Invited Speakers

Brian F. Chapin

Prostate cancer
at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Brian Chapin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.  He provides complete surgical care for men and women diagnosed with urologic malignancies. He performs open surgery and minimally invasive/robotic surgery, for patients with prostate, kidney, bladder and testis cancers.  His major clinical focus is on the treatment of high risk- localized, locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancers. He has active clinical research protocols developing the integration of surgical, radiation and medical therapies in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.  Dr. Chapin is involved with the basic science/translational research program at M.D Anderson, which is attempting to identify predictive signatures for identifying which patients with advanced prostate cancer will benefit most from specific therapies. Using a comprehensive multimodality approach to this disease, Dr. Chapin’s goal is to ease suffering and prolong survival in men with advanced prostate cancer.      

2018 – present         Associate Professor, Department of Urology, Division of Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

2016 – present         Fellowship Program Director, Department of Urology, Division of Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

2016 – present         Co-Director of Clinical Research Programs, Department of Urology, Division of Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, TX

Amy Krambeck

BPH
Northwestern Medical Center, Chicago

Dr. Amy Krambeck is a Professor of Urology at Northwestern Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.    Her Urology residency was completed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in 2008.  Subsequently, from 2008 to 2009 she participated in an Endourology fellowship at the Methodist Institute for Kidney Stone Research in Indianapolis, Indiana.  From 2009 to 2016 she worked as an Endourologist in the Mayo Clinic Department of Urology, then joined the staff at Indiana University in July of 2016 as the Endourology Division head.  In January of 2021, Dr. Krambeck join the staff at Northwestern Medical to develop their benign diseases program.  Dr. Krambeck specializes in the surgical and medical treatment of stone disease and benign prostatic hyperplasia.  Her research interests include the pathogenesis of stone disease, the treatment of urolithiasis during pregnancy and laser modifications for holmium laser enucleation of the prostate.

Ranjith Ramasamy

Reproductive Urology
University of Miami

Ranjith Ramasamy is the Director of Reproductive Urology, Director of Andrology Fellowship, as well as an Associate Professor at the University of Miami in Florida. As a Urologist and Microsurgeon, Dr. Ramasamy specializes in the treatment of disorders of male infertility and sexual dysfunction. He is an expert in vasectomy reversal and penile prosthesis. Dr. Ramasamy completed his Urology residency training at Weil Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He then completed a National Institutes of Health sponsored Andrology fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine. To date, he has published over 250 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals and several book chapters. He is the lead investigator on several clinical trials and translational research projects. He is the recipient of the 2019 Clinician Scientist Development Grant from the American Cancer Society and the 2020 Ira and Ester Rosenwaks Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.

Alison Birtle

Kidney/Upper tract TCC
Rosemere Cancer Centre, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Preston, UK

Dr. Alison Birtle is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at the Rosemere Cancer Centre, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Preston, UK, and an Honorary Senior Lecturer (University of Manchester) specialising in the treatment of urological cancers.
Dr Birtle trained in Oncology in London, completing her training on the Academic Urology Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital.
Her MD thesis was in PSA negative prostate cancer at the Institute of Urology, University College London
She is an advisor to Macmillan on patient information for prostate, bladder and testicular tumours, and Trustee and Medical Advisor to the patient lead information and advocacy group, Fight Bladder Cancer, and Secretary to the British Uro Oncology Group.
She has published widely and lectures nationally and internationally.

Alison has been Clinical Research Lead for Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Research Network, and more recently, Associate Clinical Lead for Cancer Research and since March 2018, Speciality Group Lead for Cancer Research for North West Coast Clinical Research Network.
She is a former member of the National Institute for Health Research Prostate Clinical Study Group and stepped down as chair of the Bladder/renal NIHR Clinical Study Group in 2018 after two terms. She remains a member of the Advanced Bladder Cancer Subgroup.
Dr Birtle has been principal investigator and chief investigator on numerous urological clinical trials, and is the Chief Investigator on the POUT trial.
In 2018, she was awarded one of the national 70 stars of the NHS award by NSH England and the NHS Confederations part of the NHS 70 anniversary.
She was also awarded NWCCRN Research Practitioner of the Year in 2018, and more locally runner up in Lancashire doctor of the year.
She is passionate about patient access to clinical trials and believes in the mantra of a trial for every patient.

Dr Birtle combines full time NHS work with a passion for research, and for musical theatre.

