Professor Patrick C. Walsh

Patrick Walsh obtained both his B.A. and M.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio in 1960 and 1964, respectively, and completed residencies in adult and pediatric surgery in Boston and in Urology in Los Angeles. He spent one year with Professor Jean Wilson at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, where the two were the first to describe the 5a-reductase enzyme deficiency, the first to develop a technique for the experimental induction of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and the first to demonstrate the effect of reversible androgen deprivation on BPH. In 1974, he moved to Johns Hopkins University and Hospital in Maryland, where he became the David Hall McConnell Professor and the Director of Urology at the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute for 30 years. He is currently a Distinguished Service Professor of Urology at Johns Hopkins University.

Professor Walsh is recognized worldwide as the inventor of nerve sparing radical prostatectomy for the treatment of prostate cancer. His surgical technique has substantially improved the potency and continence of prostate cancer patients, enhanced their quality of life, and significantly reduced the risks of post-operative mortality and progression to metastasis. His surgery became one of the most widely used strategies for treating organ confined prostate cancer. Walsh created a two-hour DVD that provides a detailed description of his technique and distributed it free to 50,000 urologists worldwide. He also made other significant contributions towards better understanding of hereditary aspects, pathogenesis, and genetic susceptibility to prostate cancer; he also showed the value of serial prostate specific antigen measurement as a means of improving the diagnosis of prostate cancer and predicting its outcome.

Professor Walsh authored and co-authored more than 430 papers, 3 books and 8 video presentations. He is also the second most cited author in the field of prostate cancer. His achievements were recognized by more than 20 prestigious prizes and medals, a long list of lectureships, visiting professorships, editorships, and fellowships of prestigious professional associations and societies such as the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the President of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons and the Clinical Society of Genitourinary Surgeons, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Ireland.

For 25 years, he was the Chief Editor of the Campbell’s Textbook of Urology; which was renamed Campbell-Walsh Urology in his honor. He is presently on the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine. Along with Janet Worthington, he authored two of the best-selling books on prostate cancer for general readers: The Prostate: A Guide for Men and the Women Who Love Them published in 1995 and 1997, and Dr. Patrick Walsh’s Guide for Surviving Prostate Cancer published in 2001. In 2007, he was selected with two others for the “Top Physician of the Year” award. In the same year, a group of his former patients established The Patrick C. Walsh Prostate Cancer Research Fund in his honor. Despite his numerous professional responsibilities, Professor Walsh manages to dedicate time to practice his hobbies of sailing, swimming and cycling.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.