FACTS Teacher Series: Gretchen Marsh, DO
For the Love of Learning: From Family Medicine to Fertility Appreciation
By: Maura Gentry
Director’s Note: As part of our FACTS Teacher series, we highlight the diverse set of physicians and clinicians who contribute their time and expertise to help us educate the next generation of medical professionals via our FACTS elective. Our series continues with Dr. Gretchen Marsh, a family physician who also has training in the Creighton Model and Natural Procreative Technology (NaPro). By sharing her clinical experience and interest about the impact of environmental factors on male and female fertility, she lends invaluable insights to our elective case study discussions. Learn more about Dr. Marsh by checking out her entry in the FACTS Physician/ Clinician Directory. If you are an FABM-trained medical professional or educator, please apply here to join the directory.
Meet Dr. Gretchen Marsh
Dr. Marsh’s love of learning and desire to expand her understanding of the world initially drew her to the sciences. This drive led her to study medicine at Western University of Health Sciences, where she completed a residency in family medicine in 1991. Presently, Dr. Marsh works as a family physician at the Fertility Care Center of Reno in Nevada. Her current practice has been shaped by her encounter with fertility awareness — but it has taken years.
Turning Points
Reflecting on her own experience with cycle disorders in her early years and feeling dissatisfied with the methods of treatment available at the time, she began to research other options and eventually discovered natural or fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs).
Marsh cites the Women’s Health Initiative as a turning point in her medical career: in 1991, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) began the initiative, which included a clinical trial, an observational study, and a community prevention study aimed at addressing major health issues causing morbidity in post-menopausal women. The study has since extended its reach with ancillary studies, but the initial 2005 findings greatly affected Marsh’s research and clinical focus.
Marsh shared her surprise at the study findings: “We began to find out that [in regard to] all the hormones we were giving women, not all the research had really been done.”
Continuing Her Education
After spending several years investigating the Women’s Health Initiative, Marsh ultimately connected with the Pope Paul VI Institute and trained as a Creighton Model FertilityCare Practitioner and Medical Consultant. It was there she learned the protocols of NaProTECHNOLOGY (Natural Procreative Technology).”
Convicted about this new frontier in women’s healthcare, Marsh wanted to incorporate these protocols into her own practice. Yet, like many practitioners of restorative reproductive medicine, Marsh found little to no support for this approach among her colleagues. However, this did not stop her.
“I just began incorporating these protocols, and since the administrators were happy with the numbers I was producing, they didn’t push back,” she said. “You can do this as a family medicine physician or as an OB-GYN. People may think you’re odd, but you just do it.”
“I just began incorporating these protocols, and since the administrators were happy with the numbers I was producing, they didn’t push back. You can do this as a family medicine physician or as an OB-GYN.”
Reflecting on her own journey, Marsh said it was also a faith-based journey for her.
“The more you adhere to a moral, ethical view of the whole person, the better the science becomes,” she said. “The end goal is to return [your patient] to health.”
Emerging Questions: Exploring Environmental Factors & Fertility
Currently, Dr. Marsh applies her training as a Creighton-trained physician to her research interests related to environmental impacts on both male and female fertility. Marsh is especially interested in biophysical markers in women’s charting, and she is invested in publicizing research that utilizes charting as a method of inquiry.
“We need to share research based [in] these methods so that it becomes more widely accepted,” Dr. Marsh said.
During the course of her FABM journey, Dr. Marsh crossed paths with FACTS co-founder, Dr. Marguerite Duane, at various conferences and lectures. Dr. Marsh has since expanded her involvement with FACTS over the past few years. She is listed in the FACTS directory, offering her clinical expertise in both the Creighton Model and NaProTECHNOLOGY. Additionally, she currently volunteers her time as a FACTS preceptor and case study leader and the students rate her highly, with one student commenting:
“Dr. Marsh was so great to work with. I was so inspired by her and humbled by her kindness.”
“Unlearning” and Hope for the Future
In the years to come, Marsh hopes that physicians come to see FABMs and restorative reproductive medicine as a “far better approach” to healthcare for men and women, including adolescents.
“Even if the person isn’t concerned about fertility,” Marsh said, “it is a mindset that says ‘I need to look at the entire person in front of me,’ not just thinking right here and now, but also taking the long term approach.”
Marsh hopes that physicians come to see FABMs and restorative reproductive medicine as a “far better approach” to healthcare for men and women, including adolescents.
She also believes there is still some unlearning to do among medical students.
“Obviously, our students are already having that shift in their approach and are very humble about it,” Dr. Marsh said. “I think overall, though, we are still a long way off from what we are teaching. The only thing we have is a pill pack? That’s the extent of our abilities? It’s very telling.”
In terms of the future of the field, Marsh sees not only a growing need, but also a great opportunity for future physicians to expand their approach to patient care and explore the root causes of issues experienced by women and couples through a restorative reproductive approach. Shaped by her years of research in environmental factors, she asks: “What are we subjecting ourselves to environmentally?”
“There seem to be problems with fertility and health across the board,” Dr. Marsh said, noting that her subset of patients represent a microcosm of the overall population.
Marsh sees not only a growing need, but also a great opportunity for future physicians to expand their approach to patient care and explore the root causes of issues experienced by women and couples through a restorative reproductive approach.
There remain many unknowns, but Dr. Marsh is excited to see what the future will hold.
“This will be exciting across a new physician’s career,” Dr. Marsh said. “There is opportunity to be found in both larger and smaller research opportunities, especially in primary care. There is so much that needs to be done.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maura Gentry
Maura Gentry is a freelance writer living in Albuquerque, NM. Trained as a librarian, she is an avid reader and runs a blog reviewing her current favorites. While anticipating the arrival of her first child this spring, she is leaning into baking, crocheting, and going on walks with her dog, Pippi.
