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The Department of Urology is growing! We'd like to welcome Amanda Harris, Dr. Lance Patterson and Brandy Nix to our team. Find out more about each of them below:

Amanda Harris, BSN, RN

Amanda Harris is the Manager of Ambulatory Services for the Department of Urology.

Amanda graduated from the University of Alabama with a BSN and has been a nurse for 16 years. She has worked in the Birmingham area as a staff RN, Clinical Care Coordinator and Director of Surgical Services. Amanda has experience in several areas, including SICU, PACU, pre op, pre admit testing, same day surgery and surgery scheduling. Amanda enjoys learning and being a resource for others and is excited to be joining UAB's health care system at The Kirklin Clinic. 

Amanda is married and has a six-year-old son. During her free time, she enjoys time with her family playing sports, watching sports and reading. 

Lance Patterson, MD

Dr. Patterson earned his medical degree from the University of South Alabama in Mobile where he also received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. He completed his general surgery and urology residencies at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where he was Chief Resident in Urology. He is a member of the American Urologic Association, the American Society of Clinical Urologists and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

Dr. Patterson hold clinic at the Russell Medical Center in Alexander City. 

Brandy Nix

Brandy is the Financial Officer for the Urology, Neuro Surgery and Otolaryngology Research Group.

Brandy attended the University of Alabama where she double-majored in Finance and German. She continued her education there getting an MBA and a Masters in German. Upon graduation she moved to Birmingham and worked for five years at BBVA Compass, first in Customer Intelligence and then in Credit Risk. In 2012 she moved to Regions where she worked in the Consumer Lending Finance until she made the move to UAB.

1. When did you graduate from UAB?
   I finished my residency in 2009.
   
   
2. What city are you located in?
   I live in Nashville, TN and practice at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
   
   
3. What are your clinical/research interests?
   I am a pediatric urologist, and I spend about 60% of my time working on NIH-funded research studying bladder inflammation. We use mouse models to study compounds that can reverse or prevent bladder injury and inflammation. The other 40% of my time is dedicated to caring for children with pediatric urology problems.
   
   
4. How did you choose to practice this area of urology?
   During my time at UAB, I decided to pursue an academic career path and the great experience I had at Children’s led me to do a fellowship in Pediatric Urology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Because of this fellowship, I became interested in basic science research and how it applies to children with bladder problems.
   
   
5. What aspect of your time at UAB do you believe was most valuable as you started your career?
   As a pediatric urologist, I would say my time at Children’s was the most valuable. Because only one resident was on service at that time, we had unlimited access to a lot of pediatric urology.
   
   
6. Did you have a particular mentor while at UAB? Why were they a good mentor?
   Honestly I had really strong mentorship from all the faculty at UAB while I was there, and I have great memories from my training. Clearly, I had strong mentorship from Drs. Joseph and Kitchens as well as Dr. Tony Herndon during his time at UAB. All three of these mentors were instrumental in my career choice and I use lessons I learned from them on regular basis in my practice.
   
   
7. What is one of your fondest memories from UAB?
   Some of my fondest memories during my time at UAB were the Fridays we would spend in the OR with Dr. John Burns doing full day of stone cases. He was always such an approachable mentor with a wealth of knowledge. He provided me and many others with great training in taking care of patients with kidney stones.
   
   
8. Give one piece of advice you’d like to share with the current residents or those recently graduated.
   The biggest piece of advice I can give to current residents is to not forget how fortunate you are to be in training. Even though it is a very busy time in life, residency is when you have the opportunity to learn from others successes, trials, and tribulations before you get to experience your own as a practicing urologist. I also encourage the residents to take great notes from the operations they observe and participate in. Even today, I still refer to notes I took from residency today.
   
   
9. When you’re not working, how do you spend your time?
   When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with my wife and two sons, Jack (age 9) and William (age 7).

1. When did you graduate from UAB?
   I graduated from UAB in 2017.
   
   
2. What city are you located in?
   Atlanta, GA
   
   
3. What are your clinical/research interests?
   General Urology, Stone Disease and Residency Education
   
   
4. How did you choose to practice this area of urology?
   The field of urology has a rare balance of medicine and surgery, by going into general urology I get to enjoy the full breadth of the specialty. As a faculty member at Emory, I have the unique opportunity of practicing general urology but also getting a chance to educate residents.
   
   
5. What aspect of your time at UAB do you believe was most valuable as you started your career?
   As I progressed through residency training, I was given increasing responsibility and independence in respect to clinical and surgical decision-making. This concept of graduated responsibility has allowed me to develop my autonomy with confidence as a new attending.
   
