The UCSF Department of Urology recognizes that our training program is one of our most valued assets. We aim to attract bright, committed, and compassionate applicants, who aspire to become future leaders in this specialty. Our program exposes residents to the entire spectrum of urologic evaluation, intervention, and research, allowing them to master the art and science of urology.
Our Mission
The mission of the UCSF Department of Urology is to provide compassionate, cost effective, skillful and innovative care to all patients; to ask relevant questions and answer them with scientific knowledge obtained through laboratory and clinical research; to educate students, residents and fellows in the art and science of urology and thereby train the future leaders in our field; and to recognize that the Department of Urology is a group of individuals working together, responsibly and ethically, to achieve our goals.
Clinical Training
The duration of the urology residency program is a total of six years, five years of ACGME clinical training with one year of non-acgme research. Residents experience broad exposure to diverse patient populations by rotating through the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVA), Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG), UCSF/Mission Bay and Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland (BCHO).
Academic Education
The Department of Urology is committed to providing residents with an educational program that allows them to become outstanding clinicians and surgeons, experienced in the latest urologic technology, as well as compassionate physicians responsive to the needs of their patients, patients’ families, and the communities in which they practice. The program exposes its residents to the entire spectrum of urologic evaluation, intervention, and research while emphasizing the need to deliver timely, cost effective and compassionate care which recognizes the needs of patients without regard to socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or gender. Educational offerings include weekly, bi-monthly, monthly educational conferences, classroom-based didactics, hands on skills lab, wellness curriculum and mentoring college.
Didactics
Residents have protected time each week for their didactic learning sessions. It is done utilizing a flipped classroom teaching approach led by UCSF Faculty with case- and question-based format. High-yield review sessions are also planned to help residents prepare for the in-service examination.
Monthly
Each month, residents participate in the following educational sessions:
- UNIQUE (Urol, Rad, Neph, Path) Conference
- Lifetime Congenital Urology Conference
- Morbidity & Mortality Conference
- Grand Rounds
- Journal Club/Mentor College
- Pediatric Dry Rounds
Weekly
Core didactics are scheduled as a 2-year cycle in block formatting. All didactic sessions and residency program events are designed to occur in the corresponding block.
The Didactics Residency Program Educational events calendar is developed yearly by the associate program director, Dr. Christi Butler.
Examples of weekly didactic lecture topics include, but are not limited to:
- Lower urinary tract dysfunction & sx
- Incontinence and prolapse
- Reproduction & endocrinology
- Sexual function
- Upper tract anatomy & stones
- Upper tract physiology
- Urothelial cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Testis/penile cancer
- Managment of congenital anomalies of the urinary tract:
- VUR
- hypospadias
- DSD
- and more
- Infection & Inflammation
- Trauma & Reconstruction
Wellness & Leadership Topics
In order to help our residents grow and develop them into leaders both in residency and their future careers, our department created a leadership and wellness curriculum which is designed to supplement residents’ education by focusing on topics outside of urology-centric didactic learning.
Leadership Topics
- Power at the Podium: Nailing your Presentation from Conceptualization to Delivery
- Philanthropy in Medicine
- Conflict Resolution
- Near Misses
The wellness curriculum is built around the 7 pillars of wellness – physical, financial, spiritual, social, occupational, emotional, environmental.