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Patrick Selph, M.D., was slected as a 2019 American Urological Association Ambassador. He was invited to lecture Brazilian chief residents at the Sociedade Brasileira de Urologia-American Urological Association (SBU-AUA) Lessons in Urology in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Two Department of Urology faculty members received promotions. 

The following rank changes went into effect October 1:

Sunil Sudarshan, M.D., has been promoted from Associate Professor to Professor.

Jeffrey Nix, M.D., has been promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor.

This summer, two UAB medical students and one UAB undergraduate student received grants to conduct research with the Department of Urology.

Two medical students, Stephen Leahy and Taylor Tucker, received their grants through the UAB-UCSD O’Brien Center for Kidney Injury Research Summer Program. Ornin Hakim received his grant through the Morehouse, Tuskegee and UAB Cancer Research Symposium.

Stephen Leahy received a grant for summer research with P.I. Dr. Rais-Bahrami in collaboration with Dr. Soory Varambally of the Department of Pathology. The title of his research was “Differential Expression of BAP1 in Papillary Renal Cell Carcinoma and Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Stratified by Race.”

Taylor Tucker also received a grant for summer research with P.I. Dr. Rais-Bahrami in collaboration with Dr. Kristin Porter with UAB Radiology. “ Examining the Role of Contrast-Enhanced Renal Ultrasound in Characterizing Indeterminate Renal Lesions in the Setting of Chronic Kidney Disease” was the title of his research.

Ornin Hakim recently presented his research titled “Evaluation of Perioperative Outcome of Robotic Laparoscopic Prostatectomy Between Multi-port and Sing-port Approaches” at the Cancer Research Symposium hosted by Morehouse, Tuskegee and UAB Cancer Research.

Summer Research Scholar Ornin Hakim

The Department of Urology celebrated recent graduates Dr. Justin Martinez and Dr. Vidu Yarlagadda with a party at the Country Club of Birmingham on Saturday, June 15th. The night was filled with distributing awards, sharing memories and giving thanks to everyone who helped the two graduates become the surgeons they are today.

Dr. Justin Martinez will be moving to Beverly, Mass. to join the Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, Urology Institute.

Dr. Vidu Yarlagadda will be joining the Clarksville Urology private practice in Clarksville, Tenn.

Several awards were also given to faculty and staff:

Dr. Luke Ellenburg was awarded the Urology In-Service Award for receiving the highest score on the in-service exam this year.

Dr. Zack Glaser received the Resident Research Award. He has eight publications and is only a PGY-2!

Dr. Rais-Bahrami was given the Faculty Teaching Award, voted by the chief residents.

Congratulations to the two wonderful graduates and the 2019 award winners!

Dr. Luke Ellenburg, winner of the Urology In-Service AwardDr. Zack Glaser, winner of the Resident Research AwardDr. Rais-Bahrami, winner of the Faculty Teaching Award

The inaugural COOKS  (Center for Research on Obesity and Oxalate Kidney Stones) Obesity & Kidney Stone Conference was held on July 11th and 12th at the UAB Hill Student Center. The conference brought together a broad network of scientific leaders to define the relationship between obesity and kidney stone disease.

The conference format was conducive to open discussions about the research being done to combat kidney stone disease. There were 15 speakers, 10 from UAB and 5 from other institutions. Each speaker provided a 20 minute presentation and 10 minutes of Q&A.

Dr. Ayfer Akgul, the first ever travel award recipient of the NIDDK-sponsored CAIRIBU (Collaborating for the Advancement of Interdisciplinary Research in Benign Urology) consortium, also attended the meeting. Congrats, Dr. Akgul!

COOKS was established in 2019 to evaluate the associations between obesity and kidney stone disease with a focus on oxalate. The Center is integrally connected to the Kidney Stone Research Center at UAB. At the Kidney Stone Research Center, experts are using mouse models to study the relationship between obesity and kidney stone disease. Working in collaboration with the Nutrition and Obesity Research Center, human subjects are being studied to describe the effects of measures of obesity on the urinary excretion of oxalate.

See the 2019 COOKS Conference agenda.

Dr. Dean Assimos and travel award recipient, Dr. Ayfer Akgul

The UAB Department of Urology is excited to welcome two new faculty members to our team!

