Nestled in Old Town Pasadena, Kolb Fertility sits within one of the most competitive fertility markets in the country. The greater Los Angeles area gives patients access to a deep bench of reproductive specialists, world-class hospital systems, and extensive donor and surrogacy networks. Within that landscape, Dr. Bradford Kolb has built a practice widely recognized for its expertise in complex and third-party reproduction cases. Whether you are just beginning fertility testing or arriving after failed cycles elsewhere, this guide covers what Kolb Fertility offers, how the clinic performs, and what prospective patients should know before their first appointment.
Dr. Bradford Kolb: Credentials and Approach
Dr. Kolb trained at three of the country's most respected academic medical centers. He completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of California, Irvine, his OB/GYN residency at Northwestern University, and a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of Southern California. He also holds an MBA from UCLA and serves as Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at USC Keck School of Medicine.
Board-certified in both Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Dr. Kolb has been named a Top Doctor by Los Angeles Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and Pasadena Magazine every year since 2009. He received the RESOLVE Excellence Award in 2007 and a national CREOG teaching award in 2006, and has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed articles.
Clinically, Dr. Kolb is best known for his outcomes with complex cases and his national leadership in third-party reproduction. He is widely cited as one of the largest providers of egg donation and surrogacy in the United States, drawing patients from more than 30 countries. He also founded Love Comes First, a nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ family-building, and co-founded the LGBTQ Special Interest Group within ASRM — reflecting an institutional commitment to inclusive care that predates the current wave of marketing in this space.
Services and Treatments
Kolb Fertility operates within the HRC Fertility network and offers a comprehensive suite of reproductive services from its 55 S. Lake Avenue location on the ninth floor of a building in the heart of Old Town Pasadena. Core treatments include:
- IVF with single embryo transfer (SET) protocols
- IUI and ICSI
- Egg freezing and fertility preservation, an area in which Dr. Kolb helped pioneer early oocyte cryopreservation techniques
- Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT-A and PGT-M) for chromosomal and monogenic disease screening
- Laser-assisted hatching
- Third-party reproduction: egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation, and gestational surrogacy
The Pasadena location hosts one of the largest third-party reproduction programs on the West Coast — a meaningful differentiator for intended parents who need a single coordinated team rather than separate fertility and surrogacy entities working in parallel. The practice serves single parents and LGBTQ+ families using the same protocols and the same attention as any other patient population. See our IVF guide for a full walkthrough of what the IVF process involves from stimulation through embryo transfer.
Laboratory and Success Rates
The HRC Fertility laboratory serving the Pasadena clinic uses micro-environment incubators designed to maintain highly stable culture conditions for developing embryos. The lab also employs time-lapse imaging systems that allow embryologists to monitor embryo development continuously without disrupting culture conditions, along with CHLOE AI-assisted tools to support embryo selection. The program achieved the West Coast's first IVF pregnancy using ICSI — a milestone that reflects its history at the forefront of laboratory technique.
Published SART data for HRC Fertility's Pasadena location shows live birth rates of approximately 45.6% for patients under 35, 32.8% for the 35–37 age group, and 19.3% for the 38–40 cohort — figures that track competitively against national averages for high-volume programs. These numbers decline at 41–42 (approximately 4.9%), consistent with the universal biological impact of egg quality on outcomes. For context on how these figures compare to other programs in the state, see our guide to fertility clinics in California.
Patient Experience
Patients consistently describe Dr. Kolb as deeply knowledgeable and willing to take on difficult cases that other programs have declined. Each patient is assigned a dedicated personal nurse coordinator for the duration of care, maintaining communication continuity across monitoring, retrieval, transfer, and follow-up. Weekend monitoring hours (Saturday and Sunday, 8 AM to noon) reduce the scheduling burden on working patients.
Some reviews note that Dr. Kolb's communication style can be direct rather than emotionally expressive, especially when delivering difficult news. Patients who want a thorough walkthrough of options at each decision point benefit from preparing specific questions in advance. Staff responsiveness between appointments has drawn mixed feedback — worth factoring in if frequent check-ins matter to your experience.
Considering At-Home Insemination?
Not every fertility journey begins in a clinic. At-home intracervical insemination (ICI) is a lower-cost, private option that suits patients with no known fertility diagnosis — including single parents by choice, same-sex couples, and people who want to try a few cycles before committing to clinical treatment.
At-home insemination kits like those from MakeAMom come with step-by-step instructions designed for donor or partner sperm. Kits are a one-time purchase that can be reused until conception succeeds, require no clinic visit, and arrive in plain, discreet packaging. Many patients use them as a first step while working toward a fertility consultation — or alongside ovulation tracking while they wait for an appointment slot.
If you have a known fertility diagnosis, have been trying for 12 months without success (six months if you're over 35), or your physician has already recommended IUI or IVF, a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist is the right next step.
Insurance and Financing
California's Senate Bill 729 (SB 729), effective for eligible employer health plans on January 1, 2026, significantly expands fertility coverage in the state. The law requires fully insured large-group plans — those covering 101 or more employees and regulated by California's Department of Insurance or Department of Managed Health Care — to cover infertility diagnosis and treatment, including up to three completed egg retrievals per lifetime and unlimited embryo transfers. Monitoring, lab work, and associated medications are included. The mandate uses an inclusive definition of infertility, extending coverage to LGBTQ+ individuals and single people.
SB 729 does not apply to self-funded employer plans (governed by federal ERISA law), small-group plans, individual market plans, or Medi-Cal. If you are unsure whether your plan qualifies, confirm with your HR department before your first visit.
For patients without applicable coverage, HRC Fertility Pasadena works with financing partners including CapexMD and Future Family, both offering installment loan programs designed for fertility treatment costs. Military discounts are also available. Out-of-pocket costs vary considerably based on medication response, number of cycles, and whether donor material is involved — request a detailed cost estimate at your initial consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Dr. Kolb perform procedures personally, or do patients rotate among physicians? Dr. Kolb oversees or personally performs the key procedures in his patients' cycles. The Pasadena location has multiple reproductive endocrinologists on staff for monitoring appointments, but Dr. Kolb maintains direct involvement in clinical decisions and procedures for his own patients.
Is this practice a good fit for LGBTQ+ intended parents? Yes — this is one of the practice's genuine areas of institutional depth. Dr. Kolb co-founded the ASRM LGBTQ Special Interest Group and the Love Comes First nonprofit, and the third-party reproduction program is designed to coordinate egg donation, surrogacy, and donor sperm cases end to end for gay male couples, lesbian couples, and trans and nonbinary individuals.
What genetic testing is available before embryo transfer? The practice offers PGT-A (chromosomal aneuploidy screening) and PGT-M (single-gene disease testing). Both are performed on biopsied blastocyst-stage embryos before transfer and can meaningfully reduce miscarriage risk — particularly relevant for patients over 37 or those with a history of recurrent pregnancy loss.
Does the clinic work with patients traveling from outside California? Yes. Dr. Kolb's practice has long served patients from other states and internationally, particularly for egg donation and surrogacy cycles. The team is experienced at coordinating remote monitoring with local physicians and managing long-distance communication throughout a cycle.