Hadley M. Wood

Reconstruction
Department of Urology at Cleveland Clinic

Dr. Wood has been on staff in the Department of Urology at Cleveland Clinic since 2009 and is currently Vice Chair of Clinician Development for Urology.  Her area of subspecialty is genitourinary reconstruction with a focus on adults with urological congenital conditions.  She has developed a multidisciplinary clinic for adults with spina bifida at Cleveland Clinic, contributes to the CDC National Spina Bifida Patient Registry and performs single- and multi-institutional research in urological outcomes for adult patients with spina bifida. She won the Bruce Hubbard Steward Award for Humanity in Medicine (2008), American College of Surgeons, Young Fellows’ Advocacy Essay (2017), and the American Urological Association Presidential Citation (2019) for her advocacy efforts.

As an educator, Dr. Wood has mentored medical students, residents, advanced practice providers and fellows in GU Reconstruction throughout the duration of her career. She won the Cleveland Clinic Enterprise Outstanding PA/NP Educator of the Year award in 2016 and the Urology Residency Teacher of the Year award in 2018.  In addition, she spearheaded the AUA-Cleveland Clinic Advanced Practice Provider education curriculum.

In addition to full time clinical responsibilities and resident teaching, Dr. Wood has been continuously involved in clinical research and her work has been published in a number of peer reviewed journals.  She serves as section editor for Urology and as associate editor for Annals of Plastic Surgery, and recently served as associate editor for Urology Practice.  She has written numerous book chapters related to her specialty areas, and has co-edited the first textbook on Urological Congenitalism. As a member of the Physician Advisory Group of the Spina Bifida Association, Dr. Wood served on the adult urology care guidelines committee and chaired the men’s health guidelines committee.  In 2018, she co-chaired an International Consultation on Urologic Disease on Lifelong Care of Individuals with Congenital Urologic Diseases.

Sheryl Lee

Bladder Cancer
Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Dr. Lee is Professor and Chair of the Department of Urology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio where she holds the Dorothy M. Davis Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. She is also the Vice President of the OSU Physicians and Faculty Group Practice. She completed her medical training at Albany Medical College, her urology residency at the University of Michigan, and her fellowship in urologic oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is currently a Trustee of the American Board of Urology. Her medical professional focus is dedicated to improving the care of bladder cancer patients through advocacy, education and research.

Margaret Pearle

Endourology
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Dr. Pearle is currently Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Urology with a dual appointment in Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and holder of the Ralph C. Smith Distinguished Chair in Urologic Education.  She received her B.A., Ph.D. and M.D. degrees from the University of Chicago and completed her Urology residency at Northwestern University, followed by fellowship training in Endourology at Washington University, St. Louis, under the direction of Dr. Ralph Clayman.

Throughout her career, Dr. Pearle has been involved in academic initiatives in stone disease. She served on the AUA Nephrolithiasis Clinical Guidelines Panel for Staghorn Calculi and Ureteral Calculi, chaired the Medical Management of Kidney Stones Guideline Panel, and served on the Surgical Management of Kidney Stones Guideline Panel. In 2008, she chaired the NIDDK Urolithiasis Treatment and Outcomes Symposium. She is on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Endourology and Urolithiasis. In 2007, she served as President of the ROCK Society, a multidisciplinary closed society dedicated to research in stone disease.

Dr. Pearle has received a variety of awards in Urology.  In 2003, she received the AUA Gold Cystoscope Award for significant contributions to the field of urology, in 2012 she was awarded the AUA Robert C. Flanigan Education Award and in 2016 she received the AUA Hugh Hampton Young Award. She became a member of the prestigious American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons (AAGUS) in 2007 and in 2018 was awarded the Barringer Medal from that organization. She served on the Board of Trustees of the American Board of Urology from 2008-2014, serving as the President of the ABU in 2013-14. She was a member of the Urology Residency Review Committee of the ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) from 2009-2014. She currently serves as the Secretary General of the Endourological Society.

Hillary Copp

Pediatrics
San Francisco, CA

Hillary Copp, MD, MS graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences with Highest Honors. She attended medical school at Penn State University College of Medicine and completed her urology residency at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. This was followed by a fellowship in pediatric urology at Stanford University where she concurrently earned a master's degree in Epidemiology. Dr. Copp is the UCSF Pediatric Urology Fellowship Director. She is the principal pediatric urologist for the multidisciplinary UCSF Spina Bifida Clinic and she is the Co-Director of the UCSF Transitional Urology Program, a joint effort between Pediatric and Adult Urology to understand and care for young adults with congenital urologic conditions that will require long-term urologic care. Dr. Copp’s research interests include understanding the results of health care practice and intervention, specifically among patients with UTI and examining and improving the clinical and quality of life outcomes of patients with urologic congenitalism.