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  • Summer Research Grants

    Summer Research Grants This summer, two UAB medical students and one UAB undergraduate student received grants to conduct research with the Department of Urology.Two medical students, Stephen Leahy and Taylor Tucker, received their grants through the UAB-UCSD O’Brien Center for Kidney Injury Research Summer Program. Ornin Hakim received his grant through the Morehouse, Tuskegee and UAB Cancer Research Symposium.Stephen Leahy received a grant for summer research with P.I. Dr. Rais-Bahrami in collaboration with Dr. Soory Varambally of the Department of Pathology. The title of his research was “Differential Expression of BAP1 in Papillary Renal Cell Carcinoma and Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Stratified[…]

  • UAB Urology Celebrates its 2019 Graduates

    UAB Urology Celebrates its 2019 Graduates The Department of Urology celebrated recent graduates Dr. Justin Martinez and Dr. Vidu Yarlagadda with a party at the Country Club of Birmingham on Saturday, June 15th. The night was filled with distributing awards, sharing memories and giving thanks to everyone who helped the two graduates become the surgeons they are today.Dr. Justin Martinez will be moving to Beverly, Mass. to join the Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, Urology Institute.Dr. Vidu Yarlagadda will be joining the Clarksville Urology private practice in Clarksville, Tenn.Several awards were also given to faculty and staff:Dr. Luke Ellenburg was awarded the Urology In-Service Award for[…]

  • Inaugural COOKS Obesity & Kidney Stone Conference

    Inaugural COOKS Obesity & Kidney Stone Conference The inaugural COOKS  (Center for Research on Obesity and Oxalate Kidney Stones) Obesity & Kidney Stone Conference was held on July 11th and 12th at the UAB Hill Student Center. The conference brought together a broad network of scientific leaders to define the relationship between obesity and kidney stone disease.The conference format was conducive to open discussions about the research being done to combat kidney stone disease. There were 15 speakers, 10 from UAB and 5 from other institutions. Each speaker provided a 20 minute presentation and 10 minutes of Q&A.Dr. Ayfer Akgul, the first ever travel award recipient of the[…]

  • Welcome New Faculty

    Welcome New Faculty The UAB Department of Urology is excited to welcome two new faculty members to our team!Dr. Charles Peyton has just completed his urologic oncology fellowship with the Department of Genitourinary Oncology at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. He attended medical school at the Medical University of South Carolina and completed his internship at Wake Forest Medical Center.Dr. Adam Klein will join us as an assistant professor of general urology at the VA. He moves to Birmingham from University Hospitals St. John Medical Center in Westlake, Ohio. Dr. Klein attended medical school at The Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton,[…]

  • Welcome to the team, Audrey White!

    Welcome to the team, Audrey White! Audrey White recently joined the Department of Urology team as an administrative associate to our oncology physicians. A Birmingham native, Audrey has been able to display her 35 years of administrative experience in the healthcare and insurance industries. After serving many years at St. Vincent’s, Audrey made the leap to UAB where she has spent the last 2 ½ years in the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery. Energetic and eager, Audrey is always willing to go the “extra mile”. The mother of twin daughters, Audrey enjoys spending time with her family and shopping for shoes.

  • 2019 AUA Conference Recap

    The 2019 AUA meeting was held in Chicago, Illinois. UAB Department of Urology faculty and residents spent the week participating in innovative and educational programs that provided access to groundbreaking research, the latest clinical guidelines and the most advanced technologies in urology.On Saturday evening, the department hosted an alumni reception at the Marriott Marquis.Several of our faculty, residents and medical students presented posters, moderated sessions and provided key takeaways. Below are some highlights:Dr. Dean Assimos presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:Surgical & Medical Stone Guidelines Update: A Case-Based ApproachComplex Cases: Stone Prevention: Diet & MedicationComplications of Endourology and Stone TreatmentPanel Discussion[…]

  • New single port robot changing robotic surgery at UAB

    New single port robot changing robotic surgery at UAB Patients at UAB now have access to state-of-the-art robotic surgery technology.

  • UAB Urology Research Update

    UAB Urology Research Update The UAB Department of Urology is actively involved in clinical, basic science and translational research endeavors. Currently, urology research is 11th in NIH funding and our researchers are working hard to improve health outcomes with the most common and difficult to treat diseases. Read more for some recent highlights:Recently, Dr. Sunil Sudarshan won a prostate cancer research grant from the Mike Slive Foundation.The Southeastern Section of the AUA (SESAUA) is March 13-16, and School of Medicine medical student Carter Boyd had five abstracts accepted. Over the summer, Carter was elected as an AUA Medical Student Research Scholar.AUA 2019 is quickly[…]

  • UAB Med Student Has Five Abstracts Accepted at SESAUA 2019

    UAB Med Student Has Five Abstracts Accepted at SESAUA 2019 The Southeastern Section of the AUA (SESAUA) is March 13-16, and School of Medicine medical student Carter Boyd had five abstracts accepted. See more details below. Over the summer, Carter was elected as an AUA Medical Student Research Scholar.RNA INTERFERENCE OF HEPATIC LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE AND LIVER METABOLOMIC EFFECTSCarter Boyd1, John Knight, PhD2, Ross Holmes, PhD2, Dean Assimos, MD2, Kyle Wood, MD2UAB School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama, Department of Urology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama Presented By: Carter Boyd, BSASSOCIATION OF OBESITY WITH INCREASED ENDOGENOUS OXALATE SYNTHESIS Carter Boyd1 , John Knight, PhD2 , Ross Holmes, PhD2 , Dean Assimos, MD2[…]

