Leadership Update

Dr. Landman 10-Year Chair Celebration

Since its inception just over half a century ago in June of 1968, four individuals share the privilege of serving as chair of the UCI Department of Urology: Drs. Donald C. Martin (1968-1992), Thomas E. Ahlering (1992-2002), Ralph V. Clayman (2002-2010), and Jaime Landman (2011 - Present).

Dr. Jaime Landman has been Chairman of Department of Urology at University of California, Irvine since 2011. Over the last decade, under his exemplary 10 years of leadership, this Department has seen growth in every area of our Discover-Teach-Heal mission, from expansion of our teams and locations to creation and launch of successful programs, all through effective collaborations and generous philanthropy and ultimately bringing UCI Urology to the US New & World Report national ranking of top 25 programs.

In 2011, Dr. Landman had a present goal of filling "Big Shoes." Comparing the Departmental accomplishments from 2011 vs. 2021, the shoes have been filled with robust growth in all aspects of our tripartite Discover-Teach-Heal missions.

Discover (2011 vs. 2021)

• >7X Extramural awards: $602,720 to $4,710,090
• 4X basic scientists: One basic scientist (Dr. Xiaolin Zi, PhD) to four with the creation of the bioengineering program with recruitment of Joshua Mauney, PhD
• >2X increase in clinical/translational research trials: 45 to 112
• Increase in research metrics:
  • Abstracts at national/international meetings grew from 61 to 78
  • Peer-reviewed publications grew from 56 to 78
  • Blue Ridge NIH ranking has improved from 21 to 19
  • Effective collaborations with School of Engineering, CALIT2, and industry partners has brought forth much innovation in the field, including ultrasound renal kidney biopsy, force sensor, etc. With UCI Nephrology, we have created a kidney health program for patients who undergo kidney surgery and chronic kidney disease to optimize renal function. Also of note is the support of the UCI transplant team assisting with the laparoscopic donor nephrectomy procedures and providing innovative strategies such as VR imaging support, which has shown to improve outcomes.

Teach (2011 vs. 2021)

• Residency program expansion from 2 to 3 residents per year
• Educational opportunities within the Surgical Education Center in 2011: 88 events; 1,388 learners; in 2019: 107 events; 2,320 learners; in 2020-2021: Virtual annual PCNL and Men’s Health course with 1,400 learners from 61 countries
• Grandest Rounds under Dr. Clayman now have over 400 registrants joining every Monday
• CME and other courses including AUA, Practical PCNL: From Access to Exit- A Hands-on Course, Mini-Fellowship in Robotics, Ureteroscopy, or PCNL procedures, UCI Advanced International Men’s Health Course and other industry represented training
• 17 LIFT medical students have been given an unparalleled surgical training, urologic research experience and lifetime partnerships within the field, as well as kick-started careers in becoming innovative surgical leaders

Heal (2011 vs. 2021)

Our growth in our teams, locations, and patient visits:

• >2X Clinical faculty: 11 to 23 providers of multiple genders, ethnicity, age, backgrounds, and religions
• Administrative staff of 18 to 28
• 4X Pediatric team: Starting with Dr. Antoine Khoury and growing to four faculty and their own NP and PA’s
• Location expansions: 5 to 8 clinical locations across Orange County, CA and beyond
• 300% increase in number of patient visits from 9,297 to 25,882 with expansion to include Birch 9,964; Pav III 15,918
• US News & World Report Best Hospitals in Urology: National ranking from 30 to 24

Philanthropy/Service:

Thanks to our very grateful community and two development officers, our philanthropic growth includes annual gift funds from $343,089 to $10M and 11 endowments from $1.7M to $16M.

Our Department has touched the lives of 3,200 underserved Orange County high school students from 160 local high schools through our High School Outreach Program - inspiring young minds to search out new possibilities for their future and gain hands-on experience in the medical field.

The Summer Surgery Program is now in its 9th year for 48 local, national, and international high school students to interact with practicing surgeons, observe live cases in the operative room, learn hands-on surgical skills in the laboratory, and take a crash course in anatomy. This program gives a comprehensive introduction to surgery with a distinct emphasis on the importance of surgical innovation and problem solving based on real-life operative challenges identified by students during surgical observation in the operating room. Over 400 participants across the United States and several internationally from England, Japan, The Netherlands, and Thailand have been a part of this program.