The Yale Urology team gave upwards of 44 presentations, including podium talks, panel participation, course instruction, and abstract/poster walk throughs.

1. Christopher Hayden, MD, PGY-5, earned “best podium presentation” at the Urological Society for American Veterans' (USAV) meeting, held in conjunction with the AUA. He was honored for his and Daniel Kellner, MD's, research on "a novel intraoperative Stream Deceleration Score (SDS), a simple measure of external urinary sphincter integrity obtained at the conclusion of HoLEP ... which may serve as a rapid, low-cost tool to improve postoperative counseling and patient expectations.”
2. Marianne Casilla-Lennon, MD, was formally presented the Society of Women in Urology's (SWIU) Elisabeth Pickett Research Award for her work on "Surgical Management of Ureteral Stones in Pregnancy."

This year's alumni and friends' reception at the AUA drew record attendance at just under 90 former faculty, residents, fellows, as well as incoming recruitments, and current attendings.

All are welcome to the inaugural Yale Prostate Cancer Symposium, happening next Wednesday, June 3, in New Haven. The special event will feature renowned visiting keynote speakers and Yale faculty, along with a poster session. Five monetary awards will be given for best poster presentations. Discussion topics include precision oncology, AI-driven approaches, resistance, and plasticity. The symposium is free, but registration is required.

Karen Wu, JD, started earlier this month as the new associate director of faculty/staff affairs overseeing the urology, ob/gyn, emergency medicine, and ophthalmology departments. Learn more about her background and who will remain as the direct contact for most in Yale Urology.

Dean Nancy J. Brown, MD, will virtually present her annual State of the School address on Tuesday, June 9, 5-6 p.m., and again on Wednesday, June 10, 12-1 p.m.

And she'll host another school summer social outdoors on Harkness Lawn (just off of Cedar St.) on June 10, 4-5:30 p.m. This is open to all YSM faculty and staff.

Associate communications officer Saul Flores and his wife, Jafitha, welcomed their daughter, Anaiah, on April 22.

Seventeen Yale Urology faculty members have been recognized in Connecticut Magazine's 2026 “Top Doctors” edition. The listing is based on nominations from peer physicians and is reviewed, along with other criteria, by Castle Connolly, a national health care research firm.

A special shoutout to John Colberg, MD; Marianne Passarelli, MD; and Dinesh Singh, MD, who have consistently made the list for the last 15 years.

Sprenkle is the new chair of the Prostate Cancer Early Detection Guidelines Committee for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).

Cheng¹ and Xu² were each awarded a prestigious Urology Care Foundation (UCF) Research Scholar Award. UCF is the official foundation of the AUA.

Cheng was honored for his AI pathology research and Xu for her non-coding RNA work in prostate cancer.

Both are mentored by the department's urologic sciences division chief, Ping Mu, PhD.

Former resident, Soum Lokeshwar, MD, MBA, HS '25, also received a 2026 UCF award for his latest work as a Johns Hopkins fellow on GLP-1 therapy in obese patients.

Ghali has received a John Quale Travel Fellowship Award from the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN). The fellowship is a competitive early-career investigator award, which includes an invitation to attend BCAN's upcoming "Think Tank." He will present some of his latest research at the late July conference in Denver.

Kellner, along with faculty collaborators Jason Lee, MD; Ganesh Sanekommu, MD; and Marianne Casilla-Lennon, MD, were recipients of the new Passion Project Award from the Aligned Clinician Enterprise (ACE) at Yale. Monetary support will be provided for their proposed "FLOW-HoLEP" program - a Framework for Longitudinal Optimization of Workflow in HoLEP: A Technology-Enabled Pathway to Optimize Holmium Laser Enucleation Care Delivery and Patient Experience.

The Yale Urology team project was one of 10 awarded out of more than 70 submissions.

Casilla-Lennon's proposal to integrate AI as a learning tool in surgical education has been selected for funding by overseers of the AI Course Revision Grant at Yale.

She was also formally presented, recently, with the SWIU Elisabeth Pickett research award for her work on "Surgical Management of Ureteral Stones in Pregnancy."

Hayden won “best podium presentation” at the USAV meeting for his and Daniel Kellner, MD's, research on "a novel intraoperative Stream Deceleration Score (SDS), a simple measure of external urinary sphincter integrity obtained at the conclusion of HoLEP ... which may serve as a rapid, low-cost tool to improve postoperative counseling and patient expectations.”

Yale Printing and Publishing Services, in partnership with our communications team, has received a national Platinum Award for their design and production of Yale Urology’s annual brief.

(Re)view the digital version online or reach out to Cheri Lewis for a hard copy.

Ahmad Bani Hani, MD, spoke earlier this spring to New London pediatricians at a Yale New Haven Children's Hospital educational talk. His presentation centered on "Bedwetting: A Path to Dry" — discussing the social and psychological burden on families, as well as necessary workups, and treatment options.