About — BWH/HMS Urology Residency

About the Program

The Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School Program in Urology is a rigorous five-year training program. Our mission is to train leaders in innovative science, compassionate patient care, and surgical education. The program is dedicated to serving the needs of our local, national, and global communities.

Our residency program accepts three residents annually. We are structured as a 5-year program, with 6 months of General Surgery training provided during the PGY-1 (intern) year. The program is ACGME-approved and fulfills the criteria for the American Board of Urology Qualifying Examination (Part 1).

— Leader in Urologic Oncology

BWH Urology is one of the highest volume urologic oncology centers in the country. A key strength of the residency program is training at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and adjoining Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (ranked #3 globally for cancer care).

As surgical oncologists for the Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center, residents and attending urologic oncologists at the Brigham participate in multidisciplinary care for patients with urologic cancers.

— Rich Operative Training

The program provides excellent exposure to all aspects of general urology as well as sub-specialties of urology, including endourology, andrology and infertility, genitourinary reconstruction, female pelvic medicine, pediatric urology, and urologic oncology.

Residents rotate through our affiliate hospitals including Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the VA Boston Healthcare System. This diversity in training sites, patient populations, faculty mentorship, and operative experiences aims to impart a robust skillset in all of our program graduates.

BWH is one of the leading teaching hospitals in the country. BWH is a Level 1 Truma Center and is optimized for major, resource-intensive, specialized urologic care and routinely attracts patients from all over the country and the world.
BWFH is an important, highly-regarded community teaching hospital in Boston. Its postgraduate medical education is rooted in a long and innovative tradition. The hospital is a high-volume robotic and endoscopic center.
BCH is the top children’s hospital in the country and its urology service is consistently ranked as the best pediatric urology program nationally. The service has a worldwide reputation for excellence in the treatment of both complex and common pediatric urological problems.
The VA Boston Healthcare System facilities in West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain (VAMC) provides medical care and services to America’s military veterans. At VAMC, residents gain excellent operative experience and cultivate the core skills and autonomy necessary to become independent practitioners.

Training Sites

The first year of residency training is equally divided between General Surgery (6 months) and Urology (6 months) training, with emphases on (a) teaching surgical interns how to care for surgical patients and (b) building a strong basic urologic foundation. While Urology interns learn to care for patients recovering on the floor and ICU, they are also afforded a significant amount of operative time and develop their endoscopic skillset early-on. Residents leave their internship very comfortable with basic urological workups and treatments.
Call: While on the BWH Urology service, no 24h call in the fall to ease into residency in spring; 1-2 weekend 24hr shifts. Interns participate in night float (no more than 1 week per month) pool
PGY-2 residents spend 4 months at BWH, where they balance their efforts primarily running the Emergency Department consult service and commencing their exposure to open and robotic surgery. Another 4 months are spent at the Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital (BWFH), a highly operative rotation where residents cover the ED/inpatient consult services and learn urological practice in a high-turnover, predominantly outpatient setting. PGY-2 residents also spend 2 months at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH). Finally, 2 months are spent on the ambulatory service, where residents run the weekly outpatient Resident Clinic and also accompany the faculty and actively participate in the outpatient clinical workup of urological disease.
Call: PGY-2 residents take in-house primary call (24 hours) on weekends one to two times monthly on the BWH urological and ambulatory services. At BWFH, PGY-2 residents take home call and only cover the BWFH over a seven-day period every other week; they alternate weekly calls with the VAMC PGY-3 resident (discussed below).
The third year of residency is divided into three four-month blocks. The research block allows residents to work closely with a mentor of their choosing to further their academic interests and credentials. Another block is spent at the main BWH campus, where PGY-3 residents primarily run the inpatient consult service and actively participate in a broad variety of robotic, open, and endoscopic cases. The third block is spent at the West Roxbury VAMC.
Call: During the research and BWH blocks, PGY-3 residents take primary (24h) call on one to two weekends monthly. For VAMC PGY-3 residents, weeklong home call shifts occur every other week in alternation with the BWFH PGY-2 residents.
The PGY-4 year is also divided into three four-month blocks, two of which take place at the BWH and one of which takes place at the BCH. The BWH operative block allows the PGY-4 resident (PGY-4A) to focus exclusively on operating. They primarily participate in major open and robotic oncological cases and complex reconstruction cases but are also afforded numerous opportunities to further hone and develop their skills in endoscopy and men’s health. PGY-4 residents also spend four months as the BWH administrative chief resident (PGY-4B), overseeing the educational and conference programs at the BWH, overseeing the BWH consult service, and running the BWH Resident Clinic. The PGY-4B resident also serves as the primary resident surgeon in all consult cases involving urology; this is often in collaboration with gynecologic oncology, colorectal surgery, and surgical oncology. Finally, PGY-4 residents spend four months gaining further exposure to pediatric urology at the Boston Children’s Hospital.
Call: During the BWH operative block, the PGY-4A takes backup call two to four times every other week. During the BWH administrative block, the PGY-4B takes backup call one to three times every other week. The PGY-4 does not take any primary call at BWH.
The chief residency year is the capstone year of the program. The chief resident spends four months running the BWH inpatient urology service, four months running the BWFH inpatient and consult urology services, and four months running the VAMC inpatient and consult urology services. Chief residents present at the monthly morbidity and mortality (M&M) and surgical indications conferences. While they participate on major urological cases, they also cultivate their skills in mentoring more junior residents through various open and endoscopic cases.
Call: During the BWH rotation, the PGY-5 takes backup call two to four times every other week. During the BWFH rotation, the PGY-5 takes backup call for weeklong segments every other week in conjunction with the BWFH PGY-2 resident. The VAMC PGY-5 takes backup call for weeklong segments every other week in conjunction with the VAMC PGY-3 resident.