Urology

Urology Residency Training Program

University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

Message from the Chairman

The Department of Urology considers it an honor to be involved with the training of the future urologic surgeons and investigators of our nation. As our population ages, the need for skilled urologists is increasing. Similarly, the need for furthering our knowledge about the normal and altered functioning of urologic organs and tissues, the underlying causes of urological diseases, and the best way to diagnose, treat and prevent them, is greater than ever.

Role of the Educator

Yet the fundamental qualities needed to become an outstanding and successful urologist; broad-based medical knowledge, continued inquisitiveness, superior technical skill and attention to detail, compassion, and communicative excellence, remain unchanged. To a large degree, demographic and economic pressures have placed a greater premium on each of these qualifications and have emphasized an additional one, that of educator. Today's urologist needs to be a teacher to patients and their families, and also to paraprofessional staff, primary care and other physicians. We believe it is critical that our training program furnishes its graduates with the tools needed to fully develop these abilities, not only to prepare them for their first day in practice, but also to sustain them throughout their urological careers.

Life-Long Education

Moreover, with continuing technical and scientific advances, the need for life-long self-education is obvious. The recognition that all urologists must be life-long students and the need to impart this outlook and provide the means to achieve it, lie at the foundation of our educational program. Individual learning and comfort is maximized when the teaching environment provides experiences and responsibilities that expand technical skills and the knowledge base of of not only urology, but all of biology and medicine. Each year of the training program is designed to provide such an environment, developing professional confidence.

Our Ultimate Goal

Our ultimate goal is to prepare our graduates, whether entering an academic career or private practice, for the continued self-education and inquisitiveness that is now more than ever needed to have a truly rewarding career.

—Dr. Edward M. Messing