Miller School Offers South Florida’s Only ACGME-Accredited Fellowship Focused on Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), which sets medical educational standards for U.S. residency and fellowship programs, recently accredited the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery (FPMRS)/Urogynecology Fellowship.

“This brings national recognition to the Desai Sethi Urology Institute, the Miller School, and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, as we are the only FPMRS/urogynecology fellowship in South Florida and one of only less than a dozen ACGME-accredited dual FPMRS/urogynecology fellowships nationally,” said the new fellowship’s Program Director Katherine Amin, M.D., assistant professor of FPMRS in the Department of Urology at the Miller School. “The program is approved by American Board of Gynecology/American Board of Urology so that trainees will sit for board certification after they have completed their training.”

The Miller School fellowship will alternate between urology fellows pursuing the two-year FPMRS fellowship and OB-GYN fellows pursuing the three-year urogynecology fellowship.

FPMRS and urogynecology surgeons consult with and comprehensively manage women with pelvic floor disorders, including urinary incontinence, lower urinary tract disorders, pelvic organ prolapse, and other conditions. These specialists also manage men with voiding dysfunction, including men who have problems urinating due to an enlarged prostate.

Miller School fellows will concentrate on learning robotic and transvaginal approaches for these common conditions.

Urogynecology for Cancer Patients, Survivors

“Our training will include expertise in the operating room, outpatient clinic, and innovative research,” Dr. Amin said. “We’ve also partnered with Sylvester to focus on cancer survivorship aspects. Common complications after treatment for multiple cancer types include voiding dysfunction and pelvic floor disorders.”

Urologists who specialize in FPMRS and OB-GYNs who specialize in urogynecology often treat survivors of cervical, endometrial, colorectal, prostate, and other cancers after surgery and radiation to relieve pelvic floor side effects of treatment.

“An important focus of this fellowship is improving the quality of life for cancer patients and survivors,” Dr. Amin said.

The fellowship’s core faculty include FPMRS specialist Raveen Syan, M.D., assistant professor of clinical urology at the Miller School’s Desai Sethi Urology Institute; urogynecology specialist Laura E. Martin, D.O., also an assistant professor of clinical urology at the institute; and Carlos A. Medina, M.D., director of urogynecology and division director of the Miller School’s OB-GYN residency program.

“This training will be didactic and offer high-yield research opportunities, so it will be an opportunity for not only the fellows but also the faculty to advance our knowledge in pelvic floor disorders,” Dr. Amin said. “ACGME is the gold standard for accrediting graduate medical education nationally, and we are proud to have achieved this standard for our fellows. It is a testament to the Desai Sethi Urology Institute’s commitment to ensuring the urology subspecialty has the highest quality physicians and patient care.”

The Desai Sethi Urology Institute also offers subspecialty fellowship training in urologic oncology and endourology, sexual and reproductive medicine, and pediatric urology.

Tags: cancer survivorship, Department of Urology, Desai Sethi Urology Institute, Dr. Carlos Medina, Dr. Katherine Amin, Dr. Laura Martin, Dr. Raveen Syan, FPMRS/Urogynecology Fellowship, pelvic floor dysfunction, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center