Germany
Dr Richard Hautmann received his MD from the University Würzburg in 1969
and is Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Urology at the University of
Ulm, Germany where he served in the role of Chair for more than 25 years.
He is currently an Expert Consultant in the Department of Urology at the
Klinikum Lüdenscheid in Germany and an honorary MD at the University of
Athens, Greece.
Dr Hautmann was the President of the German Society of Urology (DGU) and
was in the role of Editor-in-Chief of UROLOGE—the official journal of DGU—
for more than 20 years. Dr Hautmann is also the editor and author of the
textbook UROLOGIE, which is currently in its 5th edition.
Over the course of his career his main research interests included the basic
science of renal handling of oxalate (micropuncture) and, clinically, urinary
diversion, pioneering orthotopic reconstruction (ileal neobladder), female
neobladder, and nerve sparing radical cystectomy in both males and
females. Dr Hautmann is an experienced surgeon, having performed more
than 2,000 cystectomies and 1,500 neobladders. He has published more
than 500 scientific articles.
Dr Hautmann is an honorary member of many urological societies, including
the DGU, the Sociedad Colombiana d’Urologia, the American Urological
Association (AUA), and more. He has been the recipient of major awards
from leading urological associations, such as AUA, the American Association
of Genitourinary Surgeons (AAGUS), the European Association of Urology
(EAU), and the Société Internationale d’Urologie (SIU).
In addition to receiving the SIU Distinguished Career Award, Dr Hautmann
has long been a staunch supporter of the Society and its educational
activities. He has participated in many SIU Congresses, leading Instructional
Courses and state-of-the-art lectures. Many of Dr Hautmann’s expert
contributions can be found on SIU Academy, including lectures from
previous Semi-Live Events.
Chile
Dr Gomez is Chief of the Urology Service at Hospital del Trabajador in
Santiago, Chile. He obtained his undergraduate and medical degrees from
the Catholic University of Chile Medical School in 1979. He performed
residency training in General Surgery and in Urology at the same university.
In 1984 he moved to Hospital del Trabajador where he started the Urology
Service. Dr Gomez completed a Fellowship in Trauma and Reconstructive
Urology at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) in 1991 under
the leadership of Prof. Dr Jack McAninch.
Dr Gomez is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and member of
several scientific societies including the American Urological Association
(AUA), Confederación Americana de Urología (CAU), and the Société
Internationale d’Urologie (SIU). He is a Past President of the Chilean Society
of Urology and of the Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgeons Society
(GURS). He also served several terms in the board of the Confederación
Americana de Urologia (CAU). Dr Gomez joined the Board of SIU in 2004 as
Chair of Publications and during that time served in various positions until
assuming the role of President in 2022.
He is the author of more than 100 peer- reviewed international articles, has
contributed to numerous book chapters and is the editor of two books. He
is also a reviewer for several international journals. His main areas of interest
and research are trauma and genitourinary reconstructive urology, including
urethral reconstruction, neurourology and neurogenic bladder. Since 2004,
he has led training in urethral reconstruction in Latin America by giving
annual live workshops.
Dr Gomez has recently been named Master Professor of Urology by the
Chilean Society of Urology, the highest academic rank in Chilean urology.
Mozambique
Dr Vaz received his medical degree in 1980, his specialization in general
surgery in 1991 — with FCS Surgery, Urology, by Porto University in Portugal
— and is an international member of examiners by COSECSA. He worked as a
military doctor and performed more than 2,000 war emergency and elective
surgeries in five years as the only doctor in a region with 150,000 inhabitants.
Since 1981, he has worked in Mozambique as the director of several
hospitals and as the Head of the Surgery Department and the Director of
Urology Services at Maputo Central Hospital. He serves as Regent of the
Chair of Urology at the Faculty of Medicine at University Eduardo Mondlane,
and conducts postgraduate teaching in urology, general surgery, and
gynecology and obstetrics. Dr Vaz has performed more than 5,000 fistula
surgeries all over the country, and in Africa, South America, and Asia.
