Our Team

Jan Friberg, MD, PhD, FACOG

With more than five decades of pioneering experience in fertility care, Dr. Friberg has assisted with the creation of more than 10,000 babies throughout his career and brings a wealth of expertise to your unique fertility challenges.
  • Dr. Friberg began his medical career in 1964 at Uppsala University in Sweden, working alongside the renowned Carl Axel Gemzell, MD, PhD, another pioneer in reproductive endocrinology. Dr. Gemzell had invented an immunological pregnancy test on urine in 1956 and was the first to develop a technique to extract the pituitary hormones follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) in 1958. In 1960, he delivered the first twin pregnancy after injection of these hormones into a woman to stimulate pregnancy. This discovery ushered in the modern era of fertility stimulation.
  • Dr. Friberg and Dr. Gemzell worked together for 11 years in Sweden and then six more years in New York, providing fertility care for patients from across the globe.
  • Dr. Friberg’s infertility approach started with hormone stimulation of ovulatory insufficiency and expanded to address different causes of immunological problems in infertility such as sperm antibodies and multiple pregnancy losses.
  • In 1970, Dr. Friberg drew attention to the effect of bacteria and mycoplasma in infertility and how bacteria could attach to sperm and travel to the uterus and fallopian tubes. He also invented a new technique to open blocked fallopian tubes using transvaginal tubal catherization.
  • Dr. Friberg also developed a new test for sperm antibodies and explained its value in infertility evaluation in his combined MD and PhD dissertations in Sweden in 1974.
  • After moving to the United States in 1975, Dr. Friberg completed another residency and fellowship at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York.
  • In 1981, Dr. Friberg became the Director for Reproductive Endocrinology at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago with a teaching position at Rush University.
  • In 1982, Dr. Friberg was instrumental in starting the first IVF program in the Midwest.
  • Throughout his career, Dr. Friberg has published close to 200 peer-reviewed papers, and for a 10-year period, he served as Co-editor in Chief of the Journal of In Vitro Fertilization.
  • In 1986, Dr. Friberg became a professor at Rush University.
  • In 1989, Dr. Friberg left his professorship and academic career and joined his wife in private practice in Winnetka and Glencoe, Illinois, where he has been working for the past 30+ years, specializing in helping patients with infertility.
  • Most recently, Dr. Friberg has been pioneering the use of stem cells and exosomes in fertility treatment to help stimulate both egg and sperm production. Click here to learn more.

Dr. Friberg has lived for more than 40 years in Winnetka, Illinois. In his free time, he enjoys bird watching, wild plants and gardening.

Abeer Salhia, MT, CLS, MS, PhD, DLM, CLD — Embryologist

For more than 15 years, Dr. Salhia has been dedicated to handling what she fondly calls “the spark that starts the little you and me” — the human embryo.

Not only is Dr. Salhia an experienced, knowledgeable embryologist and laboratory director, she has also been an infertility patient herself. ln the summer of 2003, Dr. Salhia began her own journey to motherhood through in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment to conceive her second child. As a result, Dr. Salhia has a unique perspective and understands what a patient seeking infertility treatment might experience. She offers not only her expertise in embryology and andrology laboratory services, but also a more empathetic approach than many others in her field. “l offer advanced reproduction technology services with a heart,” she often says.

Dr. Salhia earned her bachelor’s degree in Clinical Laboratory Science from Rush University in Chicago in 1998, and completed graduate studies at Eastern Virginia Medical School in 2007, specializing in Embryology and Andrology. She received her Diploma of Laboratory Management and Medical Technology credentials through the American Society for Clinical Pathology. Dr. Salhia works in partnership with Dr. Friberg and knows how to specially customize IVF procedures based on the individual needs of our patients.

Michael Friberg — Practice Administrator

Mike has been managing the financial and administrative aspects of Friberg Fertility since 2003, and graduated from the University of lllinois at Champagne-Urbana in 2000. He frequently works at the front desk, greeting patients as they arrive and also works with our medical billing team. He is a long-time resident of Chicago’s Bucktown area and spends his free time enjoying the culture of the city and all it has to offer.