Program Description

The Minimally Invasive Urology fellowships in UT Southwestern’s Department of Urology consist of either two, one-year programs and a single two-year program that are approved by the Endourology Society and designed for post-residency specialty training.

The applicant can focus on either one year of minimally invasive oncology (laparoscopy, robotics, and ablation) or endourology and stone disease. A two-year fellowship completing both minimally invasive programs is available but must be determined in advance. Time commitment during the fellowship is approximately 80 percent clinical and 20 percent research. The fellow is not expected to take call routinely, but rather is encouraged to focus on academic pursuits.

A high volume of robotic, endourology/stone, and laparoscopic cases, as well as access to state-of-the-art animal and technical skills laboratories attract top candidates.

Clinical training encompasses all aspects of robotics, endourology, laparoscopy, and percutaneous ablation with regard to both patient care and clinical research. Laboratory research efforts focus primarily on minimally invasive surgery and endourology.

Additionally, for the endourology and stone disease fellow, there is an opportunity to design and actively participate in metabolic stone studies through the Clinical and Translational Research Center in conjunction with Margaret Pearle, M.D., Ph.D., and Brett Johnson, M.D.

Over the past 10 years, graduates of this program have obtained valued academic positions at prestigious North American medical institutions, including the Mayo Clinic, Emory University, University of Minnesota, McMaster University, University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin, UT Southwestern, and Penn State University.

Clinical Case Load

• Percutaneous procedures: 150/year
• Ureteroscopic procedures: 300/year
• SWL procedures: 20/year
• Laparoscopic procedures: 50/year
• Robotic procedures: 300/year (5 urology dedicated robots)

Clinical Program

The endourology program is supervised by Margaret Pearle, M.D., Ph.D., and the robotic/laparoscopic program is supervised by Jeffrey Cadeddu, M.D. Additional faculty participating in training and research collaboration include Jeffrey Gahan, M.D., Brett Johnson, M.D., and Hal Kominsky, M.D.

Clinical training takes place at UT Southwestern Clements University Hospital, John Peter Smith Hospital (Tarrant County Hospital), VA Medical Center of North Texas, and Parkland Memorial Hospital.

Research Programs

Active laboratory research programs focus on the development of new robotic and laparoscopic surgical techniques and the evaluation of new technologies (e.g., LESS, MAGS, ablation). Surgical education and evaluation as it pertains to laparoscopy and endourology is also a research focus. Currently, the section is actively collaborating with four engineering groups from the Dallas-Fort Worth area on the development of new surgical technologies. In addition, clinical research in the form of retrospective, prospective, and multicenter trials are ongoing. One day a week is dedicated to research activities.

Lab Facilities

Approximately 160 linear feet of bench space, 200 square feet of office space, and 600 square feet for a research surgery suite are available to the fellow. In addition, a full-time endourology laboratory technician is employed by our section to assist in research endeavors.