Beth Israel Urology
Residency Program 

Welcome from the Department
About the Department
Curriculum
Teaching & Self Education 
Research Opportunities
Application Requirements and Procedures
Staff

WELCOME
Thank you for your interest in the urology residency training program of Beth Israel Medical Center, the University Hospital and Manhattan Campus for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Our residency program is designed to provide a varied experience in patient care, teaching and research addressing the full range of male and female genitourinary conditions.

The strength of Beth Israel's urology program lies in the diversity of our faculty's interests, the large variety of clinical opportunities, and the availability of the most sophisticated technologies currently utilized by the urologic community. Residents train side-by-side with attending urologists who have expertise in general urologic care, as well as in highly specialized areas, such as infertility, microsurgery, sexual dysfunction, calculus disease, benign prostatic hypertrophy, urologic oncology, urodynamics, incontinence and pediatric urology.

One year of postgraduate training in general surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center is required for entrance into the urology program. Our urology residency training program enables residents to become outstanding urologists and prepares them to continue in subspecialty training. We invite you to visit our program to learn first-hand how your goals for a fulfilling and productive experience can be achieved.

ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT
The Department of Urology of Beth Israel Medical Center offers comprehensive medical and surgical services in all aspects of urologic care. Among the conditions treated are:

• infertility
• sexual dysfunction
• erectile dysfunction
• incontinence
• benign prostate problems, including benign prostatic hypertrophy
• urologic cancers
• urinary tract infections
• voiding dysfunction
• infections
• bladder malignancies
• calculus disease

Presently, the department has five full-time faculty in addition to a large active voluntary staff who employ all technologies currently utilized by the urologic community. These include laser therapy, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL), laparoscopy and microsurgery. The department is a leader in microsurgical reconstruction and laparoscopic procedures. Its physicians perform a wide array of laparoscopic surgery, including adrenalectomy, an exciting advancement for the treatment of adrenal tumors, including biochemically functional tumors such as pheochromocytomas, aldosteronomas and Cushing's adenomas.

In addition, the department has particular interest and expertise in the following areas:

Reproductive Medicine
Beth Israel's faculty have made extensive contributions to infertility literature. Specific areas of interest include male infertility and impotence, with an emphasis on microsurgical reconstruction.

Female Urology
Our urologists offer the newest, most effective approaches in treating conditions such as recurrent urinary tract infections and urinary incontinence.

Benign and Malignant Prostate Problems
The department recently established a Comprehensive Prostate Center in cooperation with the Department of Radiation Oncology, which provides a full array of medical and surgical treatment options for benign and malignant prostate problems. For benign prostate problems, Beth Israel offers some of the latest technology in surgical treatment, such as TUNA and vaporization. For prostate cancers, radical prostatectomy, laparoscopic and mini-lap pelvic lymph node dissection and orchiectomy are performed when indicated. In addition, Beth Israel Medical Center was the first Manhattan site to offer cryosurgery for prostate cancer. New modalities under way include brachytherapy and high dose rate temporary radiation.

Urologic Oncology
In addition to the comprehensive treatment of prostate cancer, the Department of Urology offers the most advanced treatments available for other urologic malignancies and participates in clinical trials of new therapies.

TOP

CURRICULUM 
Beth Israel Medical Center offers a four-year residency training program in urology, which is fully approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The program's goals are to prepare residents to be highly skilled urologists with expertise in patient care, teaching and research. One year of postgraduate training in general surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center is required for entrance into the urology program. With appropriate supervision from attending urologists, residents actively participate in the management of all patients and have responsibility for all aspects of care.

The urology residency experience is reinforced with rotations at two affiliated hospitals. The resident's First year is spent entirely at Beth Israel Medical Center, during which basic endoscopic and operative urologic skills are obtained. Second-year residents spend two months at Schneider Children's Hospital on Long Island on the pediatric urology service. This rotation supplements Beth Israel Medical Center's pediatric urology experience. The second-year residents also spend nine months performing office and operative urology with the full-time staff. One month is spent on the transplant service.

The third-year resident runs the pediatric consultative service, clinic and inpatient service. Two months are spent at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to further extend the urologic oncology experience. Chief residents spend 12 months at Beth Israel. At the completion of the residency, each resident has participated in over 1,000 major operations.

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
DEPARTMENT OF UROLOGY
RESIDENCY PROGRAM

PGY-1 – Preliminary Year –

Urology residents are required to spend the Pre-Urology years at Beth Israel Medical Center. The Departments of Urology and General Surgery work together to assure that the teaching goals of each department are fulfilled. Each of the PGY-1 urology residents spends 1 month on the Urology Service as the surgical rotator. During this rotation, the resident begins to learn the basics of managing the urology patient. History taking, physical examination, and differential diagnosis are emphasized. The resident participates in the weekly clinic and conferences and is an integral member of the urology team. Two (2) months are spent in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. Here the resident learns to manage the more seriously ill surgical patient. Under the supervision of the Attending Intensivist, physiology and multi-system treatments are stressed. During this year residents must demonstrate competence in fundamental surgical skills, understand the physiology as it relates to surgery, the response to surgery and healing. Residents must demonstrate competence in history taking, physical examination and the appropriate utilization of adjunctive laboratory tests.