In his professional experience in general surgery, oncology, urology,
urogynecology, erectile dysfunction, male and female urinary tract
reconstructive surgery, complex obstetric fistula surgery, total pelvic
reconstruction, pediatric urology, disorders of sexual development (DSD),
gender dysphoria, and genitourinary feminization in DSD, Dr Vaz has
groundbreaking work that includes techniques developed for very
complex—including those deemed “incurable” — cases of obstetric/traumatic
fistula and urethral and bladder neck reconstructions, augmentations
cystoplasty, neobladders, neovagina, and more. Dr Vaz lectures
internationally and is the Vice-President of the International Society
of Obstetric Fistula Surgeons (ISOFS).
In 2016, he founded Focus Fistula Mozambique, a non-profit organization
with the mission to provide cost-free surgery to vulnerable and low-income
women, girls, and children. Focus Fistula is at the forefront of fistula training
and treatment programs in Mozambique. Led by Dr Vaz, the organization has
offered, to date, more than 1,000 free fistula and reconstructive surgeries,
with the support of national and international partners.
India
Dr Khochikar is the Patron Director and Head of the Department of Urology
and Urologic Oncology at the Ushakal Abhinav Institute of Medical Sciences
in Sangli and Chief Uro Oncologist at the Siddhi Vinayak Ganapati Cancer
Hospital in Miraj.
Dr Khochikar completed his urology training in Mumbai and Nadiyad from
1989 to 1992 and received further specialty training in London and Cambridge
(1993–1998). Upon his return to India, he was recognized internationally as
instrumental in establishing urologic oncology as a sub-specialty.
Dr Khochikar won numerous awards and medals for high standing during his
studies and examinations, and he has 12 gold medals to his credit, including the
Urology Gold Medal from the Urological Society of India, West Zone. He has
been invited as a visiting faculty and a guest speaker to more than 55 countries.
He has published widely and served on editorial boards of many international
urology journals and has won best reviewer awards from the BJUI and IJU.
Dr Khochikar is considered an expert in nephron sparing surgeries, constructing
neobladders, and challenging post-chemo RPLNDs for testicular cancer.
He has the largest individual series of treating a variety of adrenal tumors in
India and has also contributed to urological cancers in pregnancy, hereditary
renal cancers, and onco-fertility. He started a Wilms’ Tumor Foundation as a
support group 25 years ago and is a founding member of the recently-launched
Pheochromocytoma-Paraganglioma Foundation (PPGF) in India.
Dr Khochikar has served as President of Urological Society of India, West Zone.
He has been involved with the SIU as a National Delegate and on the SIU Board
of Directors and has contributed immensely to SIU teaching activities and SIU’s
eLearning platform, SIU Academy.
Türkiye
Prof M. Pilar Laguna received her medical degree from the Autonomous
University of Barcelona, Spain in 1979. Following completion of her urology
training, she joined the medical staff at Hospital del Sagrado Corazon
and later at Fundacio Puigvert in Barcelona. She was appointed chair of
the Department of Urology at Hospital Gral La Mancha Centro in Alcazar
de San Juan in 1995 and moved to the Netherlands in 2000. In 2003, she
defended her PhD thesis at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
on “Sigmoid Neobladder after Radical Cystectomy” and obtained the
status of “Cum Laude” Doctor in Medicine.
Prof Laguna is known as a pioneer for women in the field of urology. Her
career culminated in 2014 when she was appointed as the first female full
professor in uro-oncology at AMC University in Amsterdam and later at
Istanbul Medipol University where she currently works, sharing her time
between teaching and clinical duties.
Prof Laguna has chaired the Endourology Society Awards Committee and
the SIU’s Institutes and Scholarships Committee. She was the chair of the
European Association of Urology (EAU) Ablative Working Party section
of Uro-Technology (ESUT) Focal Therapy Subcommittee and has served
for three non-consecutive terms as chair of the EAU Testicular Cancer
Guidelines, in which she was involved for almost 25 years.
Prof Laguna’s main interests are renal and testicular cancers. She was the
chair of the Clinical Research Office of the Endourological Society (CROES)
Renal Mass Registry and a board member of the Society’s UTUC registry.
