Our Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery (URPS) fellows are an essential part of our team. Our faculty regard fellows as partners who play a crucial role in the pursuit of our mission to provide the highest-quality care to our patients. Maintaining this standard requires consistent, thoughtful integration of clinical data, compassionate interactions with patients and their families, and superb technical skills. Our curriculum is designed to teach our fellows how to hone these skills.

Sample Schedule

Fellows are assigned to one of three rotations each month. Clinical rotations are designed according to an apprenticeship model, in that fellows are assigned to work with a subset of attendings for the month via a combination of office visits, operating room (OR) cases, and office procedures. Each year, fellows are also provided three to four months of dedicated research time, during which they are protected from clinical duties.

A rotation: Dr. Brucker and Dr. Stewart
B rotation: Dr. Escobar, Dr. Rosenblum, and Dr. Siddique
R rotation: Research

OBGYN Fellow

	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul
Year 1	B	R	R	B	A	R	R	A	B	A	A	B
Year 2	R	B	A	B	R	A	B	R	R	A	B	A
Year 3	A	A	R	R	B	B	R	B	A	R	A	B

Urology Fellow

	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul
Year 1	A	A	B	R	B	B	A	A	R	R	A	B
Year 2	R	B	A	A	R	A	B	B	A	B	B	R

Multi-Disciplinary Experience

Fellows work closely with colleagues from colorectal surgery, functional gastroenterology, and pelvic floor physical therapy to provide care to patients with complex pelvic floor disorders. Our division also hosts a quarterly multidisciplinary care conference where providers from the above disciplines meet to discuss complex cases.

Clinical Training Sites

Fellows receive training at several New York City locations: Tisch Hospital, Kimmel Pavilion, the Center for Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery, NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, and NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue.

Tisch Hospital and Kimmel Pavilion

Tisch Hospital and Kimmel Pavilion are NYU Langone’s Manhattan inpatient facilities. URPS patients who require inpatient care are typically housed on the urology or gynecology service.

All major medical and surgical subspecialty consultative services are available at Tisch Hospital and Kimmel Pavilion. Our faculty use three operating room (OR) areas at Tisch Hospital: the main OR, the Day Surgery Center, and the Minimally Invasive Urology Unit (MIUU), where we have access to several da Vinci robotic surgical systems with educational consoles.

The following URPS faculty members operate at Tisch Hospital: Dr. Brucker, Dr. Rosenblum, Dr. Stewart, and Dr. Escobar.

Center for Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery

The Center for Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery is the primary outpatient facility for the fellowship. Clinical resources at this 3,000-square-foot clinical facility include 24/7 access to numerous exam rooms, three procedure rooms, an OR suite, full-time ultrasound capabilities, several consultation rooms, and a video urodynamics suite with fluoroscopy capability.

We perform office-based procedures such as cystoscopy, urethral bulking, intravesical botulinum toxin injection, percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation, and peripheral nerve evaluation at the center.

Fellows receive an office space at the center with computer access to all patient medical records, inpatient and outpatient, through the Epic electronic medical records system.

NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn

Fellows rotating with Dr. Siddique, the URPS site director for NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, gain experience evaluating and treating patients in the office, procedure clinic, and OR. There is an NYU ferry available for fellows to easily commute from Manhattan to NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn. The site is also accessible using public transit.

NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue

Bellevue is part of New York City’s municipal hospital system and is the oldest public hospital in the United States. Bellevue is home to busy urology and OBGYN services, where fellows play an integral role in outpatient, surgical and inpatient care.

This site offers the full breadth of URPS care in a truly integrated model between urology and gynecology. We collaborate often with colorectal surgery, gastroenterology, and general surgery. In addition, Bellevue serves as the referral site for complex urogynecology patients throughout the NYC Health + Hospitals network.

Every two weeks, URPS fellows oversee the resident-run urogynecology clinic. This clinic is staffed by both gynecology and urology residents. Here, fellows have the autonomy to make decisions under the guidance of Dr. Rosenblum and Dr. Escobar. At this hospital, fellows perform office procedures two to three times monthly with both urology and gynecology residents. Surgical procedures are generally performed one to two days a week, and the fellow functions as the primary surgeon for each of these cases.

Multiple Sclerosis Comprehensive Care Center

Dr. Brucker runs a specialized clinic for multiple sclerosis patients with neurogenic bladder and voiding dysfunction twice a month. The optimization of care for this patient population involves close collaboration with their neurologists and other providers who specialize particularly in the care of patients with multiple sclerosis. In this clinic, fellows can evaluate patients with complex neurological conditions and their sequelae and obtain a better understanding of neuro-urology.

Research Opportunities for Fellows

Research is a key component of the URPS Fellowship, with approximately one-third of each fellow’s training devoted to research activities. Under faculty mentorship, fellows select a clinical, epidemiological, or translational research topic in a subspecialty of URPS.

During the first year, fellows are expected to be involved in at least three clinical research projects that result in presentation at national or international meetings and publication in peer-reviewed journals. In the final year of the program, fellows are expected to conduct and complete either a large outcomes research project or a basic science project. In the summer of their first year, fellows also participate in a formal two-week research course developed by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, with the aim of helping new fellows to become familiar with the principles of conducting research, and to expose them the resources available at NYU Langone Health to support their research interests.

Faculty in the Divisions of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Surgery and Neurourology are actively involved in clinical research and have published on urodynamics, female voiding dysfunction, bladder outlet obstruction, stress urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, neurogenic bladder, and pelvic organ prolapse. In addition, members of our division have conducted clinical trials on overactive bladder therapies, devices for pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, urethral bulking agents, and percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation.

The basic science research program, headed by Xue-Ru Wu, MD, provides opportunities for fellows to participate in translational research. Members of Dr. Wu’s laboratory have performed pioneering research on the urothelium, urinary tract infections and interstitial cystitis.

Fellows have the opportunity to attend, and are encouraged to present their research at, annual meetings of regional, national, and international urogynecology organizations, including the American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS), the Society of Urodynamics, Urogynecology, and Urogenital Reconstruction (SUFU), the American Urological Association (AUA), the International Continence Society (ICS) and the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons (SGS).

Fellows are also encouraged to explore research training and mentorship opportunities beyond NYU by submitting projects to the AUGS/SGS Fellows Pelvic Research Network and applying for external funding opportunities from our national societies or from industry-sponsored educational grants.

Fellows Education

Fellows are expected to attend a variety of institutional conferences during their time in our program:

• Weekly URPS didactics
• Weekly Urology or OBGYN Grand Rounds
• Monthly URPS Journal Club
• Quarterly urodynamic conferences for urology residents, faculty, and URPS fellows
• Annual OBGYN Department Fellows Research Course (two weeks)
• Annual NYU URPS Continuing Medical Education Conference

Fellows are also encouraged to attend the annual fellows’ educational conferences organized by the American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS).

Teaching Experience for Fellows

Fellows are expected to teach residents and medical students regularly throughout their training. In their first year, fellows instruct residents and medical students in the OR and on pre- and postoperative care. In their second year, fellows’ teaching responsibilities increase in both the OR and outpatient clinics, where they are frequently primary educator to residents in all clinical settings.

Fellows also prepare and give lectures to residents and medical students during urodynamics conferences, resident didactics, simulation exercises, and URPS conferences. In addition, fellows assist in coordinating residents’ and medical students’ involvement in research projects in URPS.