   
6. Did you have a particular mentor while at UAB? Why were they a good mentor?
   It’s difficult to pinpoint a specific mentor while I was at UAB. I learned so many things from so many people through my 5 years as a resident. Dr. Assimos is single-handedly responsible for my appreciation for clinical and basic science research. In addition, his big heart, generosity and caring nature serve as a framework for how I approach my own patients every day. Though we often think of our attendings as our mentors, I also want to acknowledge Courtney Shepard (now Streur). Two years my senior, I was fortunate to have her as my chief on multiple rotations. In fact, we spent 8 out of 12 months together my first year of Urology. Her optimism, work ethic and respectful nature made her an excellent role model.
   
   
7. What is one of your fondest memories from UAB?
   Just one? Some of my favorites are operating alongside my co-chiefs during my final year, Snowpocalypse 2014 when the entire department got snowed in for nearly two days, annual crawfish boils hosted by the chiefs, a tradition I’ve carried with me to Atlanta.
   
   
8. Give one piece of advice you’d like to share with the current residents or those recently graduated.
   Write. Down. Everything. How to workup patients in clinic, surgical steps, interesting consults, rare complications, when Dr. So-and-so wants catheters removed - Everything. Also, don’t be afraid to take some time off after graduation. I took off just over 3 months and don’t regret a single day of it.
   
   
9. When you’re not working, how do you spend your time?
   Cooking, exercising, reading, hiking, traveling, exploring Atlanta with my husband.

UAB Department of Urology Drs. Dean Assimos, Ross Holmes, John Knight and Kyle Wood, along with UAB Department of Nutrition Sciences Dr. Barbara Gower have been awarded a P20 exploratory grant to establish an interdisciplinary research center in benign urology. Funded through the NIDDK, the grant provides $200,000/year for two years toward research on the impact of obesity in endogenous oxalate synthesis. 

Over the last few years, UAB Urology has worked closely with UAB's Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) and Dr. Gower. The complementary expertise has led to novel findings in obesity and kidney stone disease. A new center, COOKS (Center for Research on Obesity and Oxalate Kidney Stones), has been created through the P20.  

The prevalence of both kidney stones and obesity are increasing in the United States. The Southeast is considered the kidney stone belt, a region of the country where there is the highest prevalence of kidney stone formers. While the associations between obesity and kidney stone risk have been defined, the mechanisms behind this relationship is unknown.

Preliminary data supports a direct relationship between obesity and the amount of urinary oxalate excreted derived from endogenous oxalate production. Oxalate is a part of the most common type of kidney stone.

The goal of the P20 is to increase the understanding of the relationships between obesity and endogenous oxalate synthesis and hopefully serve as a platform to develop novel therapies for stone prevention.  

1. Tell us a little about yourself. 
   I was born in San Francisco CA, but moved with my family to Charlottesville, VA in 4^th grade, and have been in the southeast ever since. I went to UVa undergrad, and UNC-Chapel Hill for MD/PhD. I met my wife Liz at the MD/PhD program retreat in Wrightsville Beach, NC. I took a quick career detour into Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2009, but got back on track with UNC Urology, where I met my current colleagues Jeff Nix and Patrick Selph. After residency, Liz and I went down to Houston, TX in 2016 to pursue fellowships in Urologic Oncology at MD Anderson and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Baylor School of Medicine. There I studied the molecular drivers of bladder cancer with my mentors Colin Dinney, MD and David McConkey, PhD. We and our 3 year old daughter Lane are so excited to be in Birmingham and to work with Dr. Assimos and the outstanding faculty at UAB Urology.
   
   
2. What made you want to become a physician?
   My father was (and still is) an OB-GYN with a focus on Maternal-Fetal Medicine. His enthusiasm for medicine and science had a huge impact on me. He and my Biochemistry professor at UVA (Charles Grisham) sparked an interest in explaining life and disease at the molecular level, which still drives me today. Matt Coward (then a Urology intern, and now a Urologist at UNC) was singularly responsible in showing me how amazing Urology is and how grateful our patients are. He embodied the “thoughtful-surgeon” which I think is very prevalent in Urology in general and UAB Urology in particular.
   
   
3. What is the best part of your job?
   Being entrusted by patients to help them navigate the peaks and valleys of a cancer diagnosis and treatment.
   
