LINTHICUM, Md., Nov. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — The Urology Care Foundation, the world's leading nonprofit urological health foundation and the official foundation of the American Urological Association (AUA), is pleased to announce the selection of Joel Berends as the inaugural recipient of its new Physician Scientist Residency Training Award. This award supports an intensive, three-year research training program embedded within urology residency. The focus of the program is to help grow the population of surgeon-scientists who can effectively lead robust research programs, successfully compete for independent research funding and more effectively engage with basic scientists.

Launched in 2017, the Physician Scientist Residency Training Award was first competed among academic institutions to determine which urology residency programs could provide the necessary training and support for this innovative program. Following a peer review selection process, carefully chosen programs underwent a review and then approval by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The second phase involved opening the competition to senior medical students who applied and competed for the inaugural award. Once selected, the recipient is presented the opportunity to choose which of these outstanding institutions to complete his or her urology residency training.

Mr. Berends, who will graduate medical school in May 2019 from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, will complete an eight-year urology training program at the University of Michigan, beginning July 2019. Once he completes his initial two years of clinical training, he will then matriculate, under the mentorship of faculty at the University of Michigan, into the three-year research training program consisting of didactic courses followed by a major research study. The program concludes after the final three years of clinical training.

"We are thrilled to have selected Mr. Berends as our inaugural Physician Scientist Residency Training Award recipient," said Aria F. Olumi, MD, chief of urology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, and chair of the AUA's Research Council. "He is the ideal candidate for this award and we are delighted with his selection of the University of Michigan. This new research training program further supports our ability to address the growing shortage of urology surgeon-scientists while also having a significant impact on both urology research and our patients."

The Physician Scientist Residency Training Award is the newest addition to the Urology Care Foundation's portfolio of mentored research training grants and was made possible thanks to an endowed partnership with Dornier MedTech.

About the Urology Care Foundation
The Urology Care Foundation is the world's leading nonprofit urological health foundation and the official foundation of the American Urological Association. We partner with physicians, researchers, healthcare professionals, patients, caregivers, families and the public to support and improve the prevention, detection and treatment of urological diseases through research and education. To learn more about the Urology Care Foundation and its programs visit: www.urologyhealth.org.

About the American Urological Association:
Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology, and has more than 21,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy. To learn more about the AUA, visit www.AUAnet.org.

SOURCE Urology Care Foundation