She has published more than 500 peer-reviewed articles, with special focus
on minimally invasive therapies and uro-oncology. She is co-editor of the
book Cancer of the Testis and author of more than 20 book chapters.
Prof Laguna belongs to the editorial board at large of European Urology
and to the Urological Survey Section of The Journal of Urology. She serves
as a reviewer for many major urological journals.
India
Dr Rawal is the Medical Director and Chief of Uro-Genito Oncology at the
Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre in Delhi, India. He received
his medical training at K.G Medical College Lucknow, his urology certification
at Christian Medical College Vellore (MGR Medical University Chennai), and
his post doc fellowship from CPDR Maryland. He is the first in the world to
perform and publish on minilap radical cystoprostatectomy.
Over the course of his 30-year career, Dr Rawal has pioneered complex
urinary tract cancer surgeries in northern India and established the first
department of genito-urinary oncology there.
Dr Rawal has achieved many records and firsts in urology. He has the
distinction of having performed the largest number of robotic urinary tract
cancer surgeries in India. He also has to his credit the largest number of
retroperitoneal lymph node dissections and video endoscopic lymph node
dissections in the world. He was the first person in the world to perform
and publish on minilap radical cystoprostatectomy and is the first surgeon
to complete 1,000 robotic surgeries in Eurasia. Many of the procedures
pioneered at the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre have been
adopted at other centres within India and beyond. Dr Rawal published the
innovative paper on pitcher pot neobladder for which long term results have
been published.
Dr Rawal has been recognized through the Times Award for Best Doctor
and the Delhi Urology Society Award for Best Uro-Oncologist. Dr Rawal has
published more than 20 original scientific papers and is a guest lecturer at
urology meetings around the world.
Through his dedication to innovation and education, Dr Rawal has not only
improved the lives of patients from a variety of backgrounds but has also
helped guide the careers and legacies of trainees and colleagues working
in India and internationally. Dr Rawal is an active participant in numerous SIU
initiatives and is dedicated to advancing urology care around the world.
Italy
Dr Silvia Secco completed her residency at the University of Padua, Italy and
is now a full-time staff member at the Urologic Clinic of Niguarda Hospital
in Milan, the birthplace of the Retzius-sparing approach for radical robotic
prostatectomy.
Dr Secco boasts extensive surgical experience as the lead surgeon in
robotic, laparoscopic, and endoscopic urological procedures. She has
served as the primary operator in numerous robotic and endoscopic live
surgeries during international and national congresses and meetings,
including ERUS and UroFEM.
Robotic surgery is not her only passion; she became interested in functional
urology and minimally invasive surgical treatments (MISTs) for BPH at the
very start of residency.
Dr Secco currently performs all the MISTs available in Europe and
periodically organizes preceptorship courses at her hospital where she is a
proctor for the different methodologies. Dr Secco has introduced novel local
anesthesia protocols to perform MISTs and is also involved as the Principal
Investigator (PI) of two clinical trials evaluating incontinence devices.
Dr Secco actively participates as a speaker at several prestigious
international and national urological associations, including the
European Association of Urology (EAU), the European Robotic Urological
Society (ERUS), the American Urological Association (AUA), the Société
Internationale d’Urologie (SIU), the Società Italiana di Urologia (SIU), the
Italian Society of Urodynamics, and the AGILE Italian Group for Advanced
Laparo-Endoscopic and Robotic Urologic Surgery.
Dr Secco is the author of more than 60 scientific papers published in peer-reviewed,
impact-factor journals and has been appointed as the Vice Chair
of the SIU’s Innovators Committee.
Our mission has been to turn science into breakthroughs to deliver better outcomes for everyone facing a cancer diagnosis. Today, we’re studying treatments for a wide array of cancers, with nearly 150 ongoing clinical trials and 22 breakthrough therapy designations in oncology. Our research is backed by our investment of over 13B CHF in R&D, more than any other healthcare company in the world.
