Editorial Board
John B. Gebhart, MD
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
John Gebhart, MD, MS, FACOG, is Associate Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He is the Fellowship Program Director in Female Pelvic Medicine / Reconstructive Surgery at Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Gebhart received his medical degree from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. He completed residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as a 3 year fellowship in Urogynecology & Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery at Mayo Clinic. He served as the Director of the Incontinence and Prolapse Clinic from 2001-2008.
Dr. Gebhart has lectured extensively nationally and internationally. He has published over a hundred peer-reviewed articles, abstracts, videos, and book chapters and is the Editor of "Urologic Surgery for the Gynecologist and Urogynecologist". He serves as a member of the Editorial Board for the International Urogynecology Journal, on the Executive Committee for the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons, and as Treasurer and Board Member for the American Urogynecology Society and the AUGS Foundation.
Catherine Matthews, MD
Dr. Catherine Matthews joined the University of North Carolina as the Division Chief of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery in July, 2010. She graduated from the University of Virginia Medical School where she served as president of the medical honor society, Alpha Omega Alpha. She completed her residency and postgraduate training at the Medical College of Virginia where she served on the faculty for 9 years before relocating to Chapel Hill. Dr. Matthews has extensive experience with vaginal and robotic gynecologic surgery and has been invited to perform live surgical demonstrations for robotic symposia and international conferences in the United States, Italy, Portugal, and Brazil. She is actively involved in research regarding the evaluation of anal sphincter injury, fecal incontinence, sexual dysfunction, and robotic surgery in gynecology. Dr. Matthews has been selected to the list of "Best Doctors in America" and has been recognized for her dedication to education with numerous local and national teaching awards. Dr. Matthews is a peer-reviewer for Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the International Urogynecology Journal and serves as a board examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Tommaso Falcone, MD
Tommaso Falcone, MD, FRCS(C), FACOG, is Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University and Chairman of the Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. He is Vice Chairman of the Office of Professional Staff Affairs of the Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Falcone received his medical degree from McGill University School of Medicine in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. While at McGill, he went on to complete a residency in obstetrics and gynecology and a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology. Dr. Falcone is certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in general obstetrics and gynecology, as well as Reproductive Endocrinology. He is also certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Dr. Falcone has published more than 145 original manuscripts, 200 abstracts, and 30 book chapters.
He is co-editor of a textbook Clinical Reproductive Medicine and Surgery (Elsevier). He is co-author of a laparoscopic surgery atlas (Elsevier), co-editor of a book on congenital Mullerian Anomalies (Lippincott). He is also co-author of a patient educational book Overcoming Infertility.
Dr. Falcone serves on the editorial board and is an ad hoc reviewer of over 21 journals. He is on the Board of Directors of several societies. Dr. Falcone has served as Chairperson of Postgraduate courses at ACOG and the AAGL that deal with different aspects of reproductive surgery and infertility-enhancing procedures. He has served on review committees for NICHD and MRC. Dr. Falcone has been the recipient of many awards for laparoscopic and robotic surgery at different societies.
