UCSD

UCSD Division of Urology represents a strong training program, helmed by Dr. CJ Kane.  In the last 3 years since his arrival, the program has continued to mature, with the addition of wonderful faculty, including two urologic oncologists and a stone specialist.  It has also recently added an SUO-approved oncology fellowship and continues to expand in breadth every year.  All three adult hospitals (UCSD Hillcrest, UCSD Thornton, and La Jolla VA) have an onsite DaVinci robot, heavily utilized by the urology division.  UCSD has a dedicated pediatric hospital, Rady Children's, which has had a well-established pediatric urology fellowship for years.  It recently opened a brand new acute care pavilion.  The residents receive broad-based training and are very able to matriculate directly into practice right out of residency; the faculty also provide excellent support for those seeking fellowships.  As far as board-score ranges, UCSD is likely similar to all competitive urology programs in Southern California (which obviously is a very desired location).  If you look at the make-up of the residents in the program, the majority are from out of state, thus, there is no preference for Californians.  The best interested applicants can do for themselves is to rotate at the program and make a strong impression.

ok, that was clearly someone from ucsd. i mean, they didn't even try to hide it.when we were applying, ucsd was a terrible program, despite being located in arguably one of the nicest places to live. since chris kane got there, things have gotten much better. the residents seem a lot happier at conferences. it seems that the addition of an oncology fellow will take cases away from the chiefs. definitely seems to be headed in the right trajectory. but as far as southern california programs go, ucla is probably top dog (although they're getting a new chair and things may change) with usc pushing hard to become the dominant program in the next few years. avoid uci.

Anonymous User wrote:

UCSD Division of Urology represents a strong training program, helmed by Dr. CJ Kane.  In the last 3 years since his arrival, the program has continued to mature, with the addition of wonderful faculty, including two urologic oncologists and a stone specialist.  It has also recently added an SUO-approved oncology fellowship and continues to expand in breadth every year.  All three adult hospitals (UCSD Hillcrest, UCSD Thornton, and La Jolla VA) have an onsite DaVinci robot, heavily utilized by the urology division.  UCSD has a dedicated pediatric hospital, Rady Children's, which has had a well-established pediatric urology fellowship for years.  It recently opened a brand new acute care pavilion.  The residents receive broad-based training and are very able to matriculate directly into practice right out of residency; the faculty also provide excellent support for those seeking fellowships.  As far as board-score ranges, UCSD is likely similar to all competitive urology programs in Southern California (which obviously is a very desired location).  If you look at the make-up of the residents in the program, the majority are from out of state, thus, there is no preference for Californians.  The best interested applicants can do for themselves is to rotate at the program and make a strong impression.

Can you say more about UC IRvine?  Why avoid it?

It is always entertaining when individuals come on these sites and start throwing around words like “terrible” and “avoid this program” with the underlying context, “when we were applying…” – I mean, when was that? 2005?  Remember folks, take everything you read on here with a grain of salt.  These are individual’s opinions.  Something tells me the last poster was not on the executive board of the AUA Western Section, but sure sounded like he was laying out the So Cal urology world like he thought he was.  Take the time to research the programs yourself and, if possible, rotate at those you find most appealing.   This is 100% the best way to do it.      

I just interviewed there this last winter. The faculty there is top notch and the residents are very nice and welcoming.  The big drawback there is historically they don't get a ton of operative experience.  This seemed to only be true for the older facultythough.  The younger faculty were very clear that they get residents as much experience as possible.  That all being said, UCI is now with a new Chair.  He was very clear that UCI's reputation of not getting residents operative experience is going to change.  He was very clear that all faculty would be getting residents more time in the OR actually performing instead of observing.  I didn't match there or anything but I really feel like that UCI is going to be a pretty great place with the new chair.

UCSD is a program that will be highly sought after in the next several years as there is clearly a change in the entire UCSD medical infrastructure that intends to be the best provider of medical care to the entire San Diego community.  There is a new 75 million dollar hospital that will be built by 2015 where certain floors will be for only surgical patients. There already has been a large expansion of the current OR capacity in the La Jolla campus, and furthermore, construction of a beautiful 130 million dollar surgical training facility is now complete.From a training standpoint, there is definitely increased surgical volume in both oncology and endourology compared to 5 years ago, and the program intends to become a leader and referral center for complex urologic reconstruction in the San Diego region in the next year. All and all, this is a program that continues to grow each year, and will continue to recruit young and ambitious faculty interested in shaping the future of urology.  If you are interested in such a program, you should consider UCSD Urology.