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Jefferson Urology History

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Department of Urology
Sidney Kimmel Medical College

1025 Walnut Street
College Building, Suite 1112
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Giving to Jefferson Urology

1977 Through 2002

S. Grant Mulholland, MD

Seventh Chairman, 1977-2002

S. Grant Mulholland, MD

S. Grant Mulholland, MD, was appointed as Nathan Lewis Hatfield professor and head of the department in 1977 and served as the department's seventh chairman for the next 25 years (1977-2002). He followed closely in his father's footsteps, Dr. Stanford Wallace Mulholland. His father was a prominent Philadelphia urologist who was professor and chairman of the Department of Urology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Mulholland received his BS from Dickenson and his MD from Temple University, and did his urologic training at the University of Virginia. During this time he obtained an MS in 1966. His thesis was “The Effect of Vesical Mucosa on Bacterial Growth.” Upon serving in the Navy during the Vietnam War, he returned to Philadelphia. Dr. Mulholland accepted a position at the University of Pennsylvania and attended at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the Veterans Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

At the initial time of Dr. Mulholland's chairmanship, the Department of Urology was almost completely composed of volunteer faculty, who were talented clinicians with large practices. Dr. John Dalton served for a brief period as a member of the academic faculty. Dr. P. Kenneth Brownstein had a very busy private practice, and throughout the 1980s and early 1990s contributed extensively to the resident training experience at Jefferson. The department however, was in need of academic modernization and expanded research. Multiple urologic subspecialties were not represented by the faculty. Dr. Mulholland's first goal from a clinical standpoint was to hire someone in the field of endourology. This was a completely new area and very few universities had yet developed this subspecialty. Dr. Demetrius Bagley joined the department in July of 1983. He was a young, innovative endourologist from the University of Chicago. Dr. Bagley trained at Yale and also completed a three-year fellowship at the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute. He was one of the world's pioneers in endourology, including ureteroscopy and the treatment of stone disease. With the recruitment of Dr. Bagley, the department's academic profile increased greatly nationally and internationally. In the 1990s, a series of fellows completed fellowship training with Dr. Bagley. A formal Endourology Society Fellowship was established in 2001. In 2002, Dr. Bagley was officially honored as the next Nathan Lewis Hatfield Professor of Urology.

Dr. Mulholland and Residents 1980

As the department expanded, a considerable amount of energy was devoted to resident and student education. All students experienced an excellent two-week clinical clerkship. The residency rapidly developed into a much sought after popular residency, especially here in the Northeast. Research was also begun almost immediately in the field of urinary tract infection and bladder defense mechanisms. Dr. Hugh Callahan was the first PhD to join the department and initiated work in urinary tract infection. His area of expertise was biochemistry and immunology. Shortly after the hiring of Dr. Callahan, Dr. Dolores Shupp-Byrne joined the Department of Urology research staff with her expertise in cell biology. She expanded the area of investigation in urinary tract infection, with her work in infection and bladder defense recognized throughout the country. Dr. Byrne also took strong interest in mentoring students and residents in all aspects of their training. She was primarily responsible for their educational experiences within the research laboratory and continues in that role today, where she also serves as editorial director for the department.

The next area Dr. Mulholland identified which needed expansion within the department was andrology. After his urology training at Mount Sinai and fellowship at Baylor University in Texas, Dr. Irvin H. Hirsch was appointed in 1985 to fulfill this responsibility. He eventually concentrated his interest on infertility and sexual dysfunction. These areas were completely new to the department.

Urology Faculty and Residents 1989

Urologic oncology needed the support of a fellowship trained urologist. Dr. Leonard Gomella came to Jefferson in July of 1988 from the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute, where he trained under Dr. Marston Linehan. Upon his arrival at Jefferson, he developed a rapidly expanding urologic oncology service. He eventually organized the Urologic Multidisciplinary GU Center within the Kimmel Cancer Center, one of the first such integrated centers in the U.S. Dr. Gomella also was responsible for developing translational urologic oncology research within the department. Dr. Raffaele Baffa, a pathologist who completed post doctoral training under Dr. Carlo Croce, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center, joined the department in 1997. Numerous post-docs have expanded this field of investigation, especially in bladder and prostate malignancy. Because of the tremendous expansion of our oncologic surgery service, Dr. Stephen Strup, a trainee of the Jefferson Residency Program, was encouraged to obtain a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, after which he returned and assisted Dr. Gomella in the continued expansion of the Urologic Oncology program.

