The Urology Residency Program at The New York Presbyterian Hospital - Weill Medical College of Cornell University is approved as a 4 year program in Urology with a prerequisite period of 2 years of post-graduate training. These first two years are spent at New York Presbyterian Hospital. During the second General Surgery year, the residents going into Urology rotate for a total of 6 months on the Urology Service, providing a total of 1.5 years of General Surgery, with 4 years of clinical urology and 0.5 years of research in Urology. The Department of Urology supports a training program for 12 residents (i.e., 3 residents per year for 4 years).

For those individuals accepted into the urology residency program, then you must apply for through the match and spend PGY 1-2 in General Surgery at Cornell. Your single ERAS application to us will suffice for both the Departments of Urology and Surgery.

The Urology Department at New York Presbyterian Hospital is directed by Chairman Peter N. Schlegel, M.D., and is routinely considered one of the best in the country, based on surveys by U.S. News and World Report, among others.

The Cornell Program located at the downtown hospital site functions autonomously from the Columbia program, which is based at the uptown campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital. Some of the greatest strengths of our Department is the depth and diversity of expertise in Urology. Additional information on Department activities is available throughout the remainder of this website.

Our Urology Program consists of 4 years of training with 3 years as Assistant Resident Surgeon and a final year as Chief Resident. During the years in General Surgery, residents have at least 6 months of Urology rotations. In Urology, residents serve rotations on two General Urology (Gold/Silver) Services, the Pediatric Service, the Urologic Out-Patient Department (Starr 9), and Cystoscopy at New York Presbyterian Hospital (Weill Cornell Center). In addition, residents spend a total of 6 months at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, located across the street from The New York Presbyterian Hospital with a 2 month rotation as junior resident and 4 months as a chief resident (equivalent to fellow staff at Memorial Sloan - Kettering Cancer Center). All residents will have a minimum 6 month laboratory research experience (see below). An 8-month experience on the Urology Service at North Shore University Hospital is also provided, with 4 months during the 4th & 5th years and an additional 4-month chief residency rotation. Residents have a dedicated period of exposure to ambulatory care urology in subspecialist offices at the North Shore/LIJ site.

The clinical material is abundant. In 2004-2005 at The Weill Cornell Center of New York Presbyterian Hospital, there were 9,634 major and minor operations and other procedures done in the Urology Department, 1,400 admissions to the Hospital, 2,385 ambulatory procedures, 240 ESWLs, and an average daily census of about 13 patients. Cornell resident experience in radical cystectomy, radical prostatectomy, laparoscopy, and nephrectomy/partial nephrectomy is typically in the 70-99th percentile of experience for all graduating chief residents in the United States. Urologic procedures such as prostate biopsies, other local procedures, urodynamics studies, and cystograms are performed on an outpatient basis as well by Departmental staff. Endourological, microsurgical and laparoscopic procedures are routinely performed in the Department, and an extra-corporeal shock wave lithotripter (ESWL) for the disintegration of kidney stones is in daily use in the Department.

Our Department's facilities are primarily located on the 9th floor of The New York Presbyterian Hospital. Inpatients are predominantly located on Greenberg 2 North, but cystoscopy suites, operating rooms, as well as the Bladder & Prostate Health Center, the Institute for Pediatric Urology and the Urologic Research Laboratories, are predominantly located on the 9th floor. Central to these sites is a newly renovated resident office with workspace and lounging areas for all residents. The Department is contiguous with a recently constructed 700 in-patient bed hospital located over the East River Drive.

New construction is being planned to renovate and consolidate additional research space on the 9th floor of the Hospital and Medical School. The goal of this construction is to provide state-of-the-art facilities for research that will allow all Urology laboratories to collaborate and share resources for the advancement of research. We expect this will enhance the ability of the Department to support medical student and resident research.

Supervision and support of the clinical resident training program is a primary activity of the Department of Urology at Cornell. As indicated above, we have 16 full-time Urologists with their practices confined to the Department. In addition, we are strongly supported by voluntary faculty Urologists whose private offices are located outside The New York Presbyterian Hospital. Our active didactic teaching program (see schedule under "Educational Programs") includes weekly conferences that represent a balanced blend of pediatric and adult urologic problems, uro-radiology, andrology, contemporary journal articles review, and basic science topics relevant to urology. The clinic activities for residents were moved to the Starr 9 area to allow closer interaction with attending staff and supervision of resident activities.

The Urology Research Program includes several different areas of interest. The Laboratory for Minimally Invasive Urologic Surgery in Pediatric Urology focuses on two major areas of research. The first is how pharmacological and genetic manipulations of Transforming Growth Factor-beta and Nitric Oxide affect the kidney in ureteral obstruction. The second focus is on alternative methods of tissue approximation, including laser tissue welding with albumin solders and the use of other biomaterials for wound closure. These techniques have applicability to pediatric urology, as well as to other urological and surgical disciplines. Two male reproductive biology laboratories are active, with one located at the neighboring Rockefeller University as well as another on the 9th floor adjacent to the clinical facilities. These laboratories are involved with investigation of genetic aspects of male infertility, including basic science approaches to elucidate molecular aspects of spermatogenic function. Experiments on microsurgical techniques of infertility treatment are ongoing as well. Amongst other projects in the clinical area are clinical trials of agents for treatment of hypogonadism and prostatic disease. Resident involvement in clinical research projects is common and strongly supported by the faculty. Our urologic oncology laboratory employs monoclonal antibody and recombinant DNA technology to study the basic cancer biology of urologic neoplasms. These studies have led to ongoing clinical protocols using monoclonal antibodies, biologic response modifiers and gene therapy in the treatment of metastatic renal cancer and prostate cancer.

Interdisciplinary programs are well established between Urology and Pediatrics, Oncology, Nephrology, Endocrinology, Pathology, Hypertension, General Surgery, and Transplant Medicine. The outstanding interaction with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology is reflected by the establishment of the Cornell Institute for Reproductive Medicine that exists partially within the Department of Urology.

The fourth year urology externship is open to Cornell and visiting non-Cornell medical students. Potential applicants may consider spending a month with our Department early in their fourth year; however, completion of an externship at Cornell is not a prerequisite for application or acceptance as a resident at our institution. Applicants for residency positions are evaluated based on the applicant, not the performance of an externship at Cornell. A urologic sub-internship at Cornell does provide you with an opportunity to see our unit function on a day-to-day basis. However, many residents in the program have never had a rotation at our Institution. U.S. medical students may apply for an externship by writing to Lisa Dougherty, Office of Student Affairs, Cornell Medical School, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021. More information concerning the externship is available by contacting Dr. Mendel Shemtov at (212) 746-5463 or by mail at the address listed below.

The Department of Urology participates in the ERAS application system. We require (a) 3 letters of recommendation, (b) your medical school Dean's letter, (c) medical school transcript and (d) college transcript. We prefer that your application includes a photograph.

Applicants are considered after July 1st and your file should be complete (except for the Dean's letter) by September 15th. It is advantageous to have your application completed as early as possible. Beginning in September, applications will be reviewed. A limited number of interviews will be offered. We participate in the Urology Match Program, which is completed prior to the Surgery internship match ranking deadline. Our AUA Residency Matching Program Identification Number: 40344.

We look forward to hearing from you. Any questions may be directed to my office at (212) 746-5491 or by e-mail to jbbrady@med.cornell.edu. Questions regarding the status of your file should be directed to Ms. Tonya McKnight at (212) 746-5461.

Peter N. Schlegel, M.D.
Professor and Chairman,
Department of Urology, Starr 900
525 East 68th Street
New York, NY 10021