Collab Fertility Celebrates Its 1st Year Anniversary With a Party and Ribbon Cutting in Shadelands
Collab Fertility Founder & Medical Director Thalia Segal, MD, cuts the celebratory red ribbon marking Collab’s first anniversary in Shadelands. Joining her are Collab team members and (on Thalia’s immediate left) Walnut Creek Mayor Cindy Darling and Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Wilk.
Collab Fertility Founder & Medical Director Thalia Segal, MD, has much to be thankful for these days, and is enthusiastic in expressing her appreciation to her team, her medical partners, her patients, her family, and the community in which she lives and works.
A fellowship trained reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist, Thalia is the visionary behind Collab Fertility, the 9,000-SF high-tech, purpose-built medical facility, located in Shadelands, with a fertility clinic, surgery center, and the largest in vitro fertilization (IVF) lab in the Bay Area, providing patients regional access to premier, client-centered care that focuses on compassion, transparency, and the IVF patient experience.
On May 28, Thalia and her team held a festive community party and ribbon cutting to celebrate their first year anniversary, attended by scores of family and friends, patients and colleagues.
Family, friends, colleagues, and elected officials joined the Collab Fertility team on a gorgeous May afternoon to celebrate Collab’s first year anniversary with music, food, drink, and well wishes for the East Bay’s premier fertility center.
“There’s a large and growing demand for access to quality fertility services in the East Bay and Northern California regions,” said Thalia, who has been working in reproductive health for close to 15 years. She chose Shadelands in Walnut Creek to open her private practice and full-scope fertility center because of its central East Bay location and robust, top-tier medical community of specialists and high-tech resources. “Collab is short for collaborative because that's the true spirit of this center. Collaboration with patients, staff, local providers, and other practitioners, such as acupuncture and psychology—every discipline that can help our patients be successful. My hope is that we help thousands of patients achieve the families they want together."
Collab Fertility Medical Director Thalia Segal, MD, holds up Collab’s branded onesie for Collab Cuties.
“It has been such an amazing first year! We had our first IVF baby born April 16, 2025. Very exciting! I got to hold him—he has his father’s nose. That was something—really special. We now have three more babies born, and we have 29 on the way!”
Collab’s Fertility Fridays program, held one Friday a month, offers women free onsite blood draws to assess their ovarian reserve.
This year, Collab Fertility launched its community-wide Fertility Fridays program, held one Friday a month, offering women a free onsite AMH (anti-Müllerian hormone) blood draw, which is a blood test to assess a woman's ovarian reserve, essentially indicating the number of eggs she has left. With the free blood draw comes a complimentary 15-minute consultation with Thalia to review results and discuss options. Collab has held seven events and served 273 women. The next free Fertility Friday is Friday, June 27, 12:30-3:30pm. Register here.
Collab’s services extend to reproductive-age oncology patients who are about to start chemotherapy or other cancer treatments. “For men, prior to beginning treatment, we’re able to freeze their sperm, and for women we’re able to freeze their eggs and embryos through fertility preservation. Once they’re though their cancer treatments, they can use their frozen gametes to build their family. Most people do very well now with advancements in both cancer and fertility treatments. There can be life and kids after cancer.”
“One of the most exciting things we’ve done to improve the patient experience and boost fertility is to develop the Collab Way, an evidence-based, integrative care model designed to support our patient’s body and mind throughout their journey,” said Thalia. The four pillars of the Collab Way are free nutrition counseling, environmental toxin assessment, wellness, and research. “We’re the first fertility center to incorporate practical guidance in nutrition, reducing environmental toxins, and incorporating wellness resources from Day One. We build the Collab Way into every patient’s care, so they’ll feel supported, empowered, and never alone.”
(l) Mimi Huang, registered dietician nutritionist, has been hired full time to provide free nutritional counseling to patients—from Day One—as part of the comprehensive Collab Way approach to fertility care, developed by (r) Medical Director Thalia Segal, MD.
“Patients were asking us about nutrition and supplements to boost their fertility and increase sperm and egg quality. We believe in food as medicine. So we hired a full-time registered dietician nutritionist, Mimi Huang, who specializes in fertility, to meet with patients from Day One. She tailors her advice and recommendations for each patient and their infertility issue.”
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are present in hundreds of everyday items, such as plastics, personal care products, and cleaning supplies. “Based on my research, I offer tips, tools, and practical guidance so patients can make changes and better choices to help improve their egg and sperm quality. Considering environmental factors is often an afterthought in infertility treatments, after IVF treatments have failed. But we act on this before treatments begin to help patients decrease their exposure and experience a better outcome with our fertility treatments.”
Dr. Thalia Segal spoke at Collab Fertility’s first anniversary party held on May 28, describing the joys of the first year (three babies and 29 on the way), and an update on achievements in the second year, which include the launch of a branded approach to patient care known as the Collab Way and the establishment of on onsite research center. Bob Linscheid, president & CEO of the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce, stands to her right.
Attention to overall wellness beyond Collab’s clinic is critical to Thalia’s approach to patient care. She and her team have developed a vetted list of trusted fertility and reproductive wellness experts and partners, including fertility acupuncturists and therapists who specialize in infertility and the stress of miscarriage, who will support patients on their journey.
The fourth pillar is research. “As former faculty at UCSF, I’ve continued my research studies and established a research center right here, at Collab—the Center for Lifestyle, Environmental Toxins, and Nutrition, or CLEAN. We have our first privately funded research project in place, looking at using glass in the IVF lab instead of polystyrene. Plastic is the industry’s long-time standard of care. We want to change that—we’d like to be the first all-glass fertility lab in the world. For us and for our patients, research into replacing plastic with glass is very exciting!”
Collab Fertility Medical Director Thalia Segal, MD, (center) is flanked by her Collab team of medical professionals representing specialties in all areas of fertility care.
Thalia appreciates the benefit of being in private practice and the freedom to brainstorm, come up with an idea, and run with it—make it happen. “The Collab Way was inspired by our patients who ask a lot of questions and appreciate education that helps them experience a positive outcome. The Collab Way describes our approach to treating the whole patient—with compassion and collaboration—with the goal of getting pregnant, giving birth to healthy babies, and growing the family people have been hoping for.”
Visit Colab Fertility for more information and videos about Collab’s expansive services. Take a virtual tour of the clinic and lab here.
