Student News

SKMC UROLOGY MATCH 2021

According to Dr. Charles A. Pohl, Vice Dean of Student Affairs and SKMC Professor of Pediatrics “Congratulations to the Department of Urology on another great urology match. This is one of the more competitive specialties with most SKMC students getting one of their top choices and all of them entering great programs. I am very pleased that 90% (9/10) of SKMC students matched when compared to an 80% match rate nationally for US seniors and a 74% match rate overall.” Urology programs are in an early match to allow individuals to be assigned in general surgery intern positions when the general match takes place in March each year.

RESULTS OF 2021 SIDNEY KIMMEL MEDICAL COLLEGE UROLOGY MATCH

SKMC CLASS OF 2021 UROLOGY PROGRAM Emily Bochner Nicholas Bowler Jessica Clark Ryan Fogg Ernest Gillan Yitzchak Katlowitz University of Texas-Southwestern University George Washington University Temple University Virginia Commonwealth University Rutgers New Jersey Maimonides Medical Center

Brent Perry Sage Vincent Kevin Xie Geisinger Medical Center Thomas Jefferson University State University of New York - Buffalo

JEFFERSON UROLOGY RESEARCH SCHOLARS

The Jefferson Urology Research Scholar program was established in 2017 to prepare medical students for a urology residency and to encourage careers as a physician/ scientist. Intended as a “gap year” before Year 4 of medical school, the one-year, full-time program provides students with opportunities to work alongside clinical leaders in the field, garnering invaluable insight while obtaining a career-changing experience. In addition to their research programs, they have the opportunity to participate in all Department of Urology grand rounds and lectures.

Jefferson urologists have a long history of moving the field forward through contributions, such as inventing the first uroflowmeter, pioneering the earliest uses of laparoscopy and minimally invasive surgery in urologic practice, performing the first research in detecting circulating micrometastasis in prostate cancer using molecular techniques, establishing multidisciplinary clinics to care for GU malignancies and performing the first adult bladder augmentations in the world using bladder tissue engineering. The Scholars program is coordinated by Dr. Costas Lallas, Vice Chair for Education. For information on our Jefferson Urology Scholars Program, please contact Dr. Lallas (costas.lallas@ jefferson.edu). Andrew Denisenko and Andrew Shumaker are our 2021-2022 scholars.

ANDREW DENISENKO

Andrew “D” graduated from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania with a double major in Biology and Russian, and a minor in chemistry. After working as an emergency room scribe for a year, he was accepted to Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine to fulfill his dream of becoming a physician. He was particularly drawn to Urology because of the wide scope of urologic practice as well as the cutting-edge techniques employed, and is excited to contribute to the field as a research fellow. Some of his current projects include a prostate cancer staging database, a prospective study on advanced ultrasound techniques, and a retrospective study of transgender patients and their experiences with urologic care. Outside of medicine, his hobbies include reading, writing, cycling, exploring music, and playing chess.

ANDREW SHUMAKER

Andrew “S” is originally from Boca Raton, Florida and currently studies medicine at Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine’s New York/American program. His undergraduate education was at the University of Florida with a focus in Middle Eastern studies. He then went on to receive a master’s degree in Physiology and Biophysics from Georgetown University. Andrew has loved the field of urology since the beginning of his medical education. He particularly enjoys reconstructive urology but also has done previous research in pediatric urology. He is grateful for the opportunity to continue his research efforts as a Jefferson Urology Research Scholar and is eager to continue collaborating with the department faculty and working alongside his two new friends, Andrew “D” and 2021-2022 research fellow Dr. Cass Clark. When not in the department, Andrew enjoys listening to jazz, learning history and wood carving.

Andrew Denisenko and Andrew Shumaker are our 2021-2022 Jefferson Urology Research Scholars.

JEFFERSON UROLOGY SOCIETY

The Jefferson Urology Society (JUS) is a student run interest group that provides opportunities for medical students to learn more about the field of urology. The goal of the society is to expose medical students to all things urology. This is done through outreach programming during all phases of medical school. This includes urology lectures for preclinical students, a robotics demonstration for clinical students, and longitudinal research and mentorship opportunities throughout medical school. The society is working to establish a new externship program to allow for students to receive more clinical exposure to urology in medical school. The JUS plays a role in engaging students in urology early in their medical education. Any questions or comments can be directed to urology.society@students.jefferson.edu.

The following are some of the activities of the Jefferson Urology Society (JUS) over the last year.

• Urology General Interest Meeting: Hosted by Dr. Lallas and JUS students, this program exposed students to the broad field of urology covering the scope of urologic diseases and their medical and surgical treatments. Topics covered also included questions about lifestyle, compensation, residency, and an average day of a urologist.

• Table at Fall Career Fair: Collaborated each year by students in the JUS and Jefferson urology residents, the Fall Career Fair is an opportunity for upper year medical students to explore urology as a potential career path.