   
4. What does the future of medicine look like in your area of interest?
   It’s an exciting time in bladder cancer. We’re starting to understand that there are biologically unique molecular sub-types of bladder cancer and that these subtypes behave differently and respond differently to treatments. New bladder-instillation therapies are being developed for early bladder cancer, and for advanced non-metastatic bladder cancer I think we’re a few years away from considering bladder preservation in select patients. Immunotherapy has revolutionized the treatment options in the metastatic setting, and if we can harness or amplify this effect in early bladder cancer, we could really improve the quality of life for our patients.
   
   
5. How do you like spending your time off? Any other interesting facts you’d like to share?
   We’ve really been enjoying exploring in and around Birmingham since we got here in July. We’ve been to great restaurants (yes, we’ve already been to Highlands – twice!), to hikes at Red Mountain, Oak Mountain and Ruffner Mountain, boating on Logan Martin Lake, Sloss Furnaces, 16^th Street Church, Pepper Place, the Birmingham Zoo, Botanical Gardens – the list goes on.
   
   We’ve got a son on the way (Liz is due Valentine’s day 2019), so we’re busy getting the nursery ready. Lane was convinced she was having a sister before our anatomy ultrasound, and when the ultrasonographer told her she was having a little brother she cried out “But I want a sister!” She’s coming around now, but when brainstorming for names, “Sally” and “Margaret” are two of her favorites…

The Department of Urology enjoyed a wonderful evening at the Birmingham Country Club celebrating the graduation of our three PGY-5 residents and two fellows.

• Dr. Patrick James Guthrie is headed to north Alabama to work at Decatur Morgan Hospital.
• Dr. Win Shun Lai is moving to Austin, Texas to practice at Baylor, Scott and White Medical Center.
• Dr. Erik Lars Wallin III is also headed to north Alabama and will be working at Cullman Regional Medical Center.
• Dr. Jubilee Tan is headed back to practice in Peoria, Illinois.
• Dr. Kyle Wood also completed his fellowship at UAB and will remain with the Department of Urology focusing his research and clinical endeavors on kidney stone disease.

Dr. Sunil Sudarshan won the Urology Faculty Teaching award for 2017-2018, and Dr. Vidu Yarlagadda (rising PGY-5) recieved the Resident Research Award. Congrats!

All of our graduated PGY-5 residents will be greatly missed. We wish them the best of luck on their future endeavors.

The 2018 American Urological Association conference was an eventful one for the UAB Department of Urology. Our faculty spent four days in San Francisco participating in innovative and educational programs that provided access to groundbreaking research, the latest clinical guidelines and the most advanced technologies in urology.

On Saturday evening, the department hosted an alumni reception at the Marriott Marquis where faculty and alumni enjoyed network over drinks and hors d'oeuvres.

Several of our faculty, residents and medical students presented posters, moderated sessions and provided key takeaways. Below are some highlights:

Dr. Dean Assimos presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Stone Disease: Basic Research & Pathophysiology II (co-moderated with Dr. Tanecia Mitchell)
• Surgical & Medical Stone Guidelines Update: A Case-Based Approach
• Session 5: The Future is Bright (ROCK Society)
• Gotta Wear Shades (ROCK Society)

 Dr. Peter Kolettis presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Infertility: Therapy I

 Dr. Tanecia Mitchell presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Stone Disease: Basic Research & Pathophysiology II (co-moderated with Dr. Dean Assimos)
• Take Home Messages: Basic Science (Benign)

Dr. Soroush Rais-Bahrami presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• US Fusion Guided Prostate Biopsy: Integrating MP MRI and Biopsy into Your Urologic Practice for Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment Planning

Dr. Patrick Selph presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Conservative and Endoscopic Management of Urethral Trauma 

Dr. Tracey Wilson presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Take Home Messages: Female Urology/Incontinence

 Dr. Kyle Wood presentations, posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• RNA interference of Hepatic Lactate Dehydrogenase Reduces Urinary Oxalate in a Mouse Model of Primary Hyperoxaluria Type 1
• Association of Obesity with Increased Endogenous Oxalate Synthesis
• Urinary Oxalate Excretion in Obese Mouse Model

Dr. Luke Ellenburg (PGY-3) posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• The Use of Formalin as a Fixative for Testicular Biopsies

Carter Boyd (3^rd year UAB MD/MBA student) posters, moderated sessions, etc.:

• Screening for Primary Hyperparathyroidism in a Tertiary Stone Clinic, a Useful Endeavor
• An Intervention to Increase 24-hour Urine Collection Compliance
• **Carter Boyd was also awarded the Urology Care Foundation Summer Medical Student Fellowship for “Endogenous Oxalate Synthesis in a Diet-Induced Obese Mouse Model”**
  
  

The UAB Department of Urology sponsored the 2018 Gulf Coast Urology Seminar in beautiful Destin, Fla., July 13-15. The thought-provoking program made for a weekend of quality urologic education, networking with colleagues and enjoying one of the most beautiful beaches in the country.

