than 17 years she is dedicated to helping employers deliver comprehensive care with a focus on risk reduction and providing an exceptional, personalized experience. Kindbody’s employer clients have direct access to Dr. Sasan from thought leadership and strategy to the smallest detail to ensure Kindbody exceeds their expectations.

Dr. Sasan and her team provide fertility services, gynecology, low-risk and high-risk prenatal care, and wellness support, offering patients a single door for all of their fertility healthcare needs. Dr. Sasan is a recognized and widely-quoted expert on fertility healthcare and education in the media including NBC News, CBS News, and TODAY.

Lynn Marie Westphal, M.D., FACOG, graduated summa cum laude from Lawrence University, earned her M.D. degree at Stanford University, and did her residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA and Stanford University. She did a fellowship in molecular biology at Stanford University and completed her fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (REI) at UCSF and is double board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology/Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. Dr. Westphal joined the full-time faculty at Stanford University in 1998 and was a Professor in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Director of the Fertility Preservation Program, Director of the Third-Party Reproduction Program, and Director of the REI Fellowship. Her interest in fertility preservation for cancer survivors led her to set up one of the first oocyte cryopreservation programs in the country. She has held numerous national leadership positions and was the President of the Fertility Preservation Special Interest Group of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine from 2008-2009. She was the Director of Women’s Health at Stanford from 2005-2012. In 2012, she co-founded the Stanford Center for Health Research on Women and Sex Differences in Medicine (WSDM) and served as co-director of the program for two years.

Dr. Bendikson did her residency training in OB/GYN at Harvard and completed her reproductive endocrine and infertility fellowship training at Cornell. She is a California native, having graduated from UCLA with honors. After first leaving Los Angeles for NYU Medical School, she finally returned after training to become an assistant professor at the USC Keck School of Medicine.

Dr. Bendikson was a leader at USC Fertility for over a decade. Dr. Bendikson founded the Center for Pregnancy Loss for patients who have suffered from pregnancy loss and miscarriage. Dr. Bendikson also founded the Fertility Diagnostics Program at USC, to provide a way for young adults to better understand their reproductive potential to help them make educated choices for their future.

She is a nationally recognized leader in the fertility field. She has been the Chair of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine’s (ASRM) Patient Education Committee since 2016 and serves as a member of the ASRM Practice Committee. She is on the board of the ASRM Early Pregnancy Loss Special Interest group and served as President in 2020. She has been recognized for many years as one of LA’s Top Doctors by Los Angeles Magazine.

Dr. Bendikson has presented her award-winning research at both national and international conferences. She has authored numerous publications on a wide variety of topics including the effects of Vitamin D on implantation, IVF for women of advanced maternal age, egg freezing, IVF outcomes in women of different ethnicities, and sex selection of embryos.

It is her goal to provide the highest quality care for her patients and to help them fulfill their desire of having a healthy baby, whether that be now or in the future. In addition, she strives to guide her patients through what can be a trying and difficult journey by providing them with the support and personal attention they need and deserve.

Dr. Amber R. Cooper, MD, MS is Chief Medical Officer-Genomics and Laboratory Sciences, and Medical and IVF Practice Director, St. Louis. Prior to joining Kindbody, Dr. Cooper was a founding physician and the Chief Medical Officer for the St. Louis region of Vios Fertility Institute. She understands the challenges of infertility both personally and professionally. Board certified in both Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, she completed both her residency and fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. During her years of practice, Dr. Cooper has received numerous awards and has authored articles for several medical journals and textbooks.

She is a globally recognized expert on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to increase access to fertility treatments. In 2022, Dr. Cooper presented at the first world conference on AI and fertility in Croatia, and more recently spoke on the topic at The Middle East Fertility Conference in Dubai.

Additionally, she has led clinical studies, had her research covered in the local and national press, and spoken both nationally and internationally on various topics related to fertility. While she is passionate for all facets of fertility health, she has a special interest in improving IVF success and outcomes, fertility preservation, ovarian dysfunction, ovarian reserve and aging, hysteroscopic surgery, genetics, and the environmental impact on ovarian aging and function.

Dr. Cooper serves patients from our St. Louis, MO, Chicago, IL, and our Rogers, AR clinics.

Roohi Jeelani, MD, FACOG, is a double board certified Reproductive Endocrinologist and Infertility Specialist (REI). A graduate of Ross University School of Medicine, she completed both her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and her fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Wayne State University – Detroit Medical Center. During her medical training, Dr. Jeelani received numerous awards in the areas of fetal medicine and reproductive medicine. In addition, she has authored a variety of publications and book chapters in well known journals highlighting cutting-edge REI advancement and has presented at national/international conferences and symposiums focused on advancements in women’s health. Dr. Jeelani is an active member of many medical associations. A highly-skilled reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist focusing on all areas of reproductive health, Dr. Jeelani has a special interest in oncofertility, toxins’ impact on reproductive function, chemotherapy, and oocyte cryopreservation.