Urology Residency Program — Teaching Faculty
Since the creation of the UPMC Department of Urology in October 1999, Dr. Joel Nelson, its first chairman, has continued to recruit new clinical faculty. A total of twelve have been recruited to date, all of whom came from other institutions, bringing breadth of expertise and new perspectives to improve the educational effectiveness of the training experience for the residents. Ninety-three percent (14/15) of the current faculty are sub-specialty or fellowship-trained. This has resulted in a program where, for example, the residents are educated in endourology by the endourologist. All clinical faculty have direct responsibility for day-to-day teaching and evaluation of the residents.
In addition to the growth in the clinical aspects of education, there has been a similar growth in research educational opportunities. The department has recruited a total of 11 full-time basic science PhD faculty, focusing broadly in two areas: oncology and neurourology. The expansion of the research faculty has resulted in a 13-fold increase in the extramural and intramural/industry research funding: from $300K in FY00 to $5.7M in FY04. This has direct and tangible effects on the resident's educational experience. First, it greatly increases the number of researchers in the environment, such as post-docs, graduate students, and technicians, providing many more educational opportunities for hands-on and interactive learning. Second, this level of funding allows residents to carry out experiments without concerns about limited supplies, reagents, and equipment.