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Alumni Achievement Award
Jefferson Urology Alumni Achievement Award 2020
Col. (Ret.) Martin L. Dresner, MD, FACS
The Department of Urology is pleased to announce Dr. Martin Dresner as our 2020 Jefferson Urology Alumni Achievement Award winner. Dr. Dresner attended Jefferson Medical College (now Sidney Kimmel Medical College) and graduated in 1965 following completion of his Bachelor’s degree from Ursinus College in Collegville, PA. Dr. Dresner went on to complete his residency in General Surgery at Martin Army Community Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia. A second residency in Urology was completed at Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco with an additional fellowship in Pediatric Urology at Children’s Memorial Hospital. He was the first person to complete a Pediatric Urology Fellowship in the United States.
After receiving his draft notice, he served with the First Cavalry Division as battalion surgeon, brigade surgeon, and commanding officer of a medical clearing station in Vietnam. After leaving the Army 1994 holding the rank of Colonel, he joined the faculty of the University of Arizona in Tucson and the Southern Arizona VA Healthcare System where he served as Program Director of the Department of Urology. In addition he also served as Chief of Surgery at the VA for more than a decade. Dr. Dresner, who is now retired, is well known for his service to the American Urologic Association (AUA), the Western Section of the AUA, the U.S. Army and Veterans Administation and urology residency training.
Dr. Dresner has been previously honored for his extensive career and expertise in the field of urology. As a Vietnam veteran, Dr. Dresner was the recipient of the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star, the Order of Military Medical Merit, as well as U.S. Airborne and Special Forces Airborne wings. Ursinus College recogonized him through their Henry M. and M. Paige Laughlin Lifetime Educator Award. One of his biggest recognitions was in 2015 when he was the recipient of the Presidential Citation by the American Urological Association.
Dr. Dresner has been a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and member of the American Urological Association, the American Association of Clinical Urologists, the Society of Government Services Urologists (SGSU) and the American College of Surgeons. He has served as President of the Western Section of the American Urological Association, and Historian and Parliamentarian of the SGSU.
In his spare time, Dr. Dresner enjoys spending time with his four grandchildren and listening to Jazz music.
As our 2020 Alumni Awardee, Dr. Dresner would have joined us as our guest for the 2020 David M. Davis Visiting Professorship and Graduation Banquet where a formal presentation would have been made.We look forward to this event taking place live in June 2021 where we will once again invite Dr. Dresner and our newest 2021 Alumni awardee (to be announced) to both join us in Philadelphia.
As our Department of Urology 2020 Year In Review was about to be printed, we received the sad news that Marty passed away suddenly in December 2020, in Tucson, Arizona. The entire Jefferson family extends our condolences to his life partner, Ellen, his brother, children, grandchildren, and all of his many other family and friends. To paraphrase a famous TV commercial, “His was a life well-lived.”
A few of Dr. Dresner’s Awards included:
