What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

As a med student on urology rotation, I spent a lot of time counseling a patient on ED causes and treatments. He was reticent initially, but by showing him that I cared enough to genuinely help him, his whole demeanor changed. It felt like making patients comfortable was my superpower! And then I went to a talk by Dr Irwin Goldstein which blew my mind as I had never learned anything in training about female sexual dysfunction. I immediately knew that this was my calling!

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

I enjoy the breadth of conditions that we treat and the ways that we can positively impact quality of life for our patients.

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

My reason for working in this field is deeply personal as I have myself experienced sexual trauma, and I understand how much shame and suffering can come from staying silent about sexual health problems. Since medical school, I have had friends and family with sexual health issues that I have had the privilege of bearing witness to and trying to help. Whereas many people might avoid the conversation and change the topic, I found these issues very moving and wanted to explore them more to be able to help better. When I met Dr. Goldstein during my research year of residency at AUA where he was doing a presentation about the “female prostate,” the light bulb finally came on in my mind that, as a urologist, I could actually help women with their sexual health problems, and the rest is history.

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

An early career recognition that opportunities existed for making discovery and advancing care in the field of sexual medicine.

What inspired you to work in sexual medicine?

At its core, practicing sexual medicine allows me to combine high level reconstructive surgical techniques with the ability to take care of some of our most vulnerable urology patients. My initial inspiration came from Dr. Levine! I worked as his administrative assistant starting at age 18 and realized this career combines my loves of working with my hands, solving problems, doing precision surgery, and taking care of people.

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!