I am one of only a handful of doctors in the country that are fellowship trained in sexual medicine for all genders. In fact there is only 1 fellowship in the US that focuses women’s sexual medicine.
Less than 10% of practicing urologist are women.
There are only a few urology department chairs that are women.
Urology trainees do not often learn how to manage female sexual health concerns and genitourinary syndrome of menopause even though they are board certified to take care of the genitals of ALL genders.
On April 29, 2022 I had a career highlight by being a visiting professor at THE Ohio State University Department of Urology.
Dr. Cheryl Lee is the trailblazing, mission driven chair of the Urology Department at Ohio State.
Dr, Lee and her 3 female chief residents could have chosen anyone to come speak.
And they chose me.
An entire day of academic education was devoted to women’s sexual health and quality of life issues.
- I lectured about female sexual medicine and genitourinary syndrome of menopause all of which I’ve helped to incorporate in the national urology core curriculum.
- I discussed the power of social media to provide important education on a large scale to teach providers and patients.
- We talked about advocacy and demanding equality to patients and problems that have been historically ignored
- I presented our data on clitoral adhesions and how lysis of the adhesions may improve sexual function
- we discussed that quality of life is so important to all genders and that it takes time to customize appropriate care for the patient in front of you.
In true sexual medicine fashion there were multidisciplinary lectures
- Incredible discussion about pelvic floor dysfunction from physical therapist Laura Ward - how to take a sexual history - amazing lecture by Ohio State nurse practitioner Elizabeth Gandee
The urology trainees presented challenging cases to me and we talked about:
- vestibulodynia - how to diagnose it, treat it and work it up
- delayed ejaculation and erectile dysfunction
- testicular pain
- post finasteride syndrome
- menopause
- low libido medications
- SSRI induced sexual dysfunction
- sexual health after cancer
My heart is full getting to show these residents that urology doesn’t always have to look a certain way. That each of their voices matters and can change our field to be more inclusive, diverse and serve more people.
My mission is not just to help as many patients as possible, but to teach medical providers how to incorporate sexual medicine into their practices