Urology News Archive Featured in the Media JeffNEWS

The Department of Urology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Thomas Jefferson University this year marks its 100th birthday, making it one of the oldest departments of urology in the country, with the largest urology group practice in Pennsylvania. The department also has one of the largest full time academic Urology programs in the United States.

“The Department of Urology at Jefferson has played an important role in training several generations of outstanding urologists and has made significant contributions to the development of the specialty of urology. We are proud of our department’s accomplishments,” said Leonard Gomella, M.D., chair of Urology and Bernard W. Godwin Jr. Professor for Urology, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.

The department will celebrate its centennial at the end of October with a series of events:

• An educational symposium and hands-on workshops on Friday, October 29, and Saturday, October 30, at Thomas Jefferson University featuring both local and national faculty.
• A cocktail reception, Friday, Oct. 29, hosted by Philly Pops Director Peter Nero, followed by a Philly Pops Concert held at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts on Broad St.
• A gala and awards ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 30, at the Hotel Sofitel, 17th and Chestnut streets. The evening will feature a cocktail reception, a special performance by the acclaimed group "Time for Three," dinner, an awards ceremony and a special Jefferson Urology Centennial video presentation.

The urology department was established in 1904 by Orville Horwitz, M.D., who at the time, was clinical professor of Genito–Urinary (GU) Diseases at Jefferson University Hospital. Dr. Horwitz, a dedicated physician, had privately funded the Genito-urinary department, buying equipment at his own expense and obtaining donations from grateful patients. In 1904, a formal department in the Jefferson Medical College was established and Dr. Horwitz was admitted as a full professor to a faculty chair.

In 1935, shortly after David M. Davis, M.D., an authority in urologic surgery, was named department chair, the Department of Genito-Urinary Diseases changed its name to the Department of Urology. The teaching system was also modified by a gradual reduction of lectures and emphasis on small groups with student participation.

Under Dr. Davis' leadership, advanced training in urology was established. The first urology residencies at Jefferson Hospital were established in 1939. In 1948, an arrangement with Jefferson surgeon John H. Gibbon, Jr., M.D., provided a year of training in general surgery before beginning three years in the urologic residency.

Dr. Davis also greatly improved the standard of care in the then-urology ward and Curtis Clinic.

Among the notable medical achievements in the department’s history are:

• First report of renal pedicle tourniquet applied around renal artery and vein while closing after partial nephrectomy by Dr. T. C. Stellwagen.
• Careful staging of bladder cancer by depth of invasion. Dr. George Strong coauthored the historic “Jewett-Strong” classification with Dr. Jewett in 1946.
• Controlled decompression of chronically distended bladders by slowly lowering the pressure over intervals up to 24 hours pioneered by Dr. David M. Davis.
• “Intubated ureterotomy: Experimental work and clinical results” won the first prize at the American Urological Association and was published in the May 1948 Journal of Urology. It was co-authored by Drs. D.M. Davis and Willard Drake.
• The modern uroflowmeter was invented by Dr. Willard M. Drake, Jr. in 1946. The original manuscript, entitled "The Uroflometer: an aid to the study of the lower urinary tract," appeared in Journal of Urology in 1948. Drake obtained a U.S. patent for the device, entitled "Uroflometer" in 1953. Dr. Willard Drake was the first to use the word “urodynamics.”
• Development and use of Lewis Cystometer to measure bladder pressure rising during bladder filling, as a diagnostic tool of incontinence or retention.
• First report of ureteroscopic ultrasonic lithotripsy, endoscopic recanalization of the obliterated upper urinary tract, ureteroscopic holmium laser lithotripsy of upper ureteral calculi and renal calculi ureteroscopy performed under local anesthesia, by Dr. Demetrius Bagley.
• First report of pregnancy involving quadriplegic man in 1990, through the use of electroejaculation technique by Dr. Irvin Hirsch, resulting in pregnancy.
• First use of RT-PCR to identify circulating cells in prostate cancer patients, 1992 Drs. J.G. Moreno, S. Grant Mulholland and Gomella. Three U.S. Patents were awarded to Jefferson for this discovery.
• Board of Trustees appointed Dr. L. G. Gomella the first Bernard W. Godwin Associate Professor in Prostate Cancer in 1994, the first prostate cancer specific chair in the U.S.
• One of the first in the U.S. to incorporate laparoscopy in urologic practice in the early 1990s and performed the first laparoscopic prostatectomy in the Delaware Valley.
• First book on prostate cancer written specifically for the general public in 1993 by Dr. Gomella.
• First Multi-Disciplinary GU Cancer Center, Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson established in 1996.