Urologic Diseases Research Updates

NIDDK, AUA Team Up to Support Surgeon-Scientists

New Program to Alleviate Financial Pressure on New Investigators

Allen Spiegel, M.D., former NIDDK director (left) and Anthony J. Schaeffer, M.D., chair of the Research Council of the American Urological Association Foundation (right) discuss the benefits of the new program.


In a Memorandum of Understanding signed last fall, the two groups agreed to pool resources to fund the NIDDK/AUA Surgeon-Scientist Awards.

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) has teamed up with the American Urological Association (AUA) to address one of the vexing problems in the urological research community: the difficulty of attracting skilled investigators to the field.

In a Memorandum of Understanding signed last fall, the two groups agreed to pool their resources to fund the NIDDK/AUA Surgeon-Scientist Awards. The grant offers up to 5 years of funding for salary supplementation to researchers who have already competed successfully for NIDDK career development funding.

“We are delighted to partner with the American Urological Association. Both organizations want to support urologists who are attracted to a clinical research career by reducing the financial barriers to research training,” said Josie Briggs, M.D., director of the NIDDK’s Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases. “The average urologist has already endured years of mounting debt from medical and surgical training and residencies, and if we don’t address the issue, fewer and fewer urologists will enter research.”

Limited Options
Young urologists generally have limited options, according to Kozbi Simmons, research coordinator at the AUA. They may go into private practice or join an academic center, but opportunities for surgeons who wish to stay involved with research have generally been limited.

“When urologists are interested in research careers, there’s not much out there for them,” said Simmons. “There are a lot of urologists who would like to do research. This award helps them get started with a mentor in an environment where they don’t have to worry about financial pressures.”

The first grant—to begin in the fall of 2006—was awarded to Roger DeFilippo, M.D., an assistant professor of urology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.

David Badman, Ph.D., shown with his former mentor, Ruth Kirschstein, M.D., senior advisor to the NIH director. Photo credit: Ernie Branson (NIH).

Badman Retires After More than 3 Decades at NIDDK

Colleagues, friends, and family gathered at the NIH on May 3 to honor David Badman, Ph.D., a relentless advocate for iron research. Officially retired January 1, 2005, after 30-plus years, Badman’s out-of-office message often reads “Gone Fishing.” But with one hand on a fishing rod and one on an NIH Roadmap drug development project, you might not have noticed.

“I had a terrific career at the NIDDK, a wonderful institute to work for—encouraging freedom to find things needing to be done and to do them,” Badman told the NIH Record. ”There’s always a way to do something. You just have to figure out how.”

Urologic Disease Research Updates

Urologic Diseases Research Updates is published four times a year by the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NKUDIC). The newsletter features news about urologic disease, special events, patient and professional meetings, and new publications available from the NKUDIC and other organizations.

Subscriptions are free but available only to health professionals. Send subscription inquiries to: National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, 3 Information Way, Bethesda, MD 20892– 3580. This publication is available online at: www.kidney.niddk.nih.gov/about/newsletter.htm.

Editor: Leroy M. Nyberg Jr., Ph.D., M.D.

Dr. Nyberg is the director of urology and urology centers programs at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Nyberg is a graduate of Tufts University in Boston, Columbia University in New York, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester and completed residency training in urology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He has also held faculty positions in urology at The Johns Hopkins Medical School, in urology and biochemistry at the Medical University of South Carolina, and in urology at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Nyberg received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Urological Association for significant clinical and research contributions to urology. He also received the NIH Directors Award for excellence for the development of urology research programs at the NIH.

NIH Publication No. 06–5743
July 2006