1958 marked the year when the Department of Urology’s tradition of excellence in patient care, research and education began. It was then that Shands Teaching Hospital admitted its first patient, just two years after the state’s first medical school broke ground on the University of Florida campus. The combination of medical school and hospital was named for Senator Williams Shands, who had convinced the Florida Legislature to locate the school in Gainesville instead of Tampa or Jacksonville. Urologic care at UF has been thriving ever since.

In 1958, Shands Hospital invited Dr. George H. Miller, to become the first chief of the Division of Urology. Like many early faculty members, Miller taught at the University of Chicago Medical School. During his 22 year tenure at the Division of Urology, Miller recruited a young and enthusiastic faculty, developed the division’s clinical and academic aspects, and helped establish the first urology research lab that would be the foundation of so many future successes for this pioneering group.

In 1960, Urology Chief Dr. George Miller, recruited Dr. David Drylie to be the second urology resident and faculty member at Shands. The division’s second faculty member had one of the biggest impacts on its development. Already an excellent surgeon and researcher, Drylie pioneered the use of cryosurgery, a giant leap forward for doctors and their patients. From 1972 to 1994, Dr. Drylie would serve as division chief integrating private urologists into the teaching program, as well as developing academic and medical affiliations with the Veteran’s Administration hospital.

The Division of Urology’s future as a major research center took a giant step forward in 1967, when Urology Chief Dr. George Miller recruited Dr. Birdwell Finlayson as the division’s third faculty member. A world renowned scientist, Finlayson was one of the original investigators for Electric Shock Wave Lithotripsy, or ESWL in the United States. Through his remarkable work doctors were able to break up kidney stones from outside the body and reduce patient pain and avoid hospital stay. A biophysicist in training, his fixed particle hypothesis became the foundation of urolithiasis research, and his computer model EQUIL is still the gold standard for calculating urinary supersaturation with respect to kidney stone formation.

Key to the division’s development was its early association with the Veterans Administration Hospital in Lake City. It gave the division’s residents access to a garden-variety urology and office practice. In 1970, the successful program saw to an additional partnership with the new VA hospital in Gainesville.

In 1967, Shands Hospital recruited its first pediatric surgeon, Dr. James Talbert from Johns Hopkins marking a commitment to children’s surgery. In 1972, Dr. Dixon Walker was chief urology resident and a member of the pediatric department. Dr. Walker would be the first pediatric urologist in Florida and only the second in the entire South. He is recognized as an international authority on the evaluation and treatment of urologic problems in children.

In 1979 Dr. Harry Grabstald, an internationally known oncologist was recruited by the division to establish Urologic Oncology as a new subsection. It was Grabstaldt who increased the patient load by bringing in out-of-state patients. He was succeeded in 1983 by Dr. Zev Wajsman, who developed a program that made major inroads to management of urological cancer, garnering recognition for the department’s excellence in urological oncology patient care, research and education. In 1994, Dr. Perinchery Narayan was recruited from the University of San Francisco as the new Chief of Urology. Dr. Narayan, a renowned expert in the field of prostate cancer, continued to provide momentum to the Division’s emphasis on urologic oncology. Six years later, Dr. Chester Algood, an accomplished surgeon joined the faculty, furthering UF Urology's commitment to best in patient care.

In 1998, Endourology evolved into a specialty, thanks to leaders like Dr. Birdwell Finlayson. Along with radiologists and his fellows, Finlayson developed tools to diagnose and treat kidney stones more effectively. Finlayson trained and was succeeded by Dr. Robert Newman. Dr. Newman was soon joined by Dr. Marc Cohen. Together, they expanded the endourology section to include diagnoses beyond stone disease, as well as bringing in the latest in laparoscopy technology. In partnership with the radiology department, the division performed the first laparoscopic donor nephrectomy in Florida.

Becoming a department was the culmination of a vision. The effort had many champions throughout the division’s 50-year history, including Drs. Dixon Walker, Zev Wajsman and Perinchery Narayan. In 2003, Craig Tisher, the dean of the college of medicine, began to bring the dream to fruition and on July 1, 2005, urology became a department within the College of Medicine. After an extensive search, together with interim-chair, Dr. Robert Newman, Duke University’s internationally renowned clinician and scientist, Dr. Johannes Vieweg, was selected as the new inaugural department chair.

In 2006, the new department vision demanded a foundation of incredible and dedicated talent. Upon his arrival he was already joined by many accomplished physicians who have been serving the patient and academic community in their sub-specialties oncology, endourology, and general urology, including Drs. Marc Cohen, Chester Algood, Robert Newman, Ahmed Vafa, Zev Wajsman and Uniyme Nseyo.

Dr. Vieweg continued to build on the solid foundation of world-class experts that would provide a full-service offering including a Robotics and Minimally Invasive Division, a genitourinary oncology center, a Male Infertililty center, a Urology Quality and Outcomes program, Endourology, general urology and translational research. Renowned urology clinicians, researchers, and educators were immediately attracted to the new department.

New research faculty members including Drs. Axel Heiser, Sergei Kusmartsev, Zhen Su and Brian Cleaver immediately began to make headway in terms of new collaboration with international institutions and state-awarded funding for their outstanding work in prostate cancer gene therapy research. Their research and innovations will translate next generation therapies to improved care for patients.

Dr. Phillip Dahm, a pioneer in the field of evidence-based medicine in urology and education, Dr. Charles Rosser, a urologic oncologist from Shands Jacksonville, and Dr. Benjamin Canales, a leading scholar in kidney stone disease soon joined UF Urology to further boost our oncology, and endourology sub-specialty offerings.

This is followed by Dr. Sijo Parekattil, an expert in robotic surgery who performed the first robotics procedure at the newly established UF Shands Robotics Division in 2007. Dr Parekattil’s efforts were later augmented by the recruitment of Dr Li-Ming Su, a nationally renowned robotics expert as Chief of the Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery division earlier this year. Dr Scott Gilbert, a pioneer in urological cancer survivorship as well as an oncologist is the latest to arrive from the University of Michigan at the now growing and thriving new department: from six faculty members in 2006 to 13 in 2008.

2008 established UROGators, a liaison between alumni, the department and a source of departmental support. The UROGators Alumni Society fosters mutual communication and collaboration, providing a way for urologists in the community to stay in touch with the Department. The group hosts regular social events and fund raises for fellows, students and advocates of the department as a center of excellence for patient-care, research and education. Community urologists in the organization support by referring patients to Shands.

UroGators is currently lead by Dr. Thomas Stringer, a respected community urologist who is also the President-Elect of the Southeastern Section of the American Urological Association.