She completed her post graduate degree in 1995 from the University of Hawaii and received her PhD degree from the Tufts University in 2002. She was a Research Staff at the Harvard Medical School from 2003-04 and a Senior Embryologist at the Brigham's and Women's Hospital from 2002-04. Dr. Combelles is a cell biologist by training and her broad interests lie in oocyte quality and the optimization of culture systems. Most of her work has been on in vitro oocyte maturation in mouse and human oocytes. She is now working on oxidative stress in the ovary and its potential influences on oocyte maturation and oocyte quality at large. She has published over 20 original articles and reviews and is a reviewer for a number of journals which includes Human Reproduction, Biology of Reproduction and Biomaterials.