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Credit: UT Southwestern Medical Center
DALLAS – July 9, 2007 -- Dr. John McConnell, professor of urology and executive vice president for health system affairs at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has received the American Urological Association’s 2007 Eugene Fuller Triennial Prostate Award, becoming only the 11th recipient in the award’s 30-year history.
Presented once every three years since 1977, the award recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the study of the prostate gland and its associated diseases. Dr. McConnell received the award in May at the association’s annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif.
An internationally recognized authority in prostate disease, Dr. McConnell was cited by the AUA for his innovative research studies of prostate enlargement, a condition known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and for his leadership in developing a multidisciplinary program at UT Southwestern that brought together basic and clinical research, innovative patient care and health-care policy in prostate disease. For a decade, the program he directed was designated as one of the country’s National Institutes of Health George M. O’Brien Urology Research Centers. Dr. McConnell’s research findings include the discovery that combining the drugs alpha-blocking doxazosin and finasteride is more effective for treating BPH than using either drug separately.
“I look at the award as recognition of the entire UT Southwestern team,” said Dr. McConnell. “Years ago Dr. Claus Roehrborn [UT Southwestern chairman of urology] and I envisioned a team of gifted physicians and scientists who could fundamentally change the way BPH is managed around the world. I share this honor with them.”
Dr. McConnell is the second UT Southwestern faculty member to win the award. The first Triennial Prostate Award winner from the medical center was Dr. Jean Wilson, professor of internal medicine, who was honored in 1983. Dr. McConnell attended that ceremony 24 years ago, where his mentor accepted the award.
“It was at that moment I realized how much receiving this award would mean to me. Dr. Wilson and the other physicians who have won this are my heroes,” he said. “Nearly every person on the winners’ list has had some influence on my career.”
Dr. McConnell served as chairman of urology at UT Southwestern from 1993 to 2001 and is currently responsible for the overall management of UT Southwestern University Hospital, outpatient clinics and physician practice in an integrated health system.
Dr. McConnell is the author of more than 100 publications in the field of basic and clinical prostate disease research. In 2004 he was elected to the Institute of Medicine, a component of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. McConnell earned a medical degree with honors from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine after receiving a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Kansas. He completed residencies in surgery and urology at UT Southwestern before joining the faculty in 1984.
This news release is available on our World Wide Web home page at http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/utsw/cda/dept353744/files/393594.html
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Dr. John McConnell - http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/findfac/professional/0,2356,14736,00.html
Dr. Claus Roehrborn - http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/findfac/professional/0,2356,16184,00.html
Dr. Jean Wilson - http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/findfac/professional/0,2356,18041,00.html