Dr. Charles Peyton has just completed his urologic oncology fellowship with the Department of Genitourinary Oncology at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. He attended medical school at the Medical University of South Carolina and completed his internship at Wake Forest Medical Center.

Dr. Adam Klein will join us as an assistant professor of general urology at the VA. He moves to Birmingham from University Hospitals St. John Medical Center in Westlake, Ohio. Dr. Klein attended medical school at The Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, Penn., and completed his residency at the University of Buffalo.

Drs. Peyton and Klein will begin seeing patients in August and October, respectively.

Audrey White recently joined the Department of Urology team as an administrative associate to our oncology physicians. 

A Birmingham native, Audrey has been able to display her 35 years of administrative experience in the healthcare and insurance industries. After serving many years at St. Vincent’s, Audrey made the leap to UAB where she has spent the last 2 ½ years in the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery. Energetic and eager, Audrey is always willing to go the “extra mile”. The mother of twin daughters, Audrey enjoys spending time with her family and shopping for shoes.

The 2019 AUA meeting was held in Chicago, Illinois. UAB Department of Urology faculty and residents spent the week participating in innovative and educational programs that provided access to groundbreaking research, the latest clinical guidelines and the most advanced technologies in urology.

On Saturday evening, the department hosted an alumni reception at the Marriott Marquis.

Several of our faculty, residents and medical students presented posters, moderated sessions and provided key takeaways. Below are some highlights:

Dr. Dean Assimos presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Surgical & Medical Stone Guidelines Update: A Case-Based Approach
• Complex Cases: Stone Prevention: Diet & Medication
• Complications of Endourology and Stone Treatment
• Panel Discussion on Clinical Cases: How to Approach this Situation
• Closing Remarks: Research on Calculus Kinetics Society (ROCK)

Dr. David Joseph presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• ABU Update

Dr. Peter Kolettis presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• The Future of Sperm Cyropreservation

Dr. Tanecia Mitchell presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Stone Disease: Basic Research & Pathophysiology I

Dr. Patrick Selph presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Highlights: Society of Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgeons (GURS) Program

Dr. Sunil Sudarshan presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Welcome and Symposium Introduction
• Session One: Basic Science
• Session Four: Prostate
• Closing Remarks

Dr. Kyle Wood presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Influence on Obesity on Urinary Oxalate Excretion
• Leave No Stone Unturned: Approaches to Uncover Rare Kidney Stone Diseases
• Sponsored by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Dr. Zachary Glaser (PGY-2) posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Poster Session: Validation of MSKCC Pre-Prostatectomy Nomogram in Men who Undergo MRI-Targeted Prostate Biopsy Prior to Radical Prostatectomy

Carter Boyd (UAB MD/MBA student) posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Poster Session: Impact of Demographic Factors and Systemic Disease on Urinary Stone Risk Parameters Amongst Stone Formers
• Podium Session: Association of Obesity with Increased Endogenous Oxalate Synthesis

The Southeastern Section of the AUA (SESAUA) is March 13-16, and School of Medicine medical student Carter Boyd had five abstracts accepted. See more details below. Over the summer, Carter was elected as an AUA Medical Student Research Scholar.

RNA INTERFERENCE OF HEPATIC LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE AND LIVER METABOLOMIC EFFECTS
Carter Boyd1, John Knight, PhD2, Ross Holmes, PhD2, Dean Assimos, MD2, Kyle Wood, MD2
UAB School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama, Department of Urology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama
Presented By: Carter Boyd, BS

ASSOCIATION OF OBESITY WITH INCREASED ENDOGENOUS OXALATE SYNTHESIS
Carter Boyd1 , John Knight, PhD2 , Ross Holmes, PhD2 , Dean Assimos, MD2 , Kyle Wood, MD2 1 UAB School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama, 2 Department of Urology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama
Presented By: Carter Boyd, BS

ENZYMATIC CHANGES IN ENDOGENOUS OXALATE PATHWAY IN OBESE MOUSE MODEL
Carter Boyd1 , John Knight, PhD2 , Ross Holmes, PhD2 , Dean Assimos, MD2 , Kyle Wood, MD2 1 UAB School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama, 2 Department of Urology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama
Presented By: Carter Boyd, BS

