At Nature Reviews Urology, we have pledged to strive towards improving diversity in our field. As a step towards this goal, this Viewpoint presents the experiences of 10 Black urologists. Their stories illustrate the importance of perseverance and emphasize the essential role of community and mentorship to raise up our peers and colleagues, to support and encourage Black urologists and lead to a more diverse field of urology in the future.
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Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Tracy M. Downs
Dr. Downs is a Professor of Urology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UW SMPH), specializing in the surgical treatment of urological cancers. Dr. Downs is the Associate Dean of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at UW SMPH. From 2016 to 2020, he served as the director of Centennial Scholars, an institutionally funded programme to support the career development of underrepresented faculty.
Ekene Enemchukwu
Dr. Enemchukwu is Assistant Professor of Urology at Stanford University School of Medicine, where she also serves as Director of Urology at Stanford Pelvic Health Center and Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Department of Urology. Her research interests are in the areas of refractory overactive bladder in vulnerable and underserved patient populations. You can find her on Twitter: @DrEnemchukwu.
Cheryl T. Lee
Dr. Lee is Professor and Chair of the Department of Urology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center where she holds the Dorothy M. Davis Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. She is also the Vice President of the OSU Physicians and Faculty Group Practice and a Trustee of the American Board of Urology. Her professional focus is dedicated to improving the care of patients with bladder cancer through advocacy, education and research.
Kelvin A. Moses
Dr. Moses is Associate Professor of Urology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Director of the Urologic Oncology Fellowship, and director of the Comprehensive Prostate Cancer clinic. His clinical practice focuses on advanced prostate, renal, penile, and testicular cancer and his research is focused on addressing health disparities in urological cancers, determining the role of health literacy in patient interactions with the health-care system, and optimal care for patients with metastatic and/or castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Yaw A. Nyame
Dr. Nyame is a surgeon, researcher, educator, and patient advocate who specializes in urologic oncology and urology. He completed a Society of Urologic Oncology accredited fellowship at the University of Washington and joined the faculty upon the completion of his training. His clinical interests include open and minimally invasive kidney, prostate, bladder and testicular cancer surgeries and his research focuses on health-care disparities in urological cancers, in particular the use of a patient-centred research approach to improve health services, clinical trials and molecular epigenomic studies as they related to health inequities in prostate cancer.
Isaac J. Powell
Dr. Powell is a Professor at the Department of Urology at Wayne State University and Karmanos Cancer Institute. Dr. Powell’s clinical interests include urologic oncology and cancer genetics and his research focuses on the many ways that prostate cancer impacts African American men in comparison to other ethnic groups. He was principal investigator of the African American Hereditary Prostate Cancer (AAHPC) study.
Randy Vince
Dr. Vince developed a passion for urologic oncology, particularly renal cell carcinoma, after his grandmother’s passing, which ultimately led him to the University of Michigan for a urologic oncology fellowship. His research interests include using genomic platforms to enhance the diagnostic and prognostic data for clinicians and patients. Additionally, he aims to use genomic panels to highlight the impact of systemic racism, not racial biology, on disparities in cancer outcomes.
Samuel L. Washington
Dr. Washington is an Assistant Professor at the UCSF Department of Urology, having previously completed his urologic oncology fellowship and a Masters in Clinical Research at UCSF.
Dr. Washington’s primary research focus is health-care disparities in patients with genitourinary malignancies, particularly clinically localized prostate cancer and is also examining how differences in treatment strategies based on race and socioeconomic factors impact survival outcomes for patients diagnosed with bladder cancer.
Heinrich Williams
Dr. Williams is a specialist in urologic oncology and surgeon–scientist at Geisinger Medical Center and a Clinical Associate Professor at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. His research interests include understanding the role of heat shock response in genitourinary malignancies, developing cancer-specific biomarkers in urological malignancies, elucidating the clinical implications of germline mutations in cancers, and identifying genomic biomarkers of racial and health disparities in renal, bladder and prostate cancer.
Shenelle Wilson
Dr. Wilson is in private practice in Atlanta at Georgia Urology and is the founder of Urology Unbound, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the number of Black urologists. Dr. Wilson graduated magna cum laude from Morehouse School of Medicine with her MD after first obtaining her Bachelor’s in nursing from La Universidad Adventista de las Antillas in Puerto Rico.
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S.W. declares that she is the founder of Urology Unbound. The other authors declare no competing interests.
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Related links
American Medical Association: https://www.ama-assn.org/
American Medical Student Association: https://www.amsa.org/
American Urological Association: https://auanet.org/
C2 Pipeline Program: https://c2pipeline.wayne.edu/
Harvard Medical school DICP Programs: https://dicp.hms.harvard.edu/dicp-programs
Harvard Medical school Facts and Figures: https://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/facts-figures
McNair Scholars Program: https://mcnairscholars.com/
MI Gear Up Program: https://www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid/0,4636,7-372--481215--,00.html
National Academy of Future Physicians: https://www.futuredocs.com/
National Medical Association: https://www.nmanet.org/
Prostate Cancer Foundation: https://www.pcf.org/
R. Frank Jones Urological Society: https://twitter.com/rfrankjones_uro
R. Frank Jones Urology Interest Group (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/RFJ_Urology_Interest_Group
R. Frank Jones Urology Interest Group (Twitter): https://twitter.com/RFJ_Urology_IG
Reach Out To Youth: https://reachouttoyouth.org/
ReBUILDetroit: http://rebuildetroit.org/
Society of Academic Urologists: https://sauweb.org/home.aspx
Stanford SMASH-Med High School Summer Program: https://med.stanford.edu/s-spire/outreach-programs/smash-summer-2018-high-school-outreach-program.html
The Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD): https://www.cancer.gov/about-nci/organization/crchd/diversity-training/cure
The Student National Medical Association: https://snma.org/
UNC Office of Scholastic Enrichment & Equity: https://www.med.unc.edu/medprogram/
UReTER Mentorship Program: https://urology.ucsf.edu/UReTER
Wayne Med-Direct: https://provost.wayne.edu/wayne-med-direct
Wayne State University HIGH Program: https://highprogram.wayne.edu/
Wayne State University Upward Bound Program: https://federaltrio.wayne.edu/upward
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Downs, T.M., Enemchukwu, E., Lee, C.T. et al. Supporting Black voices in urology. Nat Rev Urol 18, 7–17 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-020-00401-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-020-00401-9
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