The UCSF Department of Urology is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Laurence Baskin to the Frank Hinman, Jr., MD, Distinguished Professorship in Pediatric Urology. Dr. Baskin is chief of pediatric urology and director of the pediatric urology fellowship program.
The Hinman name has a long and distinguished association with UCSF urology. Dr. Frank Hinman Jr., was an internationally recognized urologist and former chief of urology at UCSF, and his father Dr. Frank Hinman, Sr., was the founding chair of the department. The younger Hinman left a portion of his estate to the department, which is being used to fund this endowed position.
Dr. Baskin completed his urology residency at UCSF, followed by a pediatric urology fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He then returned to UCSF, where he has been an active member of the faculty since 1993. He oversees a large clinical practice at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and a busy outreach program at Children’s Hospital of Oakland.
Dr. Baskin’s research is focused on understanding normal and abnormal development of the urogenital tract. He serves as principal investigator on many studies funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Baskin has made substantial contributions to the understanding of how bladder smooth muscle develops. His research has also described the anatomy of the human fetal penis and clitoris, resulting in widely used reconstructive surgical procedures for the correction of penile curvature and surgical treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Dr. Baskin is presently focused on the understanding the etiology of hypospadias, hypothesizing that endocrine disruptors along with genetic susceptibility explain the increasing incidence of this birth anomaly.
Dr. Baskin is director of the NIH-funded Urology KURe mentored junior faculty training program and heads the NIDDK study section on urology. He is president of the Society of Pediatric Urology and a member of the ACGME milestones committee for pediatric urology. He is presently serving on the State of California’s science advisory board developmental and reproductive toxicant identification committee, created under Proposition 65.
During their lifetimes, Dr. and Mrs. Frank Hinman, Jr. were generous supporters of UCSF, contributing to various purposes, including the department of urology and the UCSF library. The department is grateful to the Hinman family for their support. The endowed chair will enable Dr. Baskin to more readily pursue his academic mission.