We are committed to personalising cancer care for all patients and continue to focus on developing innovative medicines across various types of haematologic malignancies and solid tumours including GU cancers. We are leveraging multiple treatment approaches, including targeted therapies, cancer immunotherapies, cell and gene therapies, and next generation vaccines, and bringing innovation into earlier stages of disease to maximise a chance of cure.
Italy
Francesco Montorsi is Professor of Urology and Chairman of the Department of Urology at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, Italy.
Prof. Montorsi has co-authored more than 1,830 peer reviewed journal articles according to PubMed and several book chapters. At present, Prof. Montorsi’s h-index is 153, according to Google Scholar. His most recent contributions to the literature have been on the management of urological malignancies, sexual dysfunctions, and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Prof. Montorsi’s articles have been published in many prestigious journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, The Journal of Clinical Oncology, The British Medical Journal, and European Urology. Between January 2006 and December 2013, Prof. Montorsi served as Editor-in-Chief of European Urology, the official journal of the European Urological Association. Between 2015 and 2019 Prof. Montorsi served as Adjunct Secretary General of EAU.
In 1998, Prof. Montorsi received the Matula Award, assigned by the EAU to a urologist younger than 40 years of age with the best scientific production. In 2017, Prof. Montorsi was elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. In 2018, he was included in the Highly Cited Researchers list produced by Clarivate Analytics. This list includes researchers who produced multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations in the field and year in Web of Science. In 2018, Prof. Montorsi received the American Urological Association’s Hugh Hampton Young Award for seminal scientific contributions to the study of urologic oncology and andrology, as well as mentorship and global leadership in academic urology. In 2019, Prof. Montorsi received the EAU’s Frans Debruyne Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to the development of the EAU. In 2022, he presented the Ramon Guiteras Lecture during AUA’s annual meeting in New Orleans.
India
Dr. Kulkarni is an internationally-recognized expert in urethral reconstruction. He trained in urology in England and returned to India to serve its citizens. He and his wife, Dr. Jyotsna Kulkarni, were pioneers in laparoscopy in India and started India’s first animal lab for laparoscopy training. Dr. Kulkarni established the Centre for Reconstructive Urology in 1995. The centre performs one of the largest numbers of genito-urinary reconstructive surgeries in the world. The centre is ethical, and no patient is denied surgery for economic grounds.
The Kulkarni School of Urethral Surgery was established in 2006. The centre is engaged in permanent educational activities for urologists who are interested in in-depth training in reconstructive urethral surgery. Dr. Kulkarni has been invited to demonstrate urethroplasties in 50 countries and has invented many reconstruction techniques. The “Kulkarni Urethroplasty” for pan urethral stricture is popular around the world and is published in Hinman’s Atlas of Urology. Dr. Kulkarni authored a chapter on the urethra and penis in the 2022 Edition of Bailey & Love’s Short Practice of Surgery.”
Dr. Kulkarni was awarded the “President’s Gold Medal” by the Urology Society of India for outstanding contribution to urology in India in 2011. In 2016, Dr. Sanjay Kulkarni was awarded “Dr. BC Roy” award by the President of India for developing a new speciality. In 2017, he was conferred Honorary membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and made Honorary member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and Urology Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Dr. Kulkarni was the President of the Society of Genito Urinary Reconstructive Surgeons in 2014 and is the Past-President of the Société Internationale d’Urologie (2019-21). Dr. Kulkarni is currently President of the Urological Society of India.
United Kingdom
Mr. Graham Watson graduated from Cambridge University and King’s College Hospital in 1975 and then trained at the Institute of Urology under John Wickham, John Blandy, and Richard Turner-Warwick. Mr. Wickham suggested investigating the use of lasers to break stones, in which Mr. Watson was successful. In collaboration with the Massachusetts’ General Hospital and Candela Corporation, Mr. Watson produced the pulsed dye laser. He was awarded the Leon Goldman award for the development of lasers in medicine in 1985.
