Piedmont Reproductive Endocrinology Group

John Frederick Payne, MD, FACOG

Reproductive Endocrinologist


John F. Payne M.D., FACOG –
Dr. Payne joined the staff at PREG on September 1st, 2007.  He has transitioned to civilian private practice after a successful fifteen-year military medical career with his last three years assigned to Walter Reed Army Medical Center as the Chief of the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Division in the Ob/Gyn Department and was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Medical Corps. He is board-certified in both General Obstetrics and Gynecology and in the subspecialty of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. He is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), a member in both the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and the Society of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (SREI), and a member of the American Medical Association (AMA). He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) in both general Ob/Gyn and REI, and a Diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners of the United States of America.

Dr. Payne is a native of South Carolina and was the Salutatorian of his class at Blue Ridge High School in Greenville County. He graduated from Furman University in Greenville, SC (1984-88) with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Biology with supporting chemistry courses. While at Furman, Dr. Payne was awarded the Furman Scholars’ Scholarship, J.E. Sirrine Scholarship, Army ROTC Scholarship, and American Legion Scholastic Excellence Medal, and was named to Furman’s President’s and Dean’s Lists. He was commissioned as Second Lieutenant after completing a 4-year Army ROTC scholarship program.

Dr. Payne was awarded the early acceptance to medical school after his sophomore year at Furman and after graduation attended the Medical University of South Carolina, College of Medicine, in Charleston, SC and graduated in the top third of his class with a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree (1988-92). His honors at MUSC include being awarded a 4-year full scholarship in the Army Health Professions Scholarship Program and being named to the Dean’s List for the College of Medicine.

Dr. Payne completed an Obstetrics and Gynecology internship and residency training (1992-96) at Madigan Army Medical Center in Fort Lewis, WA. His awards included recognition for the highest Madigan Ob/Gyn resident score and scoring >90% among chief residents nationwide on the Council of Resident Education in Ob/Gyn In-Training Exam in 1996. He was also awarded the “Special Excellence in Endoscopic Procedures” for Madigan’s residents and membership in the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists in 1996.

Dr. Payne then served as an Ob/Gyn generalist and Assistant Chief, Ob/Gyn service at Fort Benning, GA (1996-99), and as Chief, Dept. of Ob/Gyn and Ob/Gyn Consultant for the South East Regional Medical Command at Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, GA (1999-2001). While in Augusta, he held an appointment on the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) faculty as a Clinical Instructor in the Ob/Gyn department and served as the Chief, Gynecology service at the Augusta Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Although he enjoyed the practicing general Ob/Gyn and delivering babies, Dr. Payne’s infertility rotations during medical school and in residency inspired him. He found his true passion was taking care of patients with infertility and he committed to further pursuing his dream. He was competitively selected for the Army’s single slot for funding for subspecialty training in REI and successfully completed the highly competitive interviewing process for civilian fellowship training and was awarded an REI fellowship at Duke University Medical Center.

Dr. Payne completed a 3-year subspecialty fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC (2001-2004) and had an academic appointment as a Clinical Associate in the Ob/Gyn Department at DUMC. He was awarded Organon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Unrestricted Educational Research Grant for $44,000. He performed research in the In-vitro fertilization (IVF) lab at Duke studying the relationship between sperm deoxyribonucleic acid fragmentation and outcomes of assisted reproductive techniques and the relationship between pre-embryo pronuclear morphology (zygote score) and standard day 2 or 3 embryo morphology with regard to assisted reproductive technique outcomes. His research led to multiple publications and presentations at national medical conferences.

After his REI fellowship, Dr. Payne was the Chief of the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Division in the Department of Ob/Gyn and the departmental Performance Improvement officer at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington, DC from July 2004-Sep 2007. He held an academic appointment as Assistant Professor of the Ob/Gyn Department at the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD, where he was actively involved in the education of medical students. In addition to his administrative responsibilities of managing the WRAMC REI division, which included the military’s largest assisted reproductive technology (ART) program which performed over 450 IVF cycles a year, his duties included a busy infertility practice, performing advanced laparoscopic and hysteroscopic surgeries and microsurgical tubal reanastomoses, clinical research, teaching and training WRAMC Ob/Gyn residents and fellows from the Combined NICHD/Federal fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology. Dr. Payne was awarded the Army Meritorious Service Medal (MSM), with two oak-leaf clusters, while serving in Iraq with the Task Force 47th Combat Support Hospital as Chief Gynecologist, Senior Triage officer, and surgeon on a trauma team in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2006. He received an honorable discharge from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel in September 2007 after successfully completing his military service obligation with distinction.

Dr. Payne is excited about joining practice with Dr. John Nichols and the staff at PREG. His areas of expertise include infertility and in-vitro fertilization, reproductive endocrine disorders and menopause, PCOS, endometriosis, pubertal abnormalities, and advanced surgical procedures. Dr. Payne is also committed to delivering to you the most up-to-date and successful treatments for infertility, unparalleled compassion and caring and a deep dedication to help you achieve your goal of a family.