Multiple current and former faculty members have received 2025 American Urological Association Distinguished Awards.

Dr. David Jarrard won the Hugh Hampton Young award for his scientific and clinical contributions to the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.

Clinical Assistant Adjunct Professor, Dr. Sutchin Patel, won the William P. Didusch Art and History Award for his contributions to the understanding and appreciation of the history of urology.

Former faculty member Dr. Tracy Downs won the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Award for his mentorship and devotion to advancing diversity and inclusion programs in urology.

Drs. Abel, Farhat, McAchran, Penniston, Richards, and Ricke all received Presidential Citations. This honor is bestowed among those deemed to have significantly promoted the cause of urology.

Dr. Frank Lin served as a Scientific Reviewer for the 2024 Joint Warfighter Medic al Research Program on the Infection Prevention and Treatment (IPT) peer review panel. This is a Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program of the Department of Defense. As a member of this panel, Dr. Lin reviewed clinical research applications for the Military Medical Research and Development Award (MMRDA).

New faculty member, Dr. Betsy Koehne, was elected to the Society of Urologic Oncology - Women in Urologic Oncology Steering Committee. This is a committee aimed to improve the care of patients with malignant urologic disease, to advance science, to provide support and mentorship, and to recruit women into the field.

Dr. Koehne was also elected to the AUA Public Media Committee. This committee serves as a resource to disseminate groundbreaking research, new guidelines, and other advances in urology to the AUA community.

Dr. Koehne was featured in a BackTable Urology podcast episode on "Managing Low and Intermediate Risk Bladder Cancer." You can view the podcast here.

The UW Urologic Oncology section was well represented at this year's Society of Urologic Oncology National Meeting in Dallas, Texas.

Urologic Oncology Fellow, Dr. Paz Lotan presented three abstracts from the team:

• PSMA Expression is Inversely Associated with Metastatic Progression Following Surgery in Clinically Localized Renal Cell Carcinoma
• Cytoreductive Nephrectomy is Associated with Improved Survival for Sarcomatoid Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Patients Treated Before or After Surgery with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
• Comparative Outcomes of Localized Renal Cell Carcinoma in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients and Non-Transplant Patients

Dr. Jason Abel spoke on an expert panel "Challenging Cases in Renal Cell Cancer."

Dr. Daniel Shapiro served as Chair of the International Kidney Cancer Symposium's 2024 Think Tank. The purpose of the Think Tank is to bring together leaders in the field to discuss critical issues related to kidney cancer management and research. Dr. Shapiro spoke on developing consensus statements to guide the development of kidney cancer risk modeling and biomarker development. The Think Tank involved 40 faculty including urologists, medical oncologists, radiologists, patient advocates, industry representatives, and radiation oncologists.

Season’s greetings from the Department of Urology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health! We hope all is well with you and your loved ones. As another year passes, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on some of the achievements and strides made by our department.

We welcomed several new faculty this year.

• Javier Santiago, MD joined our faculty in August. Dr. Santiago completed his fellowship in genitourinary reconstruction at Cleveland Clinic and residency at the University of Michigan.

• Emily Serrell, MD joined our faculty in August. Dr. Serrell completed her endourology fellowship here at UW after also completing her urology residency here.

• Elizabeth Koehne, MD joined our faculty in August. Dr. Koehne completed her urologic oncology fellowship at the University of Washington and residency at Loyola University Medical Center.

• Johanna Hannan, PhD joined our faculty as Associate Professor in November. Dr. Hannan earned her Doctor of Philosophy in pharmacology and toxicology from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She completed post-doctoral fellowships in the Medical College of Georgia Department of Physiology and the Johns Hopkins Brady Urological Institute. Her research investigates the neurovascular pathophysiological mechanisms of sexual and bladder dysfunction in diseased states and as adverse outcomes of cancer treatment.

Our faculty continue to lead the field and have taken on new state and national positions. Dr. Walid Farhat is President of the Wisconsin Urological Society (WUS). Kristina Penniston, PhD is President of the Research on Calculus Kinetics (ROCK) Society. Dr. Margaret Knoedler has been selected as a member of the ROCK Society. As of May, I have stepped in to my role as President of the American Urological Association (AUA).

Our faculty took on some exciting new institutional leadership roles in the past year. Dr. Sarah McAchran has been re-elected to the University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation Board as a Faculty Director. Dr. Shannon Cannon has been appointed to the Wisconsin Medical Alumni Association’s Board of Directors. Dr. Kristin Ebert has become the Operations Dyad Lead for the American Family Children’s Hospital Surgical Subspecialty Clinics. Dr. David Paolone has been elected to serve on the 2024-2025 School of Medicine and Public Health’s Medical Student Admissions Committee. Drs. Frank Lin and Kristin Ebert have taken on the roles of Co-Directors of the UW Department of Urology Simulation Education Program.

Our department’s research program has been ranked #4 in the nation for NIH grant funding in urology departments. This includes a P50 Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) for novel prostate cancer treatments, a U54 O’Brien Center for benign urology research, and a U24 to lead CAIRIBU, which coordinates cooperative efforts of 15 academic centers with NIDDK K12, P20, and U54 grants for benign urology research. We also have a strong K12 Urology Research Career Development Program that cultivates new physician and PhD researchers, including urologists Vinaya Bhatia, MD and Matthew Grimes, MD. Our faculty work with more than 10 PhD scientists, post-docs, and trainees on a vast array of extramurally funded research projects and clinical trials.

Our educational programs continue to flourish, and we welcomed our second group of four resident trainees in June. The resident complement increase will be complete in June 2027 when we will have 20 urology residents. Our educational podcast, WInnovations, hosted by Dr. Kyle Richards has completed its second season with seven episodes featuring physicians and scientists from our department and other top urology programs. These podcasts are housed on our website, urology.wisc.edu.

Philanthropy is a crucial element in maintaining our level of excellence, and we are extremely fortunate to have such strong support. An investment in the Department’s work, no matter how big or small, helps us continue to achieve our mission – advancing the health of a diverse growing population. Please contact Christina Marcinske if you have any questions about the work being done in our department or options for giving, at brugger@urology.wisc.edu.

We are deeply grateful to have partners like you and look forward to working with you in the future. We wish you and your loved ones a safe and joyous holiday season.

Most sincerely,

Stephen Y. Nakada, MD, FACS, FRCS(Glasg.)

Professor and Chairman

The David T. Uehling Chair in Urology