Attendees had the opportunity to take part in many programs and sessions.

To kick off the weekend, the Men’s Health and Prosthetic Surgery session was moderated by Dr. Patrick Selph. UAB Urology faculty topics in this session included:

• "Modern Management of Peyronie’s Disease" by Dr. Patrick Selph
• "Supplements and Male Infertility" by Dr. Peter Kolettis

After a quick Q&A and case presentations, Dr. Sunil Sudarshan moderated the first oncology session which included presentations by several UAB Urology faculty.

• "Bladder Preservation for High Grade Bladder Cancer" by Dr. Jeffrey Nix
• "Prostate Cancer Screening: Update by the US Preventive Services Task Force" by Dr. Sunil Sudarshan
• "Fluciclovine F18 and PSMA PET Imaging for Prostate Cancer" by Dr. Soroush Rais-Bahrami

The first day concluded with a networking reception that included attendees, spouses and guests.

Saturday began with a session on Endourology/Nephrolithiasis moderated by Dr. John Burns. UAB Urology faculty presentations included:

• Dr. Kyle Wood on "Missed Diagnoses in the Management of Kidney Stone Disease and Management of the Encrusted Ureteral Stent"
• Dr. Dean Assimos on "Complications of PCNL"

The next session was moderated by Dr. Patrick Selph and focused on Health Policy. Dr. Patrick Selph also presented “Experience with Urology in Europe: The EAU-AUA Scholar Exchange Program” during this session.

On Saturday evening, attendees gathered for a nice dinner at the Marlin Grill in Baytowne Warf.

A second oncology session moderated by Dr. Patrick Selph kicked off the final day of the conference. Sessions by UAB Urology faculty included:

• "Surgery for Oligometastatic Prostate Cancer" by Dr. Jeffrey Nix
• "Expanding Indications for Prostate Cancer Surveillance" by Dr. Soroush Rais-Bahrami

The day ended with a session on Andrology and Pediatric Urology moderated by Dr. Patrick Selph with presentations by:

• Dr. Peter Kolettis giving an "Update on Vasectomy"
• Dr. Pankaj Dangle on "The Use of Robotic-Assisted Surgery in Pediatric Urology"

Where are you headed now that you've graduated?
General urology position with Baylor, Scott and White in Austin, Texas. 

What are your clinical and research interests? 
Robotics and reconstruction.

How did you choose to practice this area of urology? 
In terms of robotics, by the end of residency I felt the most comfortable and confident on the console of the robot compared to open procedures; I really am fascinated by how technology has changed urology and look forward to participating in its advancement of the field. Reconstruction was the area of urology that most interested me during residency. 

What aspect of your time at UAB do you believe was most valuable as you started your career? 
The number and diversity of the cases that I participated in definitely gives me confidence in terms of starting out. UAB urology has all the sub-specialties covered, which, in addition to a large volume of trauma and emergent cases while on call, I feel has prepared me well for what lies ahead.

Did you have a particular mentor while at UAB? If so, why were they a good mentor? 
Research wise I worked with Dr. Rais Bahrami and Dr. Assimos. They both have tremendous enthusiasm for research and numerous novel ideas; their guidance allowed projects to easily turn into publications in reputable journals.

Surgically I really admired Dr. Sudarshan and Dr. Nix. They were both excellent surgeons and technically proficient. Both gave an appropriate balance of independence and instruction in the OR, which ultimately is what allowed me to develop confidence in my surgical skills. 

What is one of your fondest memories from UAB?
The graduation ceremony was a great way to end residency. It gave me an opportunity to thank my family, the faculty and co-residents for everything they’ve done to get me to this point. Other than that, the daily interactions with my co-residents and the inside jokes and bonds we developed over the years will stick with me the most.

Give one piece of advice for current residents. 
When you do well, praise each other; when you fail, support each other; in time you’ll come to respect and love each other.

What do you like to do in your free time? 
Currently, lounging by the highest pool in the state of Texas, reuniting with old friends and playing with my dog. Also I started painting portraits of clowns.