• Robotics Lecture and Demonstration: This is one of the best attended events that the Jefferson Urology Society hosts every year. Students participate in a lecture about the history of robotic surgery in urology followed by a demonstration on a Da Vinci robot by Dr. Costas Lallas in an operating room. Students get a rare opportunity to use the robotic simulator. Unfortunately, due to COVID19 restrictions we were unable to run this event in 2021 but are looking forward to this event returning this upcoming spring.

• Urology Journal Club: This summer the JUS society will have its first student run journal club.

Junior medical students will start the journal club by presenting the relevant anatomy and physiology, followed by senior medical students presenting a landmark and controversial academic paper. Further discussion will be facilitated by Dr. Lallas to provide students with the skills of presenting papers.

• Winter Urology Externship: This is a new program offered to 2nd year Jefferson Medical students interested in Urology and allows expanded exposure to Urology. Students who are accepted will have the opportunity to attend a 2-week urology externship during winter break before their clinical rotations begin. Students will spend time in clinic, the OR, helping manage patients on the floor, and attending lectures.

Basic skills will be taught such as catheter placement, knot tying and suturing. We believe this early clinical exposure will draw new students to the field of urology.

A ZOOM shot of a recent Jefferson Urology Society board meeting. Top left to right Secretary: Bowen Yao (SKMC 2022); Upper Class Liaison: Joseph Schultz (SKMC 2023) and Treasurer: Connor McPartland (SKMC 2023). Bottom left to right: President: Jared Raikin (SKMC 2022), Event Coordinator: Kaitlin Berry (SKMC 2022) and Lower Class Liaison: Samuel Alfonsi (SKMC 2024). The 2021-2022 Jefferson Urology Society Officers are: President: Jared Raikin (SKMC 2022) VP Research: Adam Schneider (SKMC 2023) VP Clinical: Kabir Malkani (SKMC 2022) Secretary: Bowen Yao (SKMC 2022) Treasurer: Connor McPartland (SKMC 2023) Event Coordinator: Kaitlin Berry (SKMC 2022) Upper Class Liaisons: Jessica Bulafka (SKMC 2023), Joeseph Schultz (SKMC 2023) Lower Class Liaison: Samuel Alfonsi (SKMC 2024) Faculty Advisor: Costas Lallas MD (JMC 1998)

As part of the new Winter Urology Externship, students had the opportunity to participate in the OR. Here is second year extern student Kelly McGuigan with urology residents Drs. Anthony Tokarski and Radhika Ragam during an endourology case. The externship program is under the Direction of Jared Rankin, Jefferson Urology Society President. The Externship block was held over the year-end Holiday break.

STUDENT MENTORSHIP

Jefferson Urology has a long history of active engagement with students throughout all years of medical school. This is one of the reasons why we are consistently amongst the programs with the highest number of students matriculating into urology nationwide. Historically, a clinically heavy surgical specialty will be most represented in the clinical years of medical school, i.e. the 3rd and 4th years (or Phase 2 and 3 of JeffMD, the newly implemented SKMC curriculum). Urology, however, now represents an established portion of one of the 7 core blocks taught in the preclinical first 2 years (Phase 1) of JeffMD. In doing so, the SKMC students have 9 dedicated Urology-centric lectures from Urology faculty in the Endocrine-Reproductive Block of Phase 1.

In alignment with other medical schools including SKMC, the Department of Urology has started outreach programs to select undergraduate institutions and students to offer a dedicated shadowing and mentorship program during a summer of undergraduate studies (preferably between the Sophomore and Junior undergraduate years). We piloted this program this past Summer, inviting Peyton Stauffer, a student studying biochemistry at Villanova University, to spend 6 weeks of her summer shadowing in the department. Her chief mentor was Dr. Lallas, although she was able to spend time with multiple staff members to gain a comprehensive appreciation of the specialty. Peyton spent time in clinic, the operating rooms, and attended conferences. She had a dedicated research project with the Research Fellows of the Department and was able to get her name on an academic product. In all, the pilot was wildly successful and positively impacted her impression of Urology and medicine as a whole.

We are hoping to use the experience that we gained this past summer to continue outreach programs to colleges and universities local to Philadelphia. This will dovetail nicely with the MAAUA initiative to offer scholarships to URM undergraduate students in both historically black and conventional institutions, to spend a summer shadowing staff urologists at academic institutions. The notable goal of this program will be to attract underrepresented minorities into medicine in general, and hopefully into Urology in particular. In these efforts, Jefferson Urology hopes to continue to be a national leader in mentorship, while focusing attention on inclusivity to remain at the forefront of medical education for decades to come. The program is under the direction of Dr. Costas Lallas, Vice Chair for Education. Peyton Stauffer from Villanova University.