Michael A. Ferragamo MD, FACS
Michael A. Ferragamo MD, FACS received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in New York City, his medical degree from State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, and after two years of general surgical training at The Brooklyn Hospital, completed his three years of urological training at the Kings County Hospital and Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York under the late Keith R. Waterhouse MD. Dr. Ferragamo served two years in the United States Navy during the Vietnam conflict as a Lieutenant Commander in the medical corps and as the assistant chief of urology at the St. Albans Naval Hospital, Queens, New York. Dr. Ferragamo is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Urology at the State University of New York, University Hospital and School of Medicine at Stony Brook, Long Island, New York. He is also the Senior Urologist with Urocare Associates of New York, a six person private urological practice for which he oversees coding and reimbursement issues. Dr. Ferragamo is a consultant for the Physicians Reimbursement Systems, Denver, Colorado, the American Association of Professional Coders as well as a coding consultant for a number of private practices, medical institutions, clinics, and hospitals including The Lahey Clinic, Burlington, Mass., The Mayo Clinic, Urology Department, Jacksonville, Florida, Arizona Health Science Center, Tucson, Arizona, Section of Urology, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, and the Brookdale Medical Center Campus, Brooklyn, NY., Concord Hospital Center for Urological Care, Concord, NH., McKay Urology, Charlotte, North Carolina, New York University, Department of Urology, New York City, New York, and University Urology at Stony Brook, New York. Dr. Ferragamo has given seminars on urological coding and reimbursement at several regional sections of the AUA and at the AUA. He has audited charts for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania office for coding and billing fraud. Because of his coding and reimbursement assistance to many offices he has been made an honorary member of the North Eastern Section of the AUA and an honorary member of the Puerto Rico Urological Association. He has presented numerous national teleconferences for The Coding Institute of Naples, Florida, Eli-Research of North Carolina, and for Decision Health, Baltimore, Maryland. He has published papers on urology coding and reimbursement in the Journal of Endourology and Contemporary Urology and is consulting Editor for Urology Coding Alert, a monthly newsletter devoted to proper urology coding and reimbursements. Dr. Ferragamo is the former chief of urology at the Hempstead Medical Center and the Franklin Medical Center on Long Island, New York and is an honorary attending in the Department of Urology of Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, New York, and Mercy Hospital in Rockville Center, New York.
Victor Nitti, MD
Victor Nitti, MD, is Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Urology at New York University Langone Medical Center. He is also the head of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery and is the fellowship director for that program. He is a graduate of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and did his urology residency at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, NY. He then completed a fellowship in female urology, neurourology and reconstructive urology at UCLA.
Dr. Nitti served on the faculty at SUNY Brooklyn before joining the faculty of NYU in 1995. He is an authority in urodynamic techniques, medical and surgical therapies for incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse and voiding dysfunction. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles as well and book chapters on these subjects. In 1998, he edited the textbook Practical Urodynamics, published by W. B. Saunders. He has presented his research at national and international meetings and has been invited as a visiting professor and participated in postgraduate courses throughout the world.
Dr. Nitti has been involved in a numerous clinical trials for new pharmacologic, minimally invasive treatments for urinary incontinence. His current research interests focus on new and innovative treatments for urinary incontinence and voiding dysfunction, diagnosis of voiding dysfunction, and outcome measures.
Dr. Nitti is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Board of Urology and a member of the American Urological Association, the Society for Urodynamics and Female Urology, the International Continence Society and the First, Second, Third and Fourth International Consultations on Incontinence. He now serves as President of the Society for Urodynamics and Female Urology (SUFU). Dr. Nitti is on the editorial boards of Neurourology and Urodynamics, the Journal of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, International Urogynecology Journal, and Reviews in Urology.
Baha Sibai, MD
Dr. Sibai is Professor of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He is also the President of the International Society for the Study of Hypertension and Pregnancy. He completed his Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship at the University of Tennessee. He remained on the faculty at the University of Tennessee from 1980-2000. He was the Director of Perinatal Research and was the P.I. for the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Network of the NICHD grant from 1986-2001. He joined the University of Cincinnati in April 2000 and served as the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 2000 to 2005.
Dr. Sibai's academic leadership and contributions to research, in the dissection of the hypertensive diseases of pregnancy and other basic problems associated with obstetrics and gynecology, has awarded him national and international recognition in the field of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, particularly in the area of hypertension and preeclampsia. His contributions have organized the treatment plans of many physicians all over the world. Dr. Sibai's international notoriety in preeclampsia and eclampsia, preterm labor and preterm rupture of membranes, and medical complications in obstetrics, and emergencies in obstetrics evolved as a result of his authorship and co-authorship of over 480 peer-reviewed publications in national and internationally circulated publications. In addition, he has edited several textbooks and contributed to over 200 textbook chapters. His research interests are in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, life-threatening maternal and obstetrics emergencies. He is an examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Perinatology and the Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine and infectious disease in obstetrics. He also serves as a consultant for more than 30 peer reviewed medical journals.
