NaProTechnology Fellowship (St. John Paul the Great Fellowship)

The NaProTechnology Fellowship is a one-year training program for physicians, run by the Saint Paul VI Institute. Its formal name is the St. John Paul the Great Fellowship in Medical and Surgical NaProTechnology. It is a postgraduate program. Technically, it lasts eleven months.

The fellowship trains physicians in both halves of restorative fertility care. The medical half covers hormone testing timed to the cycle. It also covers a diagnostic workup built on chart data. The surgical half covers reconstructive pelvic surgery. This surgery repairs disease rather than bypassing it.

Completion of the fellowship earns a surgical distinction with no acronym of its own. A physician who completes it is a former NaPro Fellow, or fellowship-trained. These phrases describe completed training. They are not letters after a name. They never appear next to FCMC or CFCMC.

Most NaPro physicians hold the CFCMC, Certified FertilityCare Medical Consultant title. The American Academy of FertilityCare Professionals grants it. Completion of the fellowship is a recognized route to apply for that title. It does not replace the title.

In the late 1980s, reconstructive pelvic surgeon Dr. Veasy Buttram started a one-year fellowship in reproductive surgery. The timing explains the reason. The first IVF birth came in 1978. After that, training for fertility specialists (reproductive endocrinology) moved almost entirely to IVF. It also moved to other artificial reproductive technologies. Mainstream programs dropped their focus on restorative surgical skill.

Restorative surgery for fertility continued as a taught skill. Meanwhile, the wider field moved toward bypassing the diseases it once operated to repair. A former NaPro Fellow works from the same chart data as any NaProTechnology Medical Consultant. The fellow adds a full year of surgical training.

Couples who review the background of a surgeon can look for the phrase "fellowship-trained." Clinicians who make referrals can do the same. The phrase marks that completed year of training.