Assistant Professor Dr. Kyle Wood was recently awarded a K08 grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

The K08 grant is a 5 year NIH mentored clinical scientist research career development award titled “Obesity ad Endogenous Oxalate Synthesis”. There has been increasing prevalence in both kidney stone disease and obesity throughout the United States, especially in the Southeast, and this grant will evaluate the role of oxalate, a main component of the most common type of kidney stone.

The Department of Urology's Kidney Stone Research Laboratory has demonstrated that with increasing BMI, there is an increase in the body’s creation of oxalate. Understanding these associations and mechanisms may lead to future therapies.

Dr. Wood's mentors and collaborators include Barbara Gower, PhD; Ross Holmes, PhD; Dean Assimos, MD; Jennifer Pollock, PhD; Robinna Lorenz, MD, PhD; Sunil Sudarshan, MD; and John Knight, PhD. All are distinguished faculty at UAB.

Dr. Patrick Selph was chosen to be a part of this year’s American Urological Association (AUA) and European Association of Urology’s (EAU) Academic Exchange Program. The program is designed to provide young urology faculty with an international perspective on urologic medicine and allows the sharing of knowledge and experience between the AUA and EAU.  Dr. Selph spent 18 days visiting European institutions and attended the EAU annual meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Dr. Selph writes about his experience:

"The trip began in Sheffield, England where I met with Christopher Chapple, the secretary general of the EAU. There, I learned about the nuances of the NHS in England, including how the government system has allowed them to perform many randomized trials on MRI and treatments for prostate cancer. Treatment for patients in NHS have a benign problem and can be many months from the time of diagnosis, but a private healthcare system exists that gives patients the opportunity to get surgeries done quicker but at a cost. I also observed multiple surgeries in England including robotic prostatectomy (they only have the S I robot) and a prone urethral diverticulectomy.

After visiting England, I moved on to Milan, Italy where I spent time with Dr. Francesco Montorsi at San Raffaele Hospital. While Italy also has a nationalized healthcare system, San Raffaele hospital is purely private. Patients come here for surgery and they pay out-of-pocket for cost. The surgeons were very technically gifted, but for lower rate prostate cancer’s you may have to wait one year for surgery.

The next stop on the trip was Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Their healthcare system is nationalized and there is no private insurance whatsoever. Again, this afforded accessibility for patients but benign surgical conditions would usually be operated on in 4 to 6 months. Radboud University Medical Center is also the site of some of the original prostate MRI development, and is a leader in the creation of the PIRADS system. Here, patients had shared rooms with and they often sit at tables talking to each other. While in the U.S. everyone seems to demand a private room, in Europe the patients seemed happy to talk/commiserate with each other during their admissions. Perhaps we will see something similar soon in the U.S.!

The final stop was at University in Copenhagen, Denmark which has the largest urology department in Europe with 95 urologists. They have two separate hospitals, one of which does benign surgery and the other that does cancer surgery. This allowed patients to get their operations sooner than they otherwise would. They largely did all their oncology cases robotically including over 450 intracorporeal urinary diversions.

Overall, it was a great experience to learn the differences between healthcare systems. They were certainly fascinated by the talks I gave on GU trauma (gunshot wounds don’t happen often in Europe!) and the discussion surrounding obesity and how it affects the way we do surgery here versus in Europe. I was able to make some lasting friendships with urologists from the U.S. with whom I traveled as well as relationships with the European centers. I’d highly encourage going to the EAU at least once in your career to see how differently Europeans sometimes think about the same conditions we treat here in the U.S. Last but not least, I’d like to thank Dr. Assimos for letting me travel for almost a month to be able to have this experience!"

The Department of Urology is excited to welcome our new residents to UAB! We have three new PGY-1 residents joining the team, and are also excited to add two new PGY-2 residents this summer. Meet the team:

Andrew Fang attended McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas at Houston. He’ll be joining UAB Urology as a PGY-1 this summer.

Joseph Fougerousse comes to UAB as a PGY-1 from Louisiana State University School of Medicine New Orleans.

Jennifer Rosen completed medical school at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and will be joining UAB Urology as a PGY-1.

Robin Iriele will be joining UAB Urology as a PGY-2. After completing medical school at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, she completed an internship at University Hospital in Cleveland Medical Center.  

Michael Kongnyuy attended the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine for medical school. After completing his internship at New York Presbyterian in Queens, NY., he will join UAB Urology as a PGY-2. 

The UAB Department of Urology continues to be a leader in kidney stone research. As the department continues to expand its clinical and translational research, we hope you’ll check back often for updates.