In 2002, Mr. Watson was appointed Chair of The MediTechTrust. Under his leadership there was a shift to support international training and provision of basic equipment. Mr. Watson has had a long-ranging interest in travel and cultures. In 2008, he was approached by former trainee Dr. Suren Da Silva to teach percutaneous nephrolithotomy in Sri Lanka. Alongside Dr. Srinath Chandrasekara, he put on regular training courses for UK and Sri Lankan trainees. Following this, Mr. Watson taught general urology and percutaneous nephrolithotomy in Africa. He has taught PCNL in 13 countries in Africa since 2012, with a concentration on centres with national, and occasionally, international trainees.
To resolve issues with x-ray not working, Prof. Xiang and Mr. Watson have taught ultrasoundguided access in Ethiopia, Zambia, and Malawi, and to help with provision of disposables, they have formed a charity called MediGive. Irrigation is a major cost and MediGive offers a system where the local team can produce their own saline from boiled water and salt. It is their aim to teach modern surgery and to help to make it as affordable as possible. Following COVID, 3 month follow up visits were conducted via tele mentoring, such as the Proximie system Mr. Watson placed in Benin.
It gives Mr. Watson great pride to find that some of the centres where he has taught PCNL have become very proficient in the technique and can join him in teaching in neighbouring countries, which has a positive impact on training in Africa.
Türkiye
Prof. Dr. Mevlana Derya Balbay graduated from Hacettepe University Medical School in 1985. He completed his urology residency at Hacettepe University Medical School in 1992 and did a clinical fellowship in uro-oncology at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center from 1996 to 1999. Prof. Dr. Balbay is currently working at Koç University Medical School and VKF American Hospital, Department of Urology in İstanbul, Türkiye.
In 2009, Prof. Dr. Balbay started robotic surgery and has now completed and/or mentored over 1,000 robotic cases. He was the first in the world to do simultaneous robot assisted laparoscopic radical nephroureterectomy, genitalia sparing radical cystectomy, superextened lymph node dissection, and intracorporeal Studer pouch construction on the same patient who had both bladder and ureteral tumors. Prof. Dr. Balbay has developed his own techniques on 1) robotic intracorporeal Studer pouch formation; 2) endopelvic fascia sparing robotic radical cystectomy; and 3) ileal neobladder construction with enhanced antireflux mechanism by anterior repositioning of the afferent loop.
Currently an active member of International Robotic Cystectomy Consortium (IRCC) and International Prostate Forum (IPF), Prof. Dr. Balbay has been involved in many ERUS (EAU Robotic Urology Section) and IRCC joint publications. In addition to several poster and video presentation awards, he received the U.T.M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Clinical Trainee Research Award (1997), Turkish Association of Urology Service Award (2014), and the UT MDACC David A. Swanson M.D. Endowed Lecture Series Urology Distinguished Alumnus Award (2019).
As of July 1, 2023, his 248 publications in journals listed in SCI and SCIE, received 2604 international citations (2525 non-self) in 2263 articles (2213 non-self). His h-index is 23
(Web of Knowledge). According to ResearchGate, his total citations are: 3451, h-index: 29, and according to Google Scholar, his total citations are: 4891, h-index: 32, and i-10 index: 95.
United Kingdom
Christopher Chapple is an Emeritus Consultant Urological Surgeon at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Honorary Professor at the University of Sheffield, and Visiting Professor at Sheffield Hallam University. He is particularly interested in the functional reconstruction of the lower urinary tract and the underlying pharmacological control mechanisms and provided an NHS tertiary service in lower urinary tract reconstructive surgery.
Prof. Chapple trained at the Middlesex Hospital, where he completed his doctorate thesis. He continued there and at the Institute of Urology in London for his sub-specialist training. He was Secretary General of the European Association of Urology 2015-2023, having previously been Chairman of the International Relations Committee, Adjunct Secretary General Responsible for Education, and Director of the European School of Urology. He was the Network Coordinator for the European Reference Network (ERN) for rare urogenital diseases and complex conditions (eUROGEN) from 2016-2019.
