The New England Cryogenic Center Management Team

Passionate about science. Devoted to service.

At NECC, we have an uncommon dedication to our clients. Helping people achieve their dreams of having a family is the most rewarding part of our job. Our management team is distinguished not only by their scientific and business credentials, but by their passion for the mission of our company.

“I enjoyed dealing with their highly competent and professional staff. They really get involved and are excited to help make your dreams come true.”

Catherine Rizza

President

Catherine Rizza has devoted her life to the science of helping people create a family.

As the business manager for Dr. Robert Newton, a pioneer in reproductive therapy, Mrs. Rizza was a first-hand witness to the beginning of assisted reproductive technology and she helped to establish one of the world’s first sperm banks in 1982. As president of the company since 1993, she has helped to build NECC into one of the largest full-service cryobanks in the world.

In the mid-90s, in order to offer families a greater chance to fight disease, Mrs. Rizza and her husband John founded a second company, the New England Cord Blood Bank, where families can store the stem cells found in umbilical cord blood for future use in treating disease.

Dr. Robert Newton, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Medical Director

A pioneer in reproductive therapy, Dr. Robert Newton has helped countless individuals and couples achieve their dreams of parenthood in his 50 years of medical practice. As one of the first specialists in Andrology, the study of male fertility, Dr. Newton founded the Newton Andrology and Cryogenic Center and the New England Sperm Bank (now the New England Cryogenic Center) in 1971. His mission was to improve research in Andrology and to provide sperm banking and sperm donation services to couples confronted with infertility. He remains the company's Medical Director, supervising selection of sperm donors and consulting with patients seeking sperm donation and sperm banking services.

As a noted urologist, Dr. Newton was chief resident at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, practiced at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, served as chief of the Urology division at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and developed the Andrology Division in 1993 at Lahey Clinic. Dr. Newton was a founding member of the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction as well as several other medical societies, including the American Society of Andrology, the American Urologic Association, the American College of Surgeons, the American Fertility Society, the Boston Surgical Society, New England Microsurgical Society, American Association of Tissue Banks, and the European Society of Human Reproduction Embryology.

Dr. Newton received a B.A. in English from Amherst College and an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. As assistant clinical professor he has taught and lectured at Harvard and Tufts Medical Schools, and is the author of many articles published in the world's leading medical journals. He currently serves as the Medical Director of New England Cryogenic Center, supervising selection of sperm donors and consulting with patients seeking sperm donation and sperm banking services.

For a detailed list of articles/ publications click here.

Grace M. Centola, Ph.D., H.C.L.D. (AAB)

Laboratory Director / Tissue Bank Director

Dr. Grace Centola has served as Laboratory Director at NECC since 2001 and has been a significant presence in andrology for more than 25 years.

Dr. Centola received a B.S. in Biology from Utica College of Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in Anatomy from Georgetown University. She has served on the faculty at the Michener Institute for Applied Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center, SUNY Health Sciences Center, Syracuse, NY, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, and the University of Maryland. She is the author of numerous articles in leading medical and scientific journals.

With a rich background in reproductive medicine, Dr. Centola was on the faculty of the University of Rochester for more than 15 years, where she started the first Andrology Laboratory and Sperm Bank in Rochester in 1987. Dr. Centola has also served on the faculty at the Michener Institute for Applied Sciences, (Toronto, CA), University of Rochester Medical Center, SUNY Health Sciences Center (Syracuse, NY), Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (Bethesda, MD), the University of Maryland, director of the ART Laboratory at the Center for Reproductive Medicine at Bryn Mawr Hospital; Director of the Andrology and Endocrinology Laboratory for the Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York and New Jersey; and Assistant Laboratory Director at Offices for Fertility and Reproductive Medicine in New York City. Dr. Centola is board certified as a High Complexity Clinical Laboratory Director (H.C.L.D.) by the American Board of Bioanalysis. She has published over 40 peer reviewed scientific articles, over 70 abstract presentations at national conferences, and 16 book chapters. She is a reviewer for several national and international journals, including Fertility and Sterility, Journal of Andrology, Urology, and Human Reproduction, and has served on the editorial boards of Journal of Andrology and Fertility and Sterility.

Dr. Centola is an active member of several professional societies, including the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and is a charter member of the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology (SMRU) of the ASRM. She currently is the Secretary-Treasurer of the SMRU, and will become president in 2013, a post she previously held. She has served on the Executive Council of the American Society of Andrology and several committees of the society. Dr. Centola served as the inaugural chair of the College of Reproductive Biology (CRB) of the American Association of Bioanalysts, the Eastern Region Chairperson, and is a current member of the Regulatory Task Force of the CRB. She also served as the chair of the Reproductive Council of the American Association of Tissue Banks, as well as on its Board of Governors and Strategic Planning Committee.

For a detailed list of publications click here