  • SESAUA 2019: UAB Urology Involvement

    The Department of Urology kept busy at SESAUA 2019! Many of our faculty, residents and School of Medicine medical students represented the department in podium, poster and video sessions. A big congratulations goes to all who had articles accepted.SESAUA also included some invited talks like Dr. Soroush Rais-Bahrami's talk, "State-of-the-Art Lecture: Prostate Cancer Active Surveillance and MRI-Targeted Biopsy".See below for more conference highlights:Wednesday, March 13Podium Session: Socioeconomics and Health Services Research4:12 pm CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF INDICATIONS FOR URINALYSIS IN THE UNITED STATESPeter Kolettis, MD, Kyle Gennaro, MD, Gerald McGwin, Jr., MS, PhDPresented By: Kyle Harrison Gennaro, MDPoster Session: Nephrolithiasis3:30-5 pm RNA[…]

  • Single Port Robot, First of its Kind in Alabama

    Single Port Robot, First of its Kind in Alabama The University of Alabama at Birmingham is one of first 15 centers of excellence in the United States, and the first in Alabama, to implement a new single port robot manufactured by Intuitive Surgical.Three of Department of Urology providers, Dr. Jeffrey Nix, Dr. Soroush Rais-Bahrami and Dr. Patrick Selph, have been trained to use the new equipment located at UAB Highlands Hospital. The single port robot will be used for many different procedures, but a primary focus will be on cancer. This instrument will be used to push the envelope in minimally invasive surgery in order to provide patients the[…]

  • Welcome New UAB Urology Team Members!

    Welcome New UAB Urology Team Members! The Department of Urology is growing! We'd like to welcome Amanda Harris, Dr. Lance Patterson and Brandy Nix to our team. Find out more about each of them below:Amanda Harris, BSN, RNAmanda Harris is the Manager of Ambulatory Services for the Department of Urology.Amanda graduated from the University of Alabama with a BSN and has been a nurse for 16 years. She has worked in the Birmingham area as a staff RN, Clinical Care Coordinator and Director of Surgical Services. Amanda has experience in several areas, including SICU, PACU, pre op, pre admit testing, same day surgery and surgery scheduling.[…]

  • Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Douglass Clayton

    Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Douglass Clayton When did you graduate from UAB? I finished my residency in 2009.What city are you located in? I live in Nashville, TN and practice at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.What are your clinical/research interests? I am a pediatric urologist, and I spend about 60% of my time working on NIH-funded research studying bladder inflammation. We use mouse models to study compounds that can reverse or prevent bladder injury and inflammation. The other 40% of my time is dedicated to caring for children with pediatric urology problems.How did you choose to practice this area of urology? During my[…]

  • UAB to host No Shave November “Shave Off” for men’s health awareness

    UAB to host No Shave November “Shave Off” for men’s health awareness A “shave off” event at UAB will spread awareness about men’s health and diseases that affect them specifically.

  • Research center finds new links between obesity, kidney stones

    Research center finds new links between obesity, kidney stones A P20 research grant leads to new information about kidney stones and obesity.

  • Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Thanmaya Reddy

    Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Thanmaya Reddy When did you graduate from UAB?I graduated from UAB in 2017.What city are you located in? Atlanta, GAWhat are your clinical/research interests? General Urology, Stone Disease and Residency EducationHow did you choose to practice this area of urology? The field of urology has a rare balance of medicine and surgery, by going into general urology I get to enjoy the full breadth of the specialty. As a faculty member at Emory, I have the unique opportunity of practicing general urology but also getting a chance to educate residents.What aspect of your time at UAB do you believe was most valuable[…]

  • UAB Urology Awarded P20 Grant

    UAB Department of Urology Drs. Dean Assimos, Ross Holmes, John Knight and Kyle Wood, along with UAB Department of Nutrition Sciences Dr. Barbara Gower have been awarded a P20 exploratory grant to establish an interdisciplinary research center in benign urology. Funded through the NIDDK, the grant provides $200,000/year for two years toward research on the impact of obesity in endogenous oxalate synthesis. Over the last few years, UAB Urology has worked closely with UAB's Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) and Dr. Gower. The complementary expertise has led to novel findings in obesity and kidney stone disease. A new center, COOKS (Center for[…]

  • Welcome Dr. J.E. "Jed" Ferguson

    Welcome Dr. J.E. "Jed" Ferguson Tell us a little about yourself. I was born in San Francisco CA, but moved with my family to Charlottesville, VA in 4th grade, and have been in the southeast ever since. I went to UVa undergrad, and UNC-Chapel Hill for MD/PhD. I met my wife Liz at the MD/PhD program retreat in Wrightsville Beach, NC. I took a quick career detour into Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2009, but got back on track with UNC Urology, where I met my current colleagues Jeff Nix and Patrick Selph. After residency, Liz and I went down to Houston, TX in[…]

  • Too much water may leave you high and dry

    Too much water may leave you high and dry The key to preventing overhydration is to let your body tell you when you need a drink.

  • Farewell to the 2018 Chiefs!

    Farewell to the 2018 Chiefs! The Department of Urology enjoyed a wonderful evening at the Birmingham Country Club celebrating the graduation of our three PGY-5 residents and two fellows.Dr. Patrick James Guthrie is headed to north Alabama to work at Decatur Morgan Hospital.Dr. Win Shun Lai is moving to Austin, Texas to practice at Baylor, Scott and White Medical Center.Dr. Erik Lars Wallin III is also headed to north Alabama and will be working at Cullman Regional Medical Center.Dr. Jubilee Tan is headed back to practice in Peoria, Illinois.Dr. Kyle Wood also completed his fellowship at UAB and will remain with the Department of Urology[…]