Residents- Urology

UROLOGY RESIDENCY TRAINING 2005-2006

Our Urology Residency spans a total of six years of training, to include two years of pre- specialty training in General Surgery and six to twelve months specifically dedicated to research. Two residents serve at each level. Highlights of the experience include:

Pre-specialty training (PGY1 &2):

Your first two years will be dedicated to an intensive clinical exposure to the practice of General Surgery and the surgical sub-specialties, under the auspices of the General Surgery Residency Program here at the New Jersey Medical School (NJMS). You will be actively exposed to patient care not only in General Surgery, but also in Cardiothoracic, Transplant, Vascular, Pediatric Surgery and Plastic Surgery. You will have an opportunity to practice in a wide variety of clinical settings, from an inner city hospital (University Hospital), to a busy suburban medical center (Hackensack University Medical Center) to a Veterans Affairs Medical Center. (Your acceptance in our program entails automatic, concomitant acceptance in the NJMS General Surgery Pre-Specialty Program; no separate application or interview process is required.)

First Year Urology Training (PGY3):

You've arrived at last --your first year of clinical experience in Urology! For this initial year of training, you will be alternating between two very different hospitals. Half of your time will be spent at University Hospital --a large, inner-city hospital with a Level-1 Trauma Service. Here, you will be actively involved in "hands-on" patient care, working directly with the Chief Resident in Urology, on the wards and in the clinics. You will be exposed to a wide variety of genito-urinary conditions. This rotation will include a full operative schedule, and, in addition, you will become certified in Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL) at the busiest ESWL Stone Center in the state. Doctor Mark Simmons and his colleagues will provide you with remarkable support in cases related to Interventional Radiology, while the presence of a Level-1 Trauma Center with air-evac support will afford you vast exposure to the care of genito-urinary trauma.

The remainder of your first year will be spent at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in East Orange , ten miles west of our main campus. Your busy V A experience will focus on treating the problems of veterans of all ages. Outpatient clinics are busy, and the operating room will provide you ample exposure to oncological surgery and ureteroscopy. Doctor Patricia Gilhooly is a GU faculty member there with special interest in Female Urology, as well as in encouraging GU cancer protocols; while Doctor Hossein Sadeghi-Nejad, Chief of Urology, is fellowship-trained in Sexual Dysfunction/male Infertility. Urological consultation from Doctor Todd Linsenmeyer at the nearby Kessler Institute supplies insight into the special requirements of the spinal-cord injured patient.

Second Year (PGY4):

During this year, you will benefit from an extraordinary exposure to Pediatric Urology. Doctor Moneer Hanna and Dr. Jeffrey Stock bring world-class expertise to your training. His colleague, Doctor Jeff Stock is a consultant-editor to Urology. Under their supervision, you can expect to perform an average of 80 cases a month --an exceptional exposure! And throughout your residency, a monthly Urologic Grand Rounds, dedicated specifically to Pediatric Urology, will help to keep you up-to-date.

The remainder of this outstanding clinical year will take part at the Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack (a thirty-minute ride North from our main campus). There you will be working in one of the busiest operating suites in the state. This rotation encourages a close, clinical interaction between Urology residents and very active, suburban urologists in thriving private practice. Here you will really gain dramatic progress in your surgical technique. Hackensack has just opened a well-furnished Urodynamics/Continence Center, and plans to consolidate impotence and infertility care into dedicated centers as well. As a result, you can expect that your exposure, as a resident, to each of these important clinical areas will be that much improved.

Research Year (PGY5):

At least six months of this year are held open for you to concentrate without distraction on your important research experience. Long before you reach this point, mentors on the faculty will have been working with you to devise an opportunity that will prove enlightening and productive for you. This option has just recently been incorporated into our residency program, but already our residents are taking good advantage. One resident will be working with spinal cord injury research at the Kessler Institute (which recently received nation-wide attention, when the former star of "Superman" was hospitalized there.) Another student is working with Doctor Hosea Huang, a PhD researcher on our faculty who is dedicated to bench-work laboratory investigations in Urology. A third resident is working with a Pediatrics researcher at NJMS in better understanding the role of telomerase in cancer growth. Whether in clinical or laboratory research, this is your time to produce a high-quality product worthy of report and publication, with your name as lead author! The remainder of this year will be devoted to your continued training at Hackensack University Medical Center . There you will for the first time be taking on a formal teaching role, not only performing surgery, but supervising the learning experience of yourjunior colleagues.

Chief Year (PGY6):

Congratulations! You've made it! Your final year is an opportunity to round out your own operative and diagnostic experience, but also to take a very active responsibility for the entire training program. Urology Grand Rounds are held every Friday morning. At this time, residents themselves, under your supervision, will present high-quality case- discussions and topical reviews. In addition, faculty and outside lecturers will instruct us on a full range of topics. Guest lecturers during this past year have included Doctor Terry Hensle, Chief of Pediatric Urology at Columbia University; Doctor Ed Pontes, Professor of Urology at Wayne State University; and Doctor Ken Cummings, Chief of Urology at Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine. Following the Grand Rounds, you will lead your fellow residents through a didactic session in Urology, based on the current literature and texts. Each Monday evening, there is an hour of Uroradiology, followed by a "Journal Club" review of recent literature and standard urological texts.

Each year, throughout your training, you will have had opportunity to attend distant urological seminars, as well as to participate actively in conventions, seminars and resident competitions, sponsored by the New York Section of the American Urological Association, and both the New York and the New Jersey Academies of Medicine. Academic, as well as clinical excellence is expected of all of our residents; publication of articles in the scientific literature is strongly encouraged. As Chief Resident, you will take an active role in assuring not only that you yourself are receiving maximum benefit from your training, and are performing at a level that is your personal best, but also that you are making a strong, lasting, positive impact on the training experience of those who will follow after.

In summary, Urology Residency at the New Jersey Medical School is a well-rounded, clinically challenging and academically superior training opportunity. If you are an honest, hard-working, academically sound, and self-motivated candidate, we are happy you applied to our program and we look forward to your visit and interview.

Mark Jordan, M.D, F.A.C.S.
Professor and Chief, Urology Division
The New Jersey Medical School