Veronica Gomez-Lobo, MD

Director of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology
10 Central Dr. Rm 8N248
Bethesda, MD 20892
Email: veronica.gomez-lobo@nih.gov
Phone: (301) 435-6926

Dr. Gomez-Lobo is an obstetrician gynecologist who specializes in pediatric and adolescent gynecology. She currently serves as the Director and Fellowship Director of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology at NICHD and provides care at MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MWHC) and Children’s National Health Systems. After receiving her Doctor of Medicine Degree from Georgetown University (1989), she completed her internship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (1990) and residency at Tufts University (1993) and currently is Professor of Ob/Gyn at Georgetown University. Dr. Gomez-Lobo is the Director of the multidisciplinary Positive Reevaluation of Urogenital Differences service and site PI for the Disorder of Sex Development-Translational Research Network. She served as President of the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (NASPAG) in 2016-2017. She is actively involved in research and has published and lectured extensively regarding the issues in the field of pediatric gynecology and women’s health in transplant recipients. Areas of special research interest include androgen insensitivity syndrome, fertility preservation in special populations and transgender care in adolescents.

Jacqueline Yano Maher, MD, FACOG

Staff Clinician
10 Central Dr. Rm 8N248
Bethesda, MD 20892
Email: maherjy@nih.gov
Phone: (301) 435-6926

Dr. Jacqueline Yano Maher is a Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility specialist with a focus on Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. She currently is a Staff Clinician and Assistant Research Physician at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in the Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology Division. She also is the Director of the Female Fertility Preservation Program at Children’s National Hospital and Co-Chair of the Oncofertility Consortium: Non-onocologic Subcommittee. Read Dr. Maher's biosketch.

Raghuveer Kavarthapu, PhD

Staff Scientist
Bldg. 10, CRC, Rm. 1E-3334 (Office)
Bethesda, MD 20892
Email: raghu.kavarthapu@nih.gov
Ph No.: +1 301-496-5254

Dr. Raghuveer Kavarthapu has more than 15 years of experience in Molecular Endocrinology and Reproductive Biology field. He is currently working as a Staff Scientist at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in the Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology Division. He obtained his master's degree (2005) and Ph.D. in Animal Biotechnology (2010) from University of Hyderabad, India. After obtaining his doctoral degree he joined as a visiting fellow (2011) for his postdoctoral training at NICHD where his research was focused on hormonal regulation of breast cancer and multifunctional role of RNA helicase (DDX25) in germ cell development & male fertility. Dr. Kavarthapu later became staff scientist (2016) at NICHD where he continued his research to understand the molecular mechanisms of male germ cell development/differentiation utilizing cutting edge molecular genomic tools such as single-cell RNA-seq and miRNA-seq. His current research interests include female fertility preservation and single cell/spatial transcriptomic analysis of human ovarian tissue from healthy adolescents, classic galactosemia and patients with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). He is also interested in understanding molecular mechanisms behind the follicular loss in patients receiving gonadotoxic treatment. He is also involved in a collaborative project with NCI group to understand the effects of CAR-T cell therapy on ovarian function using AML and ALL mice models.

• Research Expertise
  Molecular Endocrinology & Reproductive Biology, Endocrine Related Breast Cancer, Spermatogenesis and Male infertility, Sex differentiation and development of gonads, Impact of endocrine disruptors on reproductive system, Molecular Genomics: ScRNA-seq, miRNA-seq and Spatial transcriptomic analysis, Multiplex Immunohistochemistry, Immunofluorescence, In-situ hybridization, Whole testis organ culture and ex-vivo tissue culture, Cell-based assays, luciferase assays, ChIP assays
• Research Interests
  Spatial transcriptomic atlas of human ovarian tissue, Ovarian tissue cryopreservation, Ovarian follicle activation and inhibition, Ovarian tissue histology and Artificial Intelligence, Fertility Preservation for special populations including: 1) Turner Syndrome, 2) Galactosemia, and 3) Adolescents with POI

Laboratory Personnel

(From left to right: Harveen Kaur, Maria De La Luz Sierra (Lucy), Sofia Getachew, Dr. Hong Lou, Dr. Veronica Gomez-Lobo, Dr. Jacqueline Maher, Taylor Badger (MRSP 2022-2023), Dr. Raghu Kavarthapu)