Joanna Scheib

Joanna Scheib Portrait

Professor

267A Young Hall
Office Hours
Office hours by appointment. Not currently taking students.

Education

  • PhD, McMaster University, Canada, 1996

About

Joanna Scheib conducts research on psychosocial issues related to the assisted reproductive technologies. Findings are used to shape practice and policy in family building through gamete donation. Professor Scheib directs the research program at The Sperm Bank of California in Berkeley.

Research Focus

Professor Scheib's research focuses on understanding the experiences of families created through donor conception, and the donors who assist them. In collaboration with The Sperm Bank of California (TSBC) in Berkeley, she examines the experiences of (i) intended parents ("recipients") using a donor program to have children, (ii) donor-conceived people across different family types, (iii) donors after they leave the program, and (iv) the outcome of releasing donor identities to donor-conceived adults. Findings from this work help guide policy development in open-identity gamete donation, and the support needed for all participants.

TSBC was the first organization in the world to offer open-identity donation, meaning that people conceived with the help of this program are among the first adults to access their donor's identity in planned releases.

Lab Website

Lab

Donor Conception & Family Building (Scheib)

Publications

  • Scheib, J.E. & Mackenzie, S. (2025). ‘The kids (and adults) are alright:’ What can we learn from donor-conceived families that thrive? Reproductive BioMedicine Online, 51, 105132. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2025.105132
  • Mackenzie, S., Johnson, N.N., Scheib, J.E., Kali, L. & Wilson, J. (2025). Flourishing families: Promoting public health and reproductive justice for all by protecting and supporting LGBTQ+ families in policy and practice. American Journal of Public Health, 116, 197-201. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2025.308262
  • Scheib, J.E., McCornick, E., Benward J. & Ruby, A. (2020). Finding people like me: Contact among young adults who share an open-identity donor. Human Reproduction Open, 2020. doi:10.1093/hropen/hoaa057
  • Scheib, J.E., Ruby A. & Benward J. (2017). Who requests their sperm donor's identity? The first ten years of information releases to adults with open-identity donors. Fertility & Sterility, 107, 483-493. doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2016.10.023
  • Goldberg, A. E. & Scheib, J. (2015). Female-partnered and single women's contact motivations and experiences with donor-linked families. Human Reproduction, 30, 1375-1385. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dev077
  • Scheib, J. E. & Ruby, A. (2009). Beyond consanguinity risk: Developing donor birth limits that consider psychosocial risk factors. Fertility & Sterility, 91, e12. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2008.12.071
  • Ravitsky, V. & Scheib, J. E. (2010). Donor-conceived individuals' right to know. Hastings Center Bioethics Forum 40 (4).
  • Scheib, J. E., Riordan, M. & Rubin, S. (2005). Adolescents with open-identity sperm donors: Reports from 12-17 year olds. Human Reproduction, 20, 239-252. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deh581

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Teaching

Joanna Scheib teaches in the area of biological psychology.

Current offerings