PGY-2 – Urology year 1 –

The emphasis of this year is the development of the infrastructure necessary to become an excellent urologist. The didactic schedule emphasizes basic urology anatomy, physiology and the pathophysiology of disease processes. The urology resident will gain expertise in urology history taking, physical examination endoscopy and transrectal ultrasonography. Residents are taught basic principles of microsurgery and urodynamics. By the end of the first year residents are expected to demonstrate competence in: an understanding of the physiologic basis for urologic disease, basic endoscopic skills and basic operative skills to advance their urology training. The resident is required to attend the Basic Science Urology course sponsored by the University of Virginia at the completion of the Urology year 1.

The resident will be the representative to the Hospital house staff committee to gain understanding of systems based practice.

PGY-3 – Urology year 2 –

The second urology year will emphasize ambulatory urology care and enable the urology residents to participate in the evaluation and management of urologic diseases in the ambulatory care setting. During this “tutorial” experience, residents will be have the opportunity to participate in the initial evaluation and management of patients, by spending an average of 8 weeks with each faculty member in the department of Urology. Residents will continue to participate in the care of these patients when surgery or hospitalization is necessary. When patients return to the ambulatory setting, the resident will be there to complete the educational cycle – evaluation, treatment and follow-up. The opportunity to participate in this process with the direct supervision of faculty members will enable the resident to develop a mastery of ambulatory urology during training and fully appreciate the significance of their interventions. Additionally, during this year residents will perform extracorporeal lithotripsy (ESWL) at an outpatient affiliated freestanding stone center.

Residents will gain confidence and skill and demonstrate competence in all office based urologic procedures including, cystoscopy, vasectomy, transrectal ultrasound (with and without biopsy), urodynamics, percutaneous sperm acquisition techniques and extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy.

PGY-4 – Urology year 3 -

During the third urology year, residents will have their formal exposure to pediatric urology. By staffing the pediatric urology clinic under the supervision of the pediatric urology attending, they will broaden the experience and confidence in the management of pediatric urology. The resident will also manage the adult and pediatric consultative services, enabling further development of the skills necessary to assess urologic maladies and outline the course of management and treatment. By the end of this pediatric urology experience the resident will demonstrate competence in the management and or evaluation of pediatric urologic diseases. The PGY-4 will participate in the surgical management of all patients seen by the resident in the teaching practice and consultative service.

The resident will gain his/her first formal exposure to pediatric urology during PGY-3 during a two-month rotation to Schneider Children’s Hospital of the Long Island Jewish Medical Center.

Two months will be spent at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This allows the resident to participate in the management of the most complex cases of urologic malignancy. This will supplement the excellent and growing uro-oncologic experience gained at Beth Israel Medical Center.

The resident will participate in formal Quality Improvement activities by participating as the resident member of the Departmental QI committee on the last Thursday of each month and will be expected to oversee a QI project .

PGY-5 – Urology year 4 –

During the Chief year the resident gains greater surgical skill and clinical acumen. Additionally, the chief resident is responsible for orchestrating the educational program and fulfills administrative responsibilities. In addition, he is an integral part of the Curriculum Committee, highlighting areas of concern and those of benefit in the education of the residents. Each of these activities prepares the resident to enter the profession of Urology. The resident will demonstrate competence in the management of all urologic entities including: infertility, impotence, incontinence, voiding dysfunction, calculus disease and oncology. Surgical competence in open, laparoscopic and endoscopic surgery will be demonstrated.

TOP

TEACHING & SELF EDUCATION 
The Department of Urology's extensive teaching schedule includes daily radiology rounds, as well as special programs related to pathology, urologic oncology, female urology and infertility. Grand rounds, journal club, attending rounds and chief rounds are among the weekly departmental conferences. Medical students taking fourth-year electives often rotate through Beth Israel's urology service.

House officers are encouraged to attend national, regional and local meetings. During the first year, the chief resident attends the annual basic science urology conference at the University of Virginia, and attends the annual national meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA). Residents also routinely attend special programs of the New York Section of the AUA and the New York Academy of Medicine. They are encouraged to present research papers at national meetings and are supported and funded for their activities.

TOP

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
The Department of Urology encourages both clinical and basic science research and has committed funding for both these pursuits. Residents have the opportunity to participate in any of the department's research efforts. The department has an established research and clinical andrology laboratory which consistently produces clinical and basic science abstracts resulting in presentations at various national meetings, most notably on the clinical and molecular aspects of sperm function and their implication in the diagnosis and treatment of infertility. A clinical urodynamics laboratory is actively involved in diagnosing various forms of urinary incontinence and bladder dysfunction and is evaluating new forms of medical therapy for benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). Beth Israel's Cancer Center provides research opportunities in urologic oncology.

