Department of Urology

In the urology clinic, the surgeons divide their time between patient care, medical education and research.

The starting point of a research study is a question, the nature of which depends on the surgeons’ interest and, often, their collaborators’ work at the Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Jerome Richie has, over many years, redefined the indications of complex surgical procedures in the light of continued advances in radiology, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.  In conjunction with his colleagues at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, he has developed multidisciplinary approaches to the treatment of prostate, bladder, kidney, and testis cancers.

Dr. Kevin Loughlin has developed several new devices to urology, including a fibroscope for the treatment of kidney stones and urethral strictures, and a Doppler for laparoscopic surgery. With laboratory scientists, he investigated several blood and urine tests for the detection of cancer.

Dr. Michael O’Leary had studied several types of urinary tract infections before conducting a series of clinical trials on chronic pelvic pain, a disease often misdiagnosed as infection.  He also worked with health survey experts to develop several questionnaires which are now used internationally.  Recently, he was an investigator on two prostate cancer prevention trials.

Dr. Jim Hu and his research team have collected data on more than a thousand robotic prostatectomies and partial nephrectomies to clarify the indications of robotic surgery and predict outcomes. He also used the Medicare SEER database and the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project database to survey patterns of care in the US and compare the effectiveness and costs of new therapies for prostate and kidney cancers.

Dr. Steve Chang conducts research on the cost of radiological and surgical procedures and works on decision support systems for the management of prostate and kidney cancers.