Message from the Chair
Clinical departments within academic medical centers carry many responsibilities. These include the education of physicians, both prior, during and subsequent to residency training, the advancement of the science of medicine through basic and clinical research, and clinical service to patients. While all are important I would like to take this opportunity to focus on progress made by the MCW Department of Urology in the realm of clinical service.
From a robust foundation of 5 Urologists' in 1999, the faculty of the department has grown to its current census of 16 board certified specialists. While I would argue that alone, this 3 fold increase is impressive, in fact it fails to convey the depth and breadth of clinical programmatic development that has occurred over the last 8 years. During this interval the department has transitioned to a model of care provision in which subspecialty, fellowship-trained Urologists are available to provide the most sophisticated, up-to-date, data driven, care available, to patients in their area of expertise. Of the current faculty, 11 of 16 members have formal fellowship training in a urologic subspecialty. Two additional faculty are effectively "grandfathered" in fellowship training in the sense that they became experts in their fields prior to the availability of fellowships. The clinical areas encompassed by this wealth of expertise include pediatric urology, stone disease, infertility, erectile dysfunction, female sexual dysfunction, voiding dysfunction, benign prostatic hypertrophy, neuro-urology, reconstructive surgery, minimally invasive surgery, robotic surgery, and urologic oncology. Beyond those with advanced training specifically in urology, specialists holding joint appointments in urology include expert clinicians from other departments with fellowship training in urologic medical oncology, urologic pathology, urologic imaging, and uro-gynecology.
So what does this mean? For patients suffering from urologic diseases, the value of this resource is profound. The clinicians comprising the MCW department of urology faculty are card carrying experts in their respective areas. These are the men and women who write the books, do the research, train the physicians, and set the bar for clinical care. Nationally and internationally recognized, they can truly be said to be leaders in their fields.
If the above description sounds a bit immodest then the message has accomplished what I set out to achieve. I am extremely proud of our department's clinical faculty and the quality of care they provide. I sincerely hope that you and your loved ones will never need our skills. However, in the event you do, we offer regionally unparalleled care across the spectrum of urologic diseases.
William See, MD