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Department of Urology

Mission Statement

The Department of Urology mission is to train residents with a well-rounded and broad-based knowledge necessary to independently practice Urology, whether the resident chooses to enter a fellowship program, private practice or academic teaching program. Implement an environment that promotes continuous Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QI & PS).  Be recognized as a Center of Excellence through the promotion of education, research, patient care, and service to Tennesseans and global communities.  

Educational Philosophy

Core faculty photo
Left to right: Anthony Patterson, MD, Nikhil Gopal, MD, Robert Wake, MD (chair), John Carraher, MD, Ava Saidian, MD, and Christopher Ledbetter, MD

The educational philosophy of the department is that resident and medical student teaching is of the highest priority and that this teaching should occur primarily in the context of active clinical experience in a variety of patient care settings which expose residents to the full spectrum of urologic disease. The education of the resident should be sufficiently structured to gradually increase the resident's responsibility for more complex aspects of urologic care as skills are developed, so that graduating senior residents are fully competent in the medical and surgical aspects of urology.

It is further our philosophy that the education should take place in an environment that both exposes the residents to modern clinical and scientific advances in urology (through conferences and reading assignments) and in an environment where residents are exposed to and participate in urologic research so that they become critical analysts of data imbued with healthy skepticism. With this philosophy and exposure, we expect our graduating residents to, at a minimum, be fully competent in the medical and surgical aspects of urologic disease and to be eager life-long learners of the science and art of urology. It is our philosophy that urologic education should take place in an environment where the faculty role models compassionately demonstrate the art, as well as the science, of medicine.

History of UTHSC Urology
Oct 6, 2025