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I chose to specialize in pediatric urology because . . .
Pediatric urology was a natural fit for me. Very early on, I recognized that working with children in medicine would be important for me. I had always had a strong desire to work with children and had taken positions as a camp counselor as a young adult to integrate that world into my life.
In addition, my undergraduate degree was in mechanical engineering. Urology is a specialty that is very technology-oriented in terms of the instruments that we use and our interest in leveraging improvements in technology to provide surgeries that are minimally invasive.
Although I left my undergraduate years knowing that a career solely working with mechanical devices alone would not fulfill me, urology was a field where I could bring the human aspect and my interest in technology together.
I joined Childrens Hospital Los Angeles because...
After attending medical school in Boston, I returned to California to the University of Southern California to complete my residency. When I came to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles for my pediatric urology rotations during my residency, Brian Hardy, M.D., the Division Chief for Urology, showed me what a great field that pediatric urology could be. He, along with my other mentors, shared their love of treating children with me, and I found out that, it’s not just the kids who need our help as physicians - it is also the parents who need our help as well.
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My role at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is . . .
As is the case with most of the faculty at our hospital, I have a well-rounded position. I am an attending surgeon within the Division of Pediatric Urology, and I also serve as the director of the Robotic Surgery Program. I am an assistant professor of urology at the USC Keck School of Medicine. And, I am a principal investigator with a laboratory funded by the National Institutes of Health in the Developmental Biology, Regenerative Medicine, and Surgery program at The Saban Research Institute. In addition, as part of my administrative responsibilities, I sit on a few important clinical care committees for the hospital.
A typical day for me includes . . .
On an average day, I perform several surgical procedures, including robotic surgery procedures. I see patients coming to our Urology clinic for evaluations for surgery. I meet with staff in my laboratory to ensure that research progress continues, I spend time writing papers based on research findings, and I draft grant applications for submission for additional funding.
My work impacts the care of children in that . . .
As a surgeon, one of the things that is really important to me is to be able to put myself in the shoes of the patient and their parents. I am a father myself, and I always keep that in mind when I am dealing with parents – I put myself in their shoes and say, “If I were about to go in and speak with my child’s doctor, what would I want to hear? How would I want my child's physician to speak to me?”
As a doctor, I cannot work alone – I have to work in a strong partnership with each of the parents of my patients. This means that it is up to me to communicate absolutely clearly with each family member, answer all of their questions, and help them understand the treatment options available for their child.
The thing I enjoy most about my role is . . .
I love the fact that every day is different for me. I have so many different areas that I am involved with that it keeps my days from becoming mundane. One day, I am doing clinical work and the next day I am performing robotic surgery, and the following day, I am doing administrative work. This really describes what academic medicine is all about – you have your hands in everything – and to be able to do this at one of the best children’s hospitals is crucial for me.
I have always wanted to be surrounded by people who want to provide the very best environment for care, people who are willing to make sacrifices to ensure that children benefit. I see every day as a new opportunity. We all have the opportunity to do things, whether it is taking care of patients, advancing research to improve the care that we provide. There is always an opportunity to do something better than it has been done before and I never want to waste that opportunity. |
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Robotic Surgery Program
One of the initiatives I have undertaken has been to build a Robotic Surgery Program specifically for children at our hospital. This was a multi-year effort that involved me going to another hospital to see how robotic surgery is used. Then, I worked with the fundraising arm of the hospital to find a donor interested in helping us bring this great technology to children who receive care here.
Before our hospital procured a generous gift to purchase the robot we have now, I worked to bring one to our campus to demonstrate it in order to build excitement and understanding of what this might mean for kids’ health.
Once we successfully partnered with the Joseph B. Gould Foundation to bring a robot here to our hospital, I was involved in the contract to install the robot, staff training, and training of our surgeons.
Our hospital’s first robotic surgery case was performed here in July 2008. We have seen great success with these surgeries because they offer us the ability to operate in a minimally-invasive way with better outcomes for children.
Already we have been building a tremendous program. Based on surgical volume, we are among the top children’s hospitals in the country. Word is spreading about our program and physicians are coming here from across the country to see how we are performing surgery for children.
Bladder Regeneration Research
For children who need bladder grafts or expansion, the traditional surgical technique has involved using intestinal tissue from the child to serve as bladder tissue.
Our hospital is one of the few sites in the nation where we are in clinical trials for bladder tissue engineering – where tissue is excised from the child’s own bladder, sent to a laboratory for expansion, and returned to us for transplantation or implantation.
Alongside of this work, my laboratory’s efforts are designed to examine the ability of undifferentiated stem cells to be used to generate bladder tissue for children. Ideally, we would be able to take undifferentiated cells that do not yet have any human individuation and be able to expand tissue quickly enough that you would have enough bladder tissue for surgery.
Currently, we are closely examining and learning about the mechanisms of how a stem cell undergoes bladder cell differentiation, what the pathways are, and how bladder cells are created. |
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