Message from the Chair
As the Urology Department celebrates its 105th year, we continue to provide leading edge urologic care, educational excellence, and innovative research opportunities.
Dedicated Stritch urology faculty train medical students, residents, and fellows to provide the best possible clinical care as they honor the individuality, privacy, and dignity of each patient. Through rounds, clerkships, and STAR summer scholarships, medical students have the opportunity to learn about and develop research hypotheses from the comprehensive array of general, tertiary, and subspecialty care our physician-faculty provide to adults and children. The subspecialties we offer include urologic oncology, reconstruction, pediatrics, stone disease, male and female incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and male infertility.
Urology faculty are consistently rated amongst the best educators at Stritch and they are involved in a variety of research endeavors such as studying diagnostic and predictive factors influencing disease as well as developing treatments and introducing surgical techniques to improve patient outcomes. For example, faculty at the Center for Men’s Health have published over 20 peer-reviewed papers and have had several research abstracts accepted, based on the latest minimally invasive surgical treatments (MIST’s) for enlarged prostate or BPH. Some of this research has led to national health policy changes, allowing Medicare coverage for men who need MIST. Other research has garnered funding from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Medical student involvement has been instrumental in these research projects.
We continue to expand across the region and recently built a strong clinical presence at MacNeal Hospital, where our residents now rotate. We launched a focal prostate cancer treatment program at Gottlieb Hospital, which offers new care opportunities for men with localized disease. At the Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital, the Urology service remains one of the busiest in the four-state, Veterans Integrated Services Network.
Lastly, our faculty continue to lead at the local and national level in organized urology. We are proud of Assistant Professor Denise Asafu-Adjei, MD, MPH, who was selected as the chief diversity officer of the American Urological Association and chair of its Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She succeeds Stritch Professor Larissa Bressler, MD who served in this inaugural role for the organization. I, along with Drs. Bob Flanigan and Kevin McVary, are members of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons and the Clinical Society of Genitourinary Surgeons. I am also honored to serve on the American Board of Urology and serve as chair of its Certifying Examination Committee.
Chris Gonzalez, MD, MBA, FACS
Albert J. Jr. and Claire R. Speh Professor and Chair, Department of Urology
As the Urology Department celebrates its 105th year, we continue to provide leading edge urologic care, educational excellence, and innovative research opportunities.
Dedicated Stritch urology faculty train medical students, residents, and fellows to provide the best possible clinical care as they honor the individuality, privacy, and dignity of each patient. Through rounds, clerkships, and STAR summer scholarships, medical students have the opportunity to learn about and develop research hypotheses from the comprehensive array of general, tertiary, and subspecialty care our physician-faculty provide to adults and children. The subspecialties we offer include urologic oncology, reconstruction, pediatrics, stone disease, male and female incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and male infertility.
Urology faculty are consistently rated amongst the best educators at Stritch and they are involved in a variety of research endeavors such as studying diagnostic and predictive factors influencing disease as well as developing treatments and introducing surgical techniques to improve patient outcomes. For example, faculty at the Center for Men’s Health have published over 20 peer-reviewed papers and have had several research abstracts accepted, based on the latest minimally invasive surgical treatments (MIST’s) for enlarged prostate or BPH. Some of this research has led to national health policy changes, allowing Medicare coverage for men who need MIST. Other research has garnered funding from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Medical student involvement has been instrumental in these research projects.
We continue to expand across the region and recently built a strong clinical presence at MacNeal Hospital, where our residents now rotate. We launched a focal prostate cancer treatment program at Gottlieb Hospital, which offers new care opportunities for men with localized disease. At the Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital, the Urology service remains one of the busiest in the four-state, Veterans Integrated Services Network.
Lastly, our faculty continue to lead at the local and national level in organized urology. We are proud of Assistant Professor Denise Asafu-Adjei, MD, MPH, who was selected as the chief diversity officer of the American Urological Association and chair of its Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She succeeds Stritch Professor Larissa Bressler, MD who served in this inaugural role for the organization. I, along with Drs. Bob Flanigan and Kevin McVary, are members of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons and the Clinical Society of Genitourinary Surgeons. I am also honored to serve on the American Board of Urology and serve as chair of its Certifying Examination Committee.
Chris Gonzalez, MD, MBA, FACS
Albert J. Jr. and Claire R. Speh Professor and Chair, Department of Urology