Urology Icon Chooses Miller School’s Desai Sethi Urology Institute

One of the nation’s most accomplished and decorated urologists, Alan J. Wein, M.D., Ph.D. (hon.), has joined the Desai Sethi Urology Institute (DSUI) at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine as professor of clinical urology and director of business development and mentoring.

“We are thrilled that Dr. Wein will share his extensive knowledge about not only urology practice and research, but also administration and mentoring, to help navigate DSUI’s growth in the coming years,” said DSUI Chair and Founding Director Dipen J. Parekh, M.D.

Dr. Wein said he is excited about spending the next chapter of his urology career at DSUI, which he believes has the talent and is gaining the recognition to be the premier urology institution in the Southeast U.S.

“I respect Dr. Parekh’s career and how he has grown the urology institute by hiring exceptionally talented and recognized clinicians. DSUI is in a position to achieve greater promise and recognition nationally and internationally in the field of urology with his leadership, and I look forward to contributing in some way to that growth,” said Dr. Wein.

Dr. Wein said that Dr. Parekh’s talent as a researcher and mentor helped to draw him to the Miller School.

“Dr. Parekh won the Gold Cystoscope in 2013. The Gold Cystoscope is presented to the individual in all of urology who within 10 years of their residency completion has exhibited the greatest talent. It’s an enormous honor that goes to the individual and his or her mentor,” he said. “I would like to be able to contribute something along those lines to DSUI.”

Decades of Urology Experience

Dr. Wein retired from urology at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he held several leadership positions, including chief of urology. He went to medical school at Penn and — except for two years from 1972 to 1974, when he was a major in the United States Army — trained, practiced and taught at Penn for the last 60 years.

His various leadership roles at Penn are but a part of Dr. Wein’s distinguished career. Among his numerous accomplishments, Dr. Wein received the Edward L. Keyes Medal from the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons, an award recognized as the greatest individual citation in the specialty. He received many important honors from the American Urological Association, including the coveted Hugh Hampton Young Award, presented annually to an individual for outstanding contributions to the study of genitourinary tract disease. Dr. Wein was recognized for his contributions to urologic education, his research on bladder dysfunction and voiding physiology.

He has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Awards by International Continence Society and the Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine and Urogenital Reconstruction.

A recognition which makes Dr. Wein particularly proud is that his is among the names in the title of the gold-standard textbook in urology, now called “Campbell-Walsh-Wein Urology.”

Earlier this year, Dr. Wein was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor Award, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards bestowed on Nobel Prize laureates, corporate CEOs, politicians and celebrities like Muhammad Ali. The Ellis Island Medal celebrates inspiring Americans who are selflessly working for the betterment of the U.S. and its citizens.

Academically, Dr. Wein became a full professor with tenure early on at Penn because of his multiple R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health. For many years, he directed the urology residency program at Penn.

In 2005, the University of Patras in Greece honored Dr. Wein’s research there with an honorary Ph.D. in pharmacology.

Expertise Includes Urologic Oncology

Dr. Wein’s research career has centered on lower urinary tract physiology and pharmacology. Among his many accomplishments were his roles in coming up with the initial criteria for diagnosis of interstitial cystitis, which are still used today. He also co-coined the widely used term “overactive bladder,” as a substitute for what was previously called the unstable bladder.

His vast experience in treating urologic oncology also stands out.

“When I became chief of urology at Penn, many of the people in Philadelphia who had urologic cancer wanted to be operated on at Penn and wanted to be operated on by the chief of urology. I did much of the cancer surgery and much of the complex cancer surgery of the prostate, bladder and kidney,” he said. “In fact, I was one of the founding members of the Society of Urologic Oncology.”

At DSUI, Dr. Wein will not only focus on administrative, teaching and mentoring responsibilities, but he will also maintain a urology practice, seeing patients initially and for follow-up.

Tags: clinical urology, Department of Urology, Desai Sethi Urology Institute, Dr. Alan Wein, Dr. Dipen Parekh