Prof. Chapple served as editor-in-chief of the journal Neurourology & Urodynamics from 2006-2016 and is on the editorial board of several international journals. He is an active member of many urological associations and societies and has been awarded honorary membership of several national urological associations. BAUS awarded him the St Peter’s medal in 2011, SUFU awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015, the International Continence Society made him the inaugural member of their Hall of Fame in 2020, and CAU awarded him the Shlomo Raz medal in 2022.
He has chaired several guidelines initiatives, including the NICE GDG on Male LUTS and the ICUD Consultation on Male LUTS. Prof. Chapple has co-authored 850+ articles, comments, and letters in peer-reviewed journals and has written several chapters and books.
Chile
Born October 27, 1940, in Valparaiso, Chile, Dr. Mac Millan graduated as a urologist from the University of Chile in 1967. During his career, he practiced at the Carlos van Buren Hospital in Valparaíso. Since 1969, he has been a professor of urology at the University of Chile and has led the urology service since 1987.
Dr. Mac Millan was president of the Chilean Society of Urology from 1987 to 1988. As a teacher and mentor, he trained more than thirty urologists and obtained the title of “Master of Chilean Urology”. He was recognized as Professor Emeritus in 2014.
He led the first kidney transplants in Chile with Dr. Jorge Kaplan in 1969, then later led other procurement and transplant teams. He pioneered the creation of surgical technique videos, winning awards at CAU congresses. Dr. Mac Millan developed and promoted original surgical techniques such as nerve sparing lumbo aortic lymph node dissection, and distal hypogastric ligation. He also participated as a guest and professor at international conferences, round tables and congresses in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia. He’s published original research in the Chilean Journal of Urology, and in 2014, he was named “Illustrious Son of Valparaíso”.
Dr. Mac Millan performed genitoplasty surgeries (sexual reassignment) on trans people since 1976, a pioneering activity in the public health system. Despite controversy and lack of support from the authorities, he has continued this mission for over forty years. He trained a new generation of urologists to address the demand for trans surgeries, a work in which he continues to this day.
South Korea
Dr. Kwangsung Park is a professor in the Department of Urology at Chonnam National University Medical School, the Director of the Sexual Medicine Research Center, and the Director of the Advanced Institute of Aging Science at Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
He is the Editor-in-Chief of Investigative and Clinical Urology, an official journal of the Korean Urological Association (KUA). He is a National Academy of Medicine of Korea (NAMOK) member. Dr. Park is currently the Secretary General of the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM) and a Fellow of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health (ISSWSH). He has contributed to sexual medicine education in the APSSM region. He also served as a Member-at-Large, co-Chair of the Education Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Sexual Medicine for the ISSM, and Director-at-Large for the ISSWSH.
Dr. Park has been president of the Korean Society for Sexual Medicine and Andrology (KSSMA), the Korean Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health (KSSWSH), and the Korean Association of Sexual Health (KASH). He has dedicated himself to promoting sexual health in both men and women. In recognition of his contribution to the urological society, he received an External Achievement Award from the KUA in 2019.
Dr. Park has performed both basic and clinical research in sexual medicine. He received the Jean-Paul Ginestie Prize (1996) from the International Society for Impotence Research (IJIR, currently ISSM) for his pioneering work of basic research on female sexual dysfunction. He also investigated the cerebral centers of penile erection using functional MRI and received the Zorgniotti-Newman Prize (2000) from IJIR.
Dr. Park has published over 150 articles in peer-reviewed international medical journals and authored several books on male and female sexual dysfunctions.
Germany
Dr. Derya Tilki is a Professor of Urology at the Martini-Klinik Prostate Cancer Center and at theDepartment of Urology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany. She obtained her medical degree at the University of Hamburg and received her urologic residency training in Munich, with research fellowships at Harvard Medical School in Boston and at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. Dr. Tilki completed a uro-oncology fellowship at UC Davis in Sacramento, USA.
Dr. Tilki‘s research is focused on uro-oncology, with a particular interest in prostate cancer. She is a member of several national and international medical societies. She has authored and co-authored more than 500 publications and is an Associate Editor of European Urology Focus. Dr. Tilki is Vice-Chair of the EAU Prostate Cancer Guideline Panel.