Another area of focus by Dr. Mulholland was development of neuro-urology and urinary incontinence. Dr. Michael Chancellor, who trained at the University of Michigan and served a fellowship at Columbia after a brief period in private practice, joined the department in the early 1990s and rapidly developed into an internationally known neurourologist. He developed research within the laboratory in neurourology and spinal cord injury. This service expanded and the next addition to the neurourologic service was Dr. David Rivas, who trained within our program at Jefferson and took a fellowship under Dr. Chancellor from 1992 to 1994. This was followed by Dr. Patrick J. Shenot, who also trained and served this fellowship from 1997 to 1999. These three developed one of the strongest neuro-urology services in the country and expanded both research and clinical activities at the AI DuPont institute and the Magee Rehabilitation Hospital. Dr. Chancellor is currently on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Rivas left the faculty in 2000 to start a career in protocol development in pharmaceutical urological research. Dr. Patrick Shenot presently directs the neuro-urology service of our department and devotes part of his practice to treating spinal cord-injured patients at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital. Dr. Shenot is one of the first physicians in the greater Delaware Valley to implant neurostimulators to control bladder function and trains physicians across the country in this innovative technique. He also is the director of our Urology Residency Program.

In August of 1999, Dr. Sandip Vasavada joined the department to develop the field of female urology and incontinence. After residency at the Cleveland Clinic, he trained at UCLA and brought unique expertise in this area. Two years after his arrival, he was recruited and returned to the Cleveland Clinic's Female Urologic Service. He was replaced by Dr. Joanna Chon in 2001, who trained at University of Maryland and did a Female Urology Fellowship under Dr. Gary Leach at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, with emphasis on pelvic floor reconstruction. This endeavor rapidly developed and also has become well known nationally. Dr. Chon has also distinguished herself by being one of the very few urologists in the United States certified in acupuncture, an area that will be a focus in future clinical research.

Dr. Gomella was one of the first urologists to become involved in laparoscopy and minimally invasive surgery in the early 1990s. This was done at the strong encouragement of Dr. Bagley, who upon returning from an endourology meeting and having seen the first “rough cut” videotape of a laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection, felt it might have a role in the area of urologic oncology and encouraged Dr. Gomella to become involved in this new area of urologic surgery. Dr. Gomella became one of the leading instructors in urologic laparoscopic technique, and Jefferson hosted many “laser” laparoscopy courses in the early 1990s. Dr. Gomella was joined in this effort by Dr. Strup after he returned from his fellowship. Because of the tremendous expansion of this new field, Dr. Dave McGinnis, a Jefferson program graduate who upon returning to join our staff, completed a year-long clinical fellowship in oncology, with a heavy emphasis on oncologic laparoscopy. Drs. Strup and McGinnis were dispatched to France, and in 2000 added laparoscopic radical prostatectomy to the department, and performed the first laparoscopic prostatectomy procedures in the Delaware Valley in March 2000.

Dr. Deborah Glassman supervising residents during surgery

Dr. Deborah Glassman joined our staff at the beginning of Dr. S. Grant Mulholland's tenure. The clinical practice was housed in a small, two-room office with one secretary. In 1993, the college space was completely renovated and expanded, while the hospital opened a state-of-the-art four-room endourology suite. The first microwave thermotherapy unit in the Delaware Valley was initialized at the Pennsylvania Prostate Center at Jefferson in 1997.

Patient Office – 833 Chestnut Street Patient waiting area

With the addition of new specialties and more practicing urologists, the space expanded in 1999 into an 11,500-square-foot office on campus. An important department milestone in 1999 included the amalgamation of all urologists at TJUH and Methodist Hospital onto the Jefferson full-time faculty. With the addition of Dr. Perry Weiner, now serving as vice chairman for Clinical Affairs, Drs. Jeanne Llenado and Larry Goldstein, from Methodist, and Dr. Kenneth Brownstein, from TJUH, a large, diversified department offering both primary and tertiary urologic care was established. At the end of Dr. Mulholland's tenure as chairman, the Department of Urology had 77 employees, including 14 attendings, 8 residents, 2 PhDs and several clinical fellows and post-docs. Fellows had been trained in areas including oncology, endourology and neurourology.

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