Carlos J. Sarsotti, MD
Dr. Carlos Sarsotti received his medical degree from Universidad Nacional de Rosario in 1985. He served as a General Surgery Resident at UN Rosario and after that he completed a five year residency in Gynecology at Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires. He underwent postgraduate training in GynOncology at Hospital Italiano and in Urogynecology at Hospital de Clinicas San Martin Buenos Aires Argentina. After that, he completed observerships in USA and Canada both in Gyn Oncology and Urogynecology. He´s nationally board certified in Gyn Oncology.
He served as Head Section of Urogynecology at Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, between 1998 and 2005, where he created the fellowship in Urogynecology. Since then he´s the Medical Director of GEDREP, Buenos Aires where he also created a fellowship program in 2007. He has also been Coordinator of the OB Gyn residency program at Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires.
Dr. Sarsotti has taught Urogynecology and Pelvic Floor Surgery in almost all Latin American countries and received recognition of several ObGyn National Societies in these countries. He has authored and coauthored several national and international publications and book chapters.
Sandip P. Vasavada, MD
Dr. Sandip Vasavada serves as the Urologic Director, Center for Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic within the Glickman Urological Institute. Together with his other colleagues he helps represent one of the largest Centers for Female Pelvic Medicine in the U.S. He is also Associate Professor of Surgery (Urology) at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Vasavada has published numerous manuscripts and book chapters in the area of voiding dysfunction and urinary incontinence and has been named to "Top Docs" in Philadelphia and Cleveland magazines. He published his first textbook entitled Female Urology, Urogynecology and Voiding Dysfunction with co-editors Peter Sand, MD, Shlomo Raz, MD and Rodney Appell, MD (Marcel-Dekker, NY 2005) and is in the process of completing his second book on Female Urology and Pelvic Organ Prolapse with co-author Howard Goldman, MD (Humana Publishing). He has authored over 65 manuscripts, 25 book chapters, numerous abstracts and videos, and has lectured and demonstrated surgical techniques around the world. Dr Vasavada's main clinical interests lie in the area of urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse and complex reconstruction of the lower urinary tract. His current research interests are in the field of refractory bladder overactivity and neuromodulation. Dr Vasavada is part of a $7.8 million grant from the State of Ohio (Biomedical Research Technology Transfer grant [BRTT]) aiming to study the effects of dorsal genital nerve stimulation on bladder overactivity. He is also part of three NIH-SBIR grants aiming to evaluate neuromodulation in complex patient subgroups.
Jianliu Wang, MD
Professor Jianliu Wang is Professor and Vice Chairman in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China. Dr. Wang completed postdoctoral training in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, where he majored in gynecologic oncology. He is a specialist in both gynecologic oncology and in urogynecology. Professor Wang is a member of 12 professional societies worldwide and the recipient of numerous awards in research and education. Professor Wang has multiple peer-reviewed publications and is the editor or translator for 12 text books in obstetrics and gynecology, surgical gynecology or gynecologic oncology.
James L. Whiteside, MD
Dr. Whiteside is Board Certified in Obstetrics & Gynecology with fellowship training in Urogynecology and Reconstructive Surgery from The Cleveland Clinic. He completed his residency at Brown University/Women and Infants of Rhode Island Hospital and received his medical degree from The Medical College of Georgia. He also holds a Master of Arts Degree in Bioethics and Health Policy from Loyola University Chicago and a Master of Science Degree in Botany from the University of Georgia. Dr. Whiteside has also served as an associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth where he remains adjunct faculty. He is currently professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He has received numerous accolades, and has been published nationally for his work and research in urogynecology, pelvic floor surgery and bioethics.