November 2, 2004

Dear Colleagues:

I am delighted to report that Alan Partin, M.D., Ph.D., will be the new director of the Department of Urology and the Brady Urological Institute, and the new Urologist-in-Chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, effective November 15. In recommending his appointment, the search committee, headed by Charles Cummings, emphasized that Alan was not only the “very best candidate” for the position but is also an “invaluable asset to the Hospital, the School of Medicine and the entire Johns Hopkins University.”

Many of you already are aware of Alan’s enormous achievements as the Bernard L. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Urologic Oncology. Alan is one of the world’s leading investigators into the early detection and treatment of prostate cancer. His laboratory, clinical and surgical interests are focused on developing and testing new and existing methods for predicting the aggressiveness of prostate cancers so that rational treatment decisions can be made by both patients and physicians. He is renowned for his role in developing the Partin tables, which have given thousands of men with prostate cancer an accurate prediction of their likelihood of being cured by treatment.

The recipient of numerous professional honors, he was awarded the prestigious Gold Cystoscope Award by the American Urological Association, given yearly to the urologist who makes the greatest impact within the first 10 years after residency. Alan was the first urologist to receive this award after only five years of practice, and he was the youngest urologist to be inducted into the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons.

A Johns Hopkins-trained physician and surgeon, Alan has been with us for his entire medical career. After receiving his B.A. in chemistry from the University of Mississippi in 1983 and graduating first in his class, he came to Johns Hopkins for his medical training, receiving his Ph.D. degree in 1988 and his M.D. in 1989. He served a surgical internship in 1989, a surgical junior residency in 1990, and his urology residency in 1991, before being named to the faculty as an instructor of Urology in 1994. He was promoted to associate professor in 1995 and then to Professor of Urology in 1999.

The author of more than 350 scientific papers, he is also editor-in-chief of the journal Urology, editor of the leading urology textbook, Campbell-Walsh Textbook of Urology, associate editor of Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases, associate editor of Urology Reviews, and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Andrology, Urology Research and Treatment, Current Urology Reports, Clinical Prostate Cancer and the British Journal of Urology.

I know you join me in welcoming Alan to his new role and, at the same time, join me in thanking Patrick Walsh for his three decades of distinguished service as director of the world’s preeminent Urology department. We are indeed fortunate that Pat will remain on the Urology faculty, and, with fewer administrative responsibilities, will devote his full time to patient care, surgery and research.

On Saturday, at a dinner honoring Pat and Peg Walsh for their extraordinary contributions, we learned that the Brady Advisory Council has raised $25 Million to launch The Patrick C. Walsh Prostate Cancer Research Fund. Each year, a request for proposals will be sent to every Johns Hopkins scientist. The first grants, ranging from $50-100,000, will be awarded in the Spring of 2005. To learn more about this wonderful new fund, about research at “The Brady” and about Alan Partin’s plans for the department, see the new Brady publication (a PDF document).

Sincerely,
Edward D. Miller, M.D.