In an effort to further position the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine as a global leader in the field of urology, the Desai Sethi Family Foundation has made an extraordinary commitment of $20 million to the Miller School’s renowned Department of Urology. The Foundation’s generosity will help establish a premier Urology Institute within the Miller School, which will accelerate breakthrough advances in research, expand clinical care, and train future generations of urologists.
The Desai Sethi Urology Institute, as it will be known, will attract the brightest minds and recruit the most talented physician-scientists dedicated to the study and treatment of urologic disorders, and fund innovative research in the field.
University of Miami President Julio Frenk, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., said, “The Desai Sethi Family Foundation’s generosity propels the University into the upper echelon of institutes dedicated to the discovery and treatment of urologic disease – not just in South Florida, but worldwide. We are grateful for this commitment to the types of advances in health care that are only possible at an academic health system.”
The Desai Sethi Family Foundation commitment is part of the University of Miami’s recently announced Ever Brighter: The Campaign for our Next Century. The most ambitious in the University’s history, the campaign has already raised more than $1.6 billion toward its $2.5 billion goal.
The Miller School’s Department of Urology has conducted research that has notably advanced the science of urology, publishing seminal work on the efficacy of robotic surgery, urologic cancers, men’s health, endourology and male infertility, and in treating various urologic diseases.
The Institute’s founding director will be Dipen J. Parekh, M.D., the chief operating officer at the University of Miami Health System, professor and chair of the Department of Urology at the Miller School, the Victor A. Politano, M.D. Endowed Chair in Urology, and one of the world’s most experienced robotic surgeons in urologic oncology. In that role, he works closely with the NCI-designated Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Miller School.
The Institute will be located in South Florida granting access to a multitude of patients from various backgrounds and cultures and will be an international destination for care. Institute researchers will be able to study health disparities in the treatment of both men and women with urological issues.
The new urology institute will be named and known as the Desai Sethi Urology Institute. The University of Miami will further honor the donor’s generosity by naming the Professional Arts Center the Desai Sethi Medical Center.
