The founder of the Tyler Medical Clinic, Dr. Edward T. Tyler, was a physician who graduated from the University Medical School in New York. He married in the early 1940's. The marriage was quite good, but there was one problem. As you might have guessed, the problem was infertility. After trying without success for some time, the Tylers came to California, where at that time there was supposed to be a doctor who was more knowledgeable than most of the others. As it happened, the medical care they got in California worked satisfactorily, actually four times. The Tylers not only were happy with the result of their care, but also came to like California, to the degree that they relocated permanently and opened the Tyler Medical Clinic.

Dr. Tyler had no special training, but his interest was in reproduction. The interest was on both ends of reproduction: too much of it (unplanned pregnancies) and lack of it (infertility). He started Family Planning centers in the Los Angeles area, and already in the 1960s had published a number of articles dealing with fertility control. In April 1964, he presented a key paper on the annual meeting of the American Association of Planned Parenthood Physicians. A copy of this presentation is available here. He was interested as well in lack of fertility and difficulties in reproduction, and was involved already in the mid-1950's with the study of ovulation-inducing medication.

As it sometimes happens, Clomiphene Citrate, frequently called simply "Clomid," was studied in the mid-50's as a medication to prevent conception. It affects the cervical mucus, changing it so that penetration of it by the sperm is much more difficult than in non-treated patients. But there were some women who simply did not respond in this particular way, and actually conceived after not being able to get pregnant for a few years. Dr. Tyler and a colleague in Boston were the ones who notified the pharmaceutical company that the "fertility-controlling" medication actually was a "fertility-enhancing" medication. And the pharmaceutical company reacted swiftly, and simply changed the indication for use of Clomid. But they were grateful to Dr. Tyler, and after he passed away in the mid-70's they sponsored ten infertility symposia in his honor dealing with diagnosis and treatment of infertility.

The current Tyler Clinic is grateful to the pharmaceutical company for their generosity.

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