IMPACT OF DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS AND SYSTEMIC DISEASE ON URINARY STONE RISK PARAMETERS AMONGST STONE FORMERS
Carter Boyd1 , Dustin Whitaker1 , Omotola Ashorobi, MD2 , Robert Oster, PhD3 , John Knight, PhD2 , Ross Holmes, PhD2 , Dean Assimos, MD2 , Kyle Wood, MD2 1 UAB School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama, 2 Department of Urology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, 3 Department of Medicine, University of Alabama-Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama
Presented By: Carter Boyd, BS

REVISITING THE VALUE OF A SECOND SEMEN ANALYSIS FOR EVALUATION OF THE INFERTILE MAN
Carter Boyd1 , Daniel Osula, MD2 , Peter Kolettis, MD2 1 UAB School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama, 2 Department of Urology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama
Presented By: Daniel Osula, MD

The UAB Department of Urology is actively involved in clinical, basic science and translational research endeavors. Currently, urology research is 11th in NIH funding and our researchers are working hard to improve health outcomes with the most common and difficult to treat diseases. Read more for some recent highlights:

• Recently, Dr. Sunil Sudarshan won a prostate cancer research grant from the Mike Slive Foundation.
• The Southeastern Section of the AUA (SESAUA) is March 13-16, and School of Medicine medical student Carter Boyd had five abstracts accepted. Over the summer, Carter was elected as an AUA Medical Student Research Scholar.
• AUA 2019 is quickly approaching, and many of our faculty, residents and School of Medicine medical students will be representing the department in podium and poster sessions. Find out where you can find us at AUA 2019.

The Department of Urology kept busy at SESAUA 2019! Many of our faculty, residents and School of Medicine medical students represented the department in podium, poster and video sessions. A big congratulations goes to all who had articles accepted.

SESAUA also included some invited talks like Dr. Soroush Rais-Bahrami's talk, "State-of-the-Art Lecture: Prostate Cancer Active Surveillance and MRI-Targeted Biopsy".

See below for more conference highlights:

Wednesday, March 13

Podium Session: Socioeconomics and Health Services Research

4:12 pm CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF INDICATIONS FOR URINALYSIS IN THE UNITED STATES
Peter Kolettis, MD, Kyle Gennaro, MD, Gerald McGwin, Jr., MS, PhD
Presented By: Kyle Harrison Gennaro, MD

Poster Session: Nephrolithiasis

3:30-5 pm RNA INTERFERENCE OF HEPATIC LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE AND LIVER METABOLOMIC EFFECTS (Poster #4)
Carter Boyd, John Knight, PhD, Ross Holmes, PhD, Dean Assimos, MD, Kyle Wood, MD Department of Urology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama
Presented By: Carter Boyd, BS

3:30-5 pm ASSOCIATION OF OBESITY WITH INCREASED ENDOGENOUS OXALATE SYNTHESIS (poster #9)
Carter Boyd, John Knight, PhD, Ross Holmes, PhD, Dean Assimos, MD, Kyle Wood, MD
Department of Urology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama
Presented By: Carter Boyd, BS

3:30-5 pm ENZYMATIC CHANGES IN ENDOGENOUS OXALATE PATHWAY IN OBESE MOUSE MODEL (poster #11)
Carter Boyd, John Knight, PhD, Ross Holmes, PhD, Dean Assimos, MD, Kyle Wood, MD Department of Urology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama
Presented By: Carter Boyd, BS

Video Session I

4-5 pm ROBOTIC-ASSISTED LAPAROSCOPIC REPAIR OF BLADDER NECK STENOSIS USING A BUCCAL MUCOSA GRAFT (video #3)
Omotola Ashorobi, MD, Nathan Mendoza, MD, Patrick Selph, MD
University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Urology
Presented By: Omotola Ashorobi, MD

Thursday, March 14

Poster Session: Prostate Cancer

7-8:30 am VALIDATION OF MSKCC PRE-PROSTATECTOMY NOMOGRAM IN MEN WHO UNDERGO TARGETED BIOPSY USING LESION-BASED AGGREGATE CORE HISTOLOGY REPORTING (poster #46)
Zachary Glaser, MD, Jennifer Gordetsky, MD, Sejong Bae, PhD, Jeffrey Nix, MD, Soroush Rais-Bahrami, MD
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Urology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Division of Preventative Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Radiology
Presented By: Zachary A. Glaser, MD

