Honors and Awards

Anthony Bella, MD, was named the inaugural Robert J. Krane Scholar by the American Urological Association Foundation in July 2005 and awarded fellowship funding to investigate the "Molecular Mechanism of Cavernous Nerve Regeneration." Bella is mentored by Tom Lue, MD. The department provides matching funds for this research, which will continue though June 2007.

June Chan, ScD, was recognized with a Department of Defense (DOD) Idea Development Award for her research project, “Diet, Exercise, Quality of Life, and Prostate Cancer Progression in a Large Cohort of Men with Prostate Cancer.” Chan’s study will measure and examine modifiable risk factors, the risk of prostate cancer progression, and quality of life among men with prostate cancer from the Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urologic Research Endeavor (CaPSURE™). Peter Carroll, MD, MPH is the overall principal investigator for the CaPSURE study as well as the UCSF site.  Chan’s project addresses the question of whether changing diet and activity level after diagnosis has any effect on the risk of prostate cancer progression and mortality. Survey questions will ask patients about smoking, exercise levels, current food consumption, dietary changes, and vitamin/mineral supplement use. Chan hypothesizes that, “Certain diet and lifestyle practices may help men reduce their risk of progression and improve their health-related quality of life.” The DOD review committee anticipates that her project will add significantly to the understanding of prostate cancer.

Rajvir Dahiya, PhD, was awarded funding for four prostate cancer research proposals totaling $4.95 million in direct costs.  Work on a $1 million National Institutes of Health grant entitled “CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 Genes in Race-related Prostate Cancer,” co-led by Peter Carroll, MD, MPH, began in September 2003 and will run through August 2008. A $1.3 million Veterans Affairs merit review award entitled, “Epigenetic Factors in Race-related Prostate Cancer,” will continue through December 2008. In April 2005, Dahiya was awarded $1.4 million in direct costs from the Biological and Laboratory Sciences Service of Veterans Affairs for renewal of a Research Award Enhancement Program (REAP) grant entitled, “Biomarker Development and Novel Treatment Strategies for Prostate Cancer.” Sara Knight, PhD is among the co-investigators on this multi-project grant funded through March 2010.  Originally funded in October 1998, it is the only prostate cancer REAP grant among 157 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers nationwide. A National Institutes of Health grant for $1.25 million in direct costs was awarded for the project entitled “Cytochrome-P-450 Genes in Pathobiology of Endometrial Cancer,” which will run July 2005 through June 1010.

Kirsten Greene, MD, was awarded the American Urological Association’s Praecis Gerald P. Murphy Scholar award. She was selected from a group of nominees, all of whom have shown an interest in pursuing a career in the study of prostate cancer. She received the award at a special luncheon with all the nominees and 13 top leaders in prostate cancer research. The luncheon was held in May 2005, at the AUA’s annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Greene was also nominated for the 2005 American College of Surgeons teaching award.

The Department of Urology congratulates Frank Hinman, Jr., MD, on celebrating his 90th birthday in 2005. Hinman continues to keep regular office hours, enhancing the department's academic mission as he shares his wealth of knowledge and experience with urology students, residents and faculty. 

Sara Knight, PhD, was awarded a $774,457 Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Service Investigator Initiated Research grant to develop an improved measure of patient preferences for prostate cancer care. This project will contribute to understanding how preferences and treatment choices influence satisfaction with care and quality of life. Peter Carroll, MD, MPH is co-investigator on this research that started in April 2004 and continues through December 2008. In a grant funded by the Department of Defense, Knight will study the psychosocial and patient education needs of prostate cancer patients selecting watchful waiting. This research will improve scientists’ understanding of the experience of men on watchful waiting that will lead to the development of a patient education program to meet their needs, and improve understanding of the decision process that led them to choose watchful waiting.

Jack McAninch, MD, was awarded the Spence Medal at the April 2005 American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons (AAGUS) meeting in Laguna Niguel, California. The Spence Medal is awarded for outstanding achievements in Urology. McAninch is the seventh recipient of the award, which was created in 1994 and is awarded only when the awards committee feels there is a suitable recipient.

