Jefferson Urology History

In August 2002, Dr. Leonard G. Gomella was appointed the Bernard Godwin Professor of Prostate Cancer and the 8th chairman of the department. Dr. Gomella, originally from New York, graduated from Queens College, City University of New York, and completed medical school, general surgery and urology training at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. This was followed by a two-year Urologic Oncology Fellowship with Drs. Marston Linehan and Steven Rosenberg at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. He has been on the faculty since 1988, and in 1994, the Board of Trustees appointed him the first Bernard W. Godwin Associate Professor in Prostate Cancer, the first prostate cancer specific chair in the U.S.

Dr. Gomella, working with then resident Dr. Jose Moreno and others, were first to use RT-PCR to detect micrometastasis in patients with prostate cancer in 1991. Dr. Gomella also serves as Urology Chair for RTOG and is an active leader in many organizations, including the Mid Atlantic Section of the AUA and the Society of Urologic Oncology. In 2004 he became the president elect of the Mid Atlantic AUA. Dr. Gomella's reputation as an effective teacher and lecturer has him in constant demand as a speaker. In addition to having given more than 300 presentations at local, national and international meetings, he has written more than 250 papers, book chapters and monographs in the field of urology, and has served as a member of the editorial board of numerous journals in the field of urology and oncology.

Dr. Gomella has authored and edited more than two dozen books for medical students, house officers, and practicing physicians, many of which have been translated into foreign languages. He is the editor of the 5 Minute Urology Consult. In the field of urologic laparoscopy, he is co-editor of Laparoscopic Urologic Surgery, the first color atlas in this area, and serves as the laparoscopy section editor for Glenn's Urologic Surgery. Recovering From Prostate Cancer, co-authored by Dr. Gomella, was the first book for the public dedicated to this topic in 1994. In the field of medicine, Dr. Gomella is widely known for the Clinician's Pocket Reference, with the 10th edition published in 2004. The book, popularly known as the "Scut Monkey Handbook," is a widely used reference for medical students and other health care providers. He is the series editor for McGraw-Hill's On Call and Clinicians Pocket Drug Reference resident series. In addition to having been recognized in most "Best Doctors in America" listings, and in Philadelphia Magazine's "Top Doctors" for Urologic Oncology, he was the recipient of the Volunteer Achievement Award in 2000 from the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Cancer Society and the NCI Achievement Award in 2003.