Podium Session: Urethral Disease and Voiding Dysfunction

7:21 am A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF COMBINED VENTRAL FASCIOCUTANEOUS SKIN FLAP AND DORSAL BUCCAL MUCOSA GRAFT VS. OVERLAPPING BUCCAL MUCOSA GRAFT FOR URETHRAL STRICTURE DISEASE
Alexander Nocera, MS, Omotola Ashorobi, MD, Patrick Selph, MD
University of Alabama School of Medicine, UAB Department of Urology
Presented By: Alexander Nocera, MS

7:35 am PROPHYLACTIC ANTIBIOTICS AFTER URETHROPLASTY DO NOT REDUCE URETHRAL STRICTURE DISEASE RECURRENCE
Omotola Ashorobi, MD, Joseph Fougerousse, MD, Kimberly Martin, PhD, John Selph, MD University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dept. of Urology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dept. of Epidemiology
Presented By: Omotola Ashorobi, MD

Poster Session: Health Services Research

3:50-5 pm IMPACT OF DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS AND SYSTEMIC DISEASE ON URINARY STONE RISK PARAMETERS AMONGST STONE FORMERS (poster #59)
Carter Boyd, Dustin Whitaker, Omotola Ashorobi, MD, Robert Oster, PhD, John Knight, PhD, Ross Holmes, PhD, Dean Assimos, MD, Kyle Wood, MD
UAB School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama, Department of Urology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, Department of Medicine, University of Alabama-Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama
Presented By: Carter Boyd, BS

Friday, March 15

Poster Session: Urologic Oncology

7-8 am HOW WOULD MRI-TARGETED PROSTATE BIOPSY ALTER RADIATION THERAPY APPROACHES IN TREATING PROSTATE CANCER? (poster #95)
Daniel Dix, Andrew McDonald, MD, Jennifer Gordetsky, MD, Jeffrey Nix, MD, John Thomas, MD, Soroush Rais-Bahrami, MD,
Department of Urology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL., Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL.
Presented By: Daniel Dix

Poster Session: Outpatient Urology

7-8 am FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF BIPARAMETRIC PROSTATE MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (poster #105)
Kristin Porter, Alex King, Samuel Galgano, Rachael Sherrer, Jennifer Gordetsky, Soroush Rais-Bahrami
Department of Radiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL., 2Department of Urology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL., Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL.
Presented By: Rachael Leigh Sherrer, BA

5-6 pm COMPLETION OF THE ERAS PATHWAY IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING SURGERY FOR BENIGN URINARY DIVERSION IS LOW (poster #152)
Omotola Ashorobi, MD, Alexander Nocera, MS, John Selph, MD
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dept. of Urology, University of Alabama School of Medicine
Presented By: Omotola Ashorobi, MD

Saturday, March 16

Poster Session: Andrology II

7-8 am REVISITING THE VALUE OF A SECOND SEMEN ANALYSIS FOR EVALUATION OF THE INFERTILE MAN (Poster #174)
Carter Boyd, Daniel Osula, MD, Peter Kolettis, MD
UAB School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama, Department of Urology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama
Presented By: Daniel Osula, MD

Podium Session: Prostate – Benign and Malignant

7:14 am COMPARISON OF BI-PARAMETRIC MRI TO FULL MULTIPARAMETRIC MRI FOR DETECTION OF CLINICALLY-SIGNIFICANT PROSTATE CANCER
Rachael Sherrer, Zachary Glaser, MD, Jennifer Gordetsky, MD, Jeffrey Nix, MD, Kristin Porter, MD, Soroush Rais-Bahrami, MD
Department of Urology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL., Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL., Department of Radiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL. Presented
By: Rachael Leigh Sherrer, BA

T. Leon Howard Imaging Session

12-1 pm 54 YEAR OLD MALE WITH GROSS HEMATURIA IN HEMORRHAGIC SHOCK (case #4)
Ava Saidian, MD, James Ellenburg, MD, Soroush Rais-Bahrami, MD University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center
Presented By: Ava Saidian, MD

The University of Alabama at Birmingham is one of first 15 centers of excellence in the United States, and the first in Alabama, to implement a new single port robot manufactured by Intuitive Surgical.

