Urology Residency Program

The University of Cincinnati Urology Program has been approved since 1948 and is a Division of the Department of Surgery. The current Residency Program Director, Dr. James Donovan also serves as the Division Director. Since its inception, the primary objective of the Division has been to provide exemplary patient care. We are committed to training urologists in an environment which is enriching to both patient and resident. Upon completion of residency, our urologists are prepared for all aspects of independent urology practice, and continue to advance superior patient care through the knowledge, skill, and compassion they developed during their training. One measure of our success in providing quality patient care is our current national rank of # 38 in the U.S. News and World Report Best Urology Programs (2007).

Our program includes a structured didactic curriculum with scholarly activity, graded supervision in diagnosis and management of urologic diseases, increasing surgical responsibilities, and ongoing evaluation and monitoring of each resident's progress during the training period. Our resident education is based on the fundamentals of diagnosis and treatment pursuant to today’s standard of care, but also includes research and training in the technologies and skills necessary for future success. We strive to attract highly qualified, disciplined and motivated candidates and provide a carefully organized educational program which allows them to fully develop their abilities. Our case accrual statistics attract candidates of the highest caliber, and allow us to select residents based upon merit and achievement. Continuous monitoring of surgical logs permits proactive intervention when index case objectives are not being met.

For five years in succession, 2002 through 2007, US News and World Report ranked the Division of Urology at the University of Cincinnati in the top 50 urology centers in the nation. This achievement is due, in part, to the fact that our program has the lowest mortality rate of any ranked program in the nation. This national recognition affirms the tremendous strides we have made in resident training and patient care. Our high profile in this area further contributes to our ability to attract the very best resident applicants. Our philosophy of resident education is not limited to parochial contributions. We endeavor to provide exposure to visiting professors who contribute alternative perspectives on diagnosis and disease management. When possible, visiting faculty are recruited to present didactic lectures and participate in hands-on teaching in the operating room or in the laboratory. We encourage residents to attend regional (Ohio Urological Society, North Central Section of the AUA) and national (Annual Meeting of the American Urologic Association) meetings in order to obtain a broad view of management in urologic disease. Residents are required to pursue scholarly activities including submission of scientific abstracts and presentation of research at institutional, regional, and national meetings.

The current urological training program is five years in duration which prohibits an 8-12 month dedicated basic research period. However, residents may participate in basic research projects on a voluntary basis working with Drs. Pramod Reddy at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital or Dr. Shuk-mei Ho at the Department of Environmental Health.

We emphasize scholarly activity which includes clinical research, case reports, literature review, and preparation of manuscripts for publication (scientific papers, book chapters) with the supervision of a faculty member. Residents are required to produce two manuscripts suitable for publication prior to completion of training. Adult urology faculty (Drs. Bracken, Babcock, Donovan, Hamidinia, and Gaitonde) participate as local primary investigators in several active clinical trials. With the support of the Chairman of the Department of Surgery, Dr. Michael Edwards, we will expand basic science research within the Division of Urology.