Maxwell Meng, MD, was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Surgeons at the October 2005 annual meeting, held in San Francisco. In September 2005 Meng received the Excellence in Direct Teaching award from the Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators. Most recently, in April 2006 Meng was one of two AUA Western Section members selected for the 2006-2007 Leadership Program. Sixteen younger association members are selected biannually to participate in the program, which develops leadership skills for AUA’s leaders of tomorrow.

Eric Small, MD, was the national symposium and steering committee chair for the first symposium on prostate cancer co-sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, and the Society of Urologic Oncology. Mack Roach, II, MD and Peter Carroll, MD, MPH participated in the meeting’s program committee.  The meeting, entitled, “2005 Multidisciplinary Prostate Cancer Symposium: Current Status and Future Directions for Prevention and Management,” was held February 17-19, 2005 in Orlando, Florida. 

Emil Tanagho, MD, was granted honorary membership in the European Association of Urology at the March 2005 General Assembly meeting in Istanbul, Turkey. Tanagho joins a select group of honorary members who have excelled in their field of expertise and have played a crucial role in the development of the EAU.

Department members attended the 81st annual Western Section meetings of the American Urological Association. The 81st section meeting was held on July 31st to August 4th, 2005 in Vancouver, Canada. The Urology Department was honored to received the following awards:

Resident Scholarship Awardees
The Earl F. Nation Resident Scholarships are awarded to one outstanding resident from each training facility. Thomas Minor, MD received the award that provides funds to travel to the meeting and present an abstract. 

Poster Session Award Winners
First Place, Session II: Marshall L. Stoller, MD A Novel Everting Urologic Access Sheth: Potential Advantages of Decreased Cellular Advancement and Decreased Urothelial Trauma.  Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, Affonso Camargo, MD, Sinan Sozen, MD, Brent Ershoff, MD, Marshall Stoller, M.D

Second Place, Session II: Surat Phonsombat, MD Penetrating External Genital Trauma: 27-Year Experience.  Surat Phonsombat, MD, Viraj Master, MD, Jack McAninch, MD

Third Place, Session I: Marshall Stoller, MD Laparoscopic Management of Peripelvic Renal Cysts: the UC San Francisco Experience and Review of the Literature.  Affonso Camargo, MD, Matthew Cooperberg, MD, Brent Ershoff, MD, Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, Marshall Stoller, MD

Urology residents participated in the 31st and 32nd annual Northern California Urology Residents’ Seminar with other residents from the University of California at San Francisco, the University of California at Davis, and Stanford University. At the 31st annual meeting in 2005 UCSF residents brought home four awards, including first place in each of the three competition categories. Kirsten Greene, MD placed first in Basic Sciences for her talk, “CpG Methylation at Promoter site–140 Inactivates TGF-B Receptor type II Gene in Prostate Cancer” and Michael Hsieh, MD won third in this same category for “The Molecular Mechanisms of Stretch-Induced Apoptosis in Renal Tubular Epithelial Cells.” Jennifer Mehdizadeh, MD earned a first prize in the Case Report competition for “Complete Urethral Disruption with Unilateral Penile Fracture” and Matthew Cooperberg, MD, MPH, was awarded first for his Clinical Research presentation, “Multi-institutional Validation of the UCSF Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment (CAPRA) Score for Prediction of Recurrence Following Radical Prostatectomy.” At the 32nd annual meeting UCSF residents again placed in each of the three categories. Cooperberg won third in the Clinical Research category for, "Predicting Prostate Cancer Biochemical Recurrence after Radiation Therapy Using the UCSF Cancer of Prostate Risk Assessment (CAPRA)." Jared Whitson, MD placed first for his Case Report, "Ex-Vivo Partial Nephrectomy Followed by Allograft Renal Transplantation" and Michael Hsieh, MD, PhD, earned first prize in the Basic Sciences competitions for, "In Utero Exposure to Benzophenone-2 Causes Hypospadias Through an Estrogen Receptor- Dependent Mechanism."

The department benefits from the contributions of assistant, associate and full clinical professors. We congratulate James M. Betts, MD and Ira D. Sharlip, MD on their promotion to Clinical Professor.

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