Three of Department of Urology providers, Dr. Jeffrey Nix, Dr. Soroush Rais-Bahrami and Dr. Patrick Selph, have been trained to use the new equipment located at UAB Highlands Hospital. The single port robot will be used for many different procedures, but a primary focus will be on cancer. This instrument will be used to push the envelope in minimally invasive surgery in order to provide patients the highest level of cutting edge care.

The first two cases performed at UAB were both prostatectomies performed on Friday, Jan. 25th by Dr. Nix. The Department of Urology is proud to be involved in the use of cutting edge technology at UAB.

The Department of Urology is growing! We'd like to welcome Amanda Harris, Dr. Lance Patterson and Brandy Nix to our team. Find out more about each of them below:

Amanda Harris, BSN, RN

Amanda Harris is the Manager of Ambulatory Services for the Department of Urology.

Amanda graduated from the University of Alabama with a BSN and has been a nurse for 16 years. She has worked in the Birmingham area as a staff RN, Clinical Care Coordinator and Director of Surgical Services. Amanda has experience in several areas, including SICU, PACU, pre op, pre admit testing, same day surgery and surgery scheduling. Amanda enjoys learning and being a resource for others and is excited to be joining UAB's health care system at The Kirklin Clinic. 

Amanda is married and has a six-year-old son. During her free time, she enjoys time with her family playing sports, watching sports and reading. 

Lance Patterson, MD

Dr. Patterson earned his medical degree from the University of South Alabama in Mobile where he also received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. He completed his general surgery and urology residencies at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where he was Chief Resident in Urology. He is a member of the American Urologic Association, the American Society of Clinical Urologists and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

Dr. Patterson hold clinic at the Russell Medical Center in Alexander City. 

Brandy Nix

Brandy is the Financial Officer for the Urology, Neuro Surgery and Otolaryngology Research Group.

Brandy attended the University of Alabama where she double-majored in Finance and German. She continued her education there getting an MBA and a Masters in German. Upon graduation she moved to Birmingham and worked for five years at BBVA Compass, first in Customer Intelligence and then in Credit Risk. In 2012 she moved to Regions where she worked in the Consumer Lending Finance until she made the move to UAB.

1. When did you graduate from UAB?
   I finished my residency in 2009.
   
   
2. What city are you located in?
   I live in Nashville, TN and practice at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
   
   
3. What are your clinical/research interests?
   I am a pediatric urologist, and I spend about 60% of my time working on NIH-funded research studying bladder inflammation. We use mouse models to study compounds that can reverse or prevent bladder injury and inflammation. The other 40% of my time is dedicated to caring for children with pediatric urology problems.
   
   
4. How did you choose to practice this area of urology?
   During my time at UAB, I decided to pursue an academic career path and the great experience I had at Children’s led me to do a fellowship in Pediatric Urology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Because of this fellowship, I became interested in basic science research and how it applies to children with bladder problems.
   
   
5. What aspect of your time at UAB do you believe was most valuable as you started your career?
   As a pediatric urologist, I would say my time at Children’s was the most valuable. Because only one resident was on service at that time, we had unlimited access to a lot of pediatric urology.
   
   
6. Did you have a particular mentor while at UAB? Why were they a good mentor?
   Honestly I had really strong mentorship from all the faculty at UAB while I was there, and I have great memories from my training. Clearly, I had strong mentorship from Drs. Joseph and Kitchens as well as Dr. Tony Herndon during his time at UAB. All three of these mentors were instrumental in my career choice and I use lessons I learned from them on regular basis in my practice.
   
   
7. What is one of your fondest memories from UAB?
   Some of my fondest memories during my time at UAB were the Fridays we would spend in the OR with Dr. John Burns doing full day of stone cases. He was always such an approachable mentor with a wealth of knowledge. He provided me and many others with great training in taking care of patients with kidney stones.
   
   
8. Give one piece of advice you’d like to share with the current residents or those recently graduated.
   The biggest piece of advice I can give to current residents is to not forget how fortunate you are to be in training. Even though it is a very busy time in life, residency is when you have the opportunity to learn from others successes, trials, and tribulations before you get to experience your own as a practicing urologist. I also encourage the residents to take great notes from the operations they observe and participate in. Even today, I still refer to notes I took from residency today.
   
   
9. When you’re not working, how do you spend your time?
   When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with my wife and two sons, Jack (age 9) and William (age 7).