Mentor of the Year
Section 1
Pathways to Cures:
Translational Science Research Day
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
The Cove at UCI Applied Innovation
Announcing Our
2019 Mentor of the Year Award Recipient
Thomas E. Ahlering, MD
The Institute for Clinical and Translational Science is pleased to announce the 2019 Mentor of the Year. This award is given to an exceptional UC Irvine faculty who has shown an outstanding commitment to mentoring, advising, and support of clinical and translational science research.
Dr. Thomas Ahlering is a highly regarded surgeon in Urologic cancers. His years of experience in treatment of prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular cancers has placed him as one of the original America's Best Doctors since his membership in 1994. Formerly the Chief of the Division of Urology (1992-2002) after his arrival at UC Irvine from the City of Hope in 1992, Dr. Ahlering became Chief of the Division of Urologic Oncology when the new Department of Urology was established in 2002. He received his medical degree at St. Louis University School of Medicine, followed by a residency in urology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and a two-year fellowship in urologic oncology under the clinical training of Dr. Donald G. Skinner and laboratory training under Peter Jones, Ph.D. He has received local, national, and international recognition for his expertise in urologic oncology, particularly in the development of minimally invasive radical prostatectomy assisted by the da Vinci robot. He has performed more than 2000 such robotic surgeries, including the first robotic prostatectomy surgeries in Southern California, Denmark, Australia, and Canada.
Since 2002, Dr. Ahlering’s research efforts have concentrated on maximizing functional recovery and patient-reported outcomes following robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. He has multiple investigator-initiated trials on continence and sexual function, including the predictive capability of 30-day continence and 90-day percent fullness on long-term patient outcomes. In addition, he has made a systematic effort in pioneering new treatment modalities for prostate cancer in a Phase II/III surgical trial for treatment of metastatic prostate cancer, collaborating with UCLA nuclear medicine physicians on the 68-Ga PSMA PET/CT scan for the detection of post-surgical recurrences, and a multi-center trial on an online email patient portal (PROVOQ – Patient Reported Outcomes via Online Questionnaire). His work continues to be highly regarded among the scientific community, with over 400 published abstracts and journal articles presented and published in association with the American Urologic Association, European Association of Urology, and Society of Urologic Oncology.
Join us in celebrating Dr. Ahlering!
Register now for the ICTS Awards Dinner; space is limited.
The 11th Annual ICTS Awards Dinner
"People Who Make a Difference in Human Health"
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
The Cove at UCI Applied Innovation