Dr. John D.Denstedt

1. To provide a balanced training in basic and advanced endourological and laparoscopic treatment of urological problems.
2. To provide the fellow with the foundation for an academic career including teaching skills, grant writing skills, manuscript preparation, research methodology and critical appraisal of research.
3. To integrate the fellow into the Urology training program at The University of Western Ontario.

Description of Training

The Endourology and Laparoscopy Fellowship at The University of Western Ontario is a 2 year program which involves one year research and one year clinical experience. Fellows are an integral part of the training program at Western and they participate in activities ranging from clinical duties, teaching, basic and clinical research. Western is a provincial referral centre for stone disease including the shock wave lithotripter program and a comprehensive stone clinic, both of which allow the fellow to gain experience in the management of complex stone disease. There is a strong emphasis on minimally invasive surgery, particularly oncology. Fellows gain experience with laparoscopic nephrectomy, partial nephrectomy, adrenalectomy, nephroureterectomy, and pyeloplasty. Western was the first clinical urology program in Canada to use the Da Vinci robot.

Duration of Training

The fellowship program is 2 years with the first year dedicated to research and the second year to clinical experience. Fellows are required to have completed a recognized Urology Residency with the appropriate certification.

Evaluation Process
The fellow will undergo a formal interim review at 6 months and at the completion of training. Objectives and goals will be reviewed and any deficiencies will be addressed.

Currently we have two PhD’s working in the fields of biomaterial infection and metabolic stone disease. A newly formed Centre for Probiotics has been established at the Lawson Health Research Institute (one of our affiliated institutes). There is bench space provided for fellows. We have core lab facilities that include DNA microarrays, SELDI and MALDI proteomics, mass spectrometry, tissue culture, etc. A full animal vivarium is located on site. Additionally, London is home to the National Research Council of Canada’s Integrated Manufacturing and Technologies Institute, Robarts Research Institute, and CSTAR (Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics). CSTAR initiative is a surgical research and education initiative that includes a state-of-the-art animal surgical facility and telecommunications centre. We currently have several collaborative projects with scientists at these institutions.

Research Interests

Dr. John Denstedt: Dr. Denstedt has a wide variety of interests including stent engineering, biomaterials, endourological management of stone disease and surgical simulation.

Dr. Hassan Razvi: Dr. Razvi’s research interests include the minimally-invasive management of prostatic disease, endourological and medical management of stone disease and prostate cancer.

Dr. Stephen Pautler: Dr. Pautler is involved in the development of laparoscopic surgical techniques, minimally invasive urologic oncology, robotic and image registration research and kidney cancer research.

Clinical Duties

The fellow participates in all endourology and laparoscopy cases during their clinical year. Fellows also attend grand rounds and provide on-call coverage 2 weeknights per month (no weekends). The fellows also attend the metabolic stone clinic held on a monthly basis.

Funding

This is a fully funded position at competitive rates paid in Canadian dollars.

Previous Graduates of the Fellowship Program

Hassan Razvi	Professor	University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario
Rajiv Singal	Lecturer	University of Toronto, Toronto Ontario
Denise Arsenault	Assistant Professor	McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
Tim Wollin	Assistant Professor,	University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Mario Sofer	Assistant Professor	University of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
Jim Watterson	Assistant Professor	University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario
Darren Beiko	Assistant Professor	Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
Andrew Tan,	Consultant Urologist	University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Bodo Knudsen	Assistant Professor	Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
Ben Chew	Assistant Professor	University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia
Moti (Mordechai) Duvdevani	Chief of Endourology and Lithotripsy	Hadassah Ein-Karem University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel
Raymond Ko	Consultant Urologist	Sydney, Australia
Frédéric Soucy	Assistant Professor	Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec
Geoff Wignall	Urologist	Grey Bruce Health Services, Owen Sound, Ontario

Fellow Accomplishments

2nd Prize, Essay Contest Award: 14th World Congress on Endourology and SWL. Razvi H, Singal RK, Lee TY, Denstedt JD, Chun SS, Mosalei H, Bennett JD, Romano W: Evaluation of doppler ultrasound and dynamic contrast-enhanced computed tomography in acute and chronic renal obstruction. 1996.