What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

I was exposed early to leaders in Sexual Medicine. During my sub-internships at UCLA and the University of Miami, I worked with Dr. Jesse Mills and Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy. I was drawn to these leaders, felt invigorated in clinic discussing issues that impact quality of life, and found prosthetic surgery fascinating. My interest was solidified during my residency training at the University of Michigan - I was fortunate to have a 3-month sexual medicine rotation. Drs. Dana Ohl, Jim Dupree, Bahaa Malaeb, and Miriam Hadj-Moussa encouraged me to pursue an SMSNA fellowship. And I am so glad I did so I can keep doing what I love – in clinic and the operating room.

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

My light-hearted answer is that the SMSNA academic conferences are so much fun, I had to pick a subspecialty that would allow me to attend forever! If I reflect back seriously, I have to say that I benefited from a large andrology section at the Mayo Clinic that was extremely devoted to resident education. Dr. Toby Kohler taught multiple efficient and elegant techniques for penile prosthetics, Dr. Landon Trost and Dr. Matthew Ziegelmann inspired my interest in complex Peyronie’s disease, and Dr. Sevann Helo taught both sex med and infertility. Each one of them is a skilled surgeon, and very engaging instructor - it was only natural for me to want to follow in their footsteps.

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

I did my urology residency at Boston University Medical Center at the time when Dr. Irwin Goldstein was the Director of Sexual Medicine at BU and Robert Oates was the Director of Male Infertility. Dr. Goldstein’s boundless energy and enthusiasm as well as his positive attitude, changing patients’ perspectives about conditions that they often were embarrassed to discuss with their physicians, had a profound effect on me. Spending time with prostate cancer survivors was also revealing because I was seeing firsthand that although they were cured of their malignancies, the patients were often extremely bothered and depressed by the side effects of their cancer treatments, specifically erectile dysfunction. The opportunity to develop expertise in the field and address these concerns has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my medical career.

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

Serendipity. I was in San Francisco on a 2-year neuro-stimulation fellowship with Dr. Tanagho as my supervisor and met a young, energetic new staff-person who was doing innovative and exciting animal work on erectile physiology - Tom Lue. The rest, as they say, is history.

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

Sexual medicine is such an incredible field! I have always been drawn to the element of medicine that focuses on improving quality of life, and there’s really no better way to do this than through sexual health. But what’s even more special about sexual medicine is that we can practice medicine in a way that also directly impacts our patients’ interpersonal relationships – romantic relationships, family building, etc. - which extends even beyond the realm of traditional medicine. We are really treating the whole person, meeting them where they are, and helping them to improve their lives.

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

What I love about sex medicine is that you get to focus on improving people's quality of life. Most of medicine revolves around this idea of preventing people from dying or preventing them from getting sick but with what we do in sexual medicine we are really focusing on improving quality of life. The way I look at it is easy - if someone can make you live for another 20 years but you can’t enjoy yourself sexually the way you want and you can’t be your best self - how good are those 20 years really going to be for you?

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

There are so many ways I could answer this. I think, like all things, you find an area that interests you; that you feel you can connect to. Then you get lucky and find some amazing mentors who do what you want to do, and who inspire you and encourage you. And then as life has a way of working things out, your path starts to fall in front of you and every experience and event, seems to have always been pointing you to this field all along. I love being able to dramatically improve patients’ quality of life and overall health. I think in the field of sexual medicine we get to play a really special role in learning the most intimate details of our patients’ lives, and from there we can enact significant change and improve their quality of life, their confidence, restore relationships, increase their overall health and impact the trajectory of that man’s life for years to come. That’s really special!

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

During my residency, we frequently engaged in major cancer surgeries where the primary emphasis was on extending the patient's lifespan. However, I soon realized that for many, the quality of life was equally paramount. This realization drew me towards urology subspecialties emphasizing life quality. Sexual medicine emerged as an initial interest within the context of cancer survivorship, and it expanded from there.

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

I always knew I wanted to be a psychologist, but I didn't have a clear idea of a specialty. I was interested in people, their relationships, and their stories. My first internship was in a community family counseling center. It quickly became apparent that no one at the center had any idea of how to work with those experiencing sexual complaints, and no one was really interested in discussing sex with patients. I saw a need to be filled and I volunteered to get specialty training and take on these cases. That was 40+ years ago and the rest is history!

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

My experience working with combat-injured soldiers at Walter Reed is what sparked my interest in sexual medicine. We had many young soldiers with devastating genital trauma from dismounted IED (improvised explosive device) blasts. Even as a medical student, I was very interested in the surgeries and medical treatments we provided these patients to help maintain their sexual function and fertility potential. I remember having a patient with a traumatic loss of his scrotum who had thigh pouches created for his testicles until he was stable enough for reconstructive surgery. I had no idea these types of surgeries even existed. I immediately wanted to learn more, and I signed up for a Urology elective. From there, I knew early on that I had found my future career path.

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?
This developed all the way back to PA school. I questioned why we weren't learning about the clitoris and female pleasure, but were learning about erections and male low testosterone. Sexual health is far more than just how the genitals work and this inspired me to learn more about the sexual response cycle and the biopsychosocial model to understand what fueled an individual's sexual appetite. Plus, this is a taboo topic filled with shame and embarrassment. I really wanted to break down those barriers and help people optimize their pleasure.

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?
The urologists with whom I worked as a medical student were a very happy bunch. It seemed to me they loved the mix of patient interaction, clinic procedures, and surgery. I did a rotation at the prestigious Sexual Health Center at the University of Minnesota and realized there was an unmet need that could also lead to a fulfilling career.