PROCEDURE FOR APPLICATIONS 
The urology residency training program participates in the National Residency Matching Program with the Electronic Residency Application Services (ERAS). Only applications through ERAS will be accepted. For more information, please direct your inquiries to:

Natasha Sealy
Manager, Urology Residency Training Program
Department of Urology
Beth Israel Medical Center
Phillips Ambulatory Care Center
10 Union Square East, Suite 3A
New York, NY 10003
(212) 844-8920
nsealy@chpnet.org

TOP

FACULTY
Harris M. Nagler, MD FACS
President
Chair, Berger Department of Urology
Professor of Urology
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Dr. Nagler's internationally recognized expertise in sexual dysfunction and infertility provide a unique training opportunity at Beth Israel Medical Center. Residents participate in Dr. Nagler's clinics, as well as in-patient and ambulatory major and microsurgical procedures. As a result of the tertiary referral nature of his practice, residents become sophisticated in the work-up and management of complex infertility cases, varicocele repair, microsurgical vasectomy reversal, sperm extraction and fertilization, prosthetics, and reconstruction. Previous residents have been able to generate hypotheses and become first authors in peer-reviewed journals under Dr. Nagler's direction.

Caner Z. Dinlenc, MD FACS
Director Residency Training Program
Physician-in-Charge of Endourology
Robotic Surgery and Urolithiasis
Associate Professor of Urology
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Dr. Dinlenc's field of expertise includes comprehensive management of urolithiasis (endourology), as well as laparoscopic and robotic surgery. Dr. Dinlenc was one of the first surgeons in the U.S. to successfully perform and develop the technique of robotic radical prostatectomy. Dr. Dinlenc also directs the program's laparoscopic animal laboratory experience where residents continue to enhance their hands-on experience with complex urologic laparoscopic techniques. He is also the Program Director and will be your main contact with issues regarding the training program.

Aaron B Grotas, MD
General Urology
Clinical Instructor of Urology
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Dr. Grotas trained in Urology at Beth Israel Medical Center. He has clinical responsibilities at the Petrie campus and the Kings Highway division. He practices generally urology in the faculty practice. He has interest in minimally invasive therapies for BPH and stone disease.

Lanes Palmer, MD
Physician-in-Charge Pediatric Urology
Professor, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Dr. Palmer's primary clinical interest is reconstructive surgery of the genitourinary tract in children. Dr. Palmer is board certified in urology with a certificate of sub specialization pediatric urology. His areas of expertise include reconstructive urologic surgery, the evaluation and management of prenatal urologic anomalies, and bladder dysfunction, neurology and urodynamics. Dr. Palmer is a reviewer for every major urologic journal and currently sits on the editorial board of Urology AAP Grand Rounds and Dialogues in Pediatric Urology.

Sovrin M. Shah, MD FACS
Pelvic Medicine and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery
Assistant Professor of Urology
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Dr. Shah is fellowship trained in Female Pelvic Medicine and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery at U.C.L.A. under the direction of Dr. Shlomo Raz. His practice focuses on the evaluation and treatment of incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse with an emphasis on trans-vaginal repair. This includes the use of video-urodynamic testing and the use of innovative techniques and products for surgical treatment.

Dr Shah offers comprehensive management of overactive bladder including the use of Sacral Neuromodulation for advanced cases.

He has an interest in urologic prosthetics for male incontinence and erectile dysfunction including, the artificial urinary sphincter, male slings, and penile prosthesis.

Erik Golubuff, MD
Oncology and Robotic Surgery
Professor of Clinical Urology (pending)
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Dr. Goluboff is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and did a urology residency and urologic oncology fellowship at Columbia. He has spent the last 15 years as a urologic oncologist at Columbia. His clinical responsibilities include the diagnosis and medico-surgical management of primary, recurrent and metastatic urologic cancers. Resident training focuses on the clinical aspects of urologic oncology, as well as the tools and methods for thesis driven research of urologic cancers, their etiology, and treatment.

Stephen Teitelbaum, MD
Chief of the Kings Highway Division
Department of Urology of the Beth Israel Medical Center

Dr. Teitelbaum trained at Beth Israel Medical Center, he is an Attending Urologist who integrates the personal and professional satisfaction of a community based practice with academic medicine. He is a generalist, focusing on the care of the geriatric urology patient.

Doron Stember, MD
Attending Urologist
Reproductive and Sexual Medicine

Dr. Doron Stember is fellowship-trained in male infertility and sexual dysfunction. Residents will spend time with him in the clinic and OR and learn about the evaluation and management of men with infertility, erectile dysfunction, Peyronie's disease, hypogonadism, and related conditions. Surgical procedures include penile prosthesis insertion, testicular sperm extraction, varicocele repair, vasectomy and vasectomy reversal, and penile plication. Concepts relating to penile rehabilitation will be emphasized. Residents will gain experience using an operating microscrope and will be trained in the indications and technique of penile Doppler ultrasonagraphy. There are ample writing and research opportunities for residents interested in andrology.