Scientific Advances in Reconstructive Urology and Tissue Engineering

Dr. Hofer is Assistant Professor of Urology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Ulm in Ulm, Germany with both an M.D and Ph.D. and went on to complete his residency training at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He subsequently completed a fellowship at UT Southwestern in Dallas, TX specializing in reconstruction, trauma, and prosthetics. His clinical interests include the treatment of stress urinary incontinence, which often occurs following surgery for prostate cancer. He is also an expert in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). He spent time during a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard focusing on biomarkers of prostate cancer progression and metastasis. This included experience in clinical research, both patient-based and tissue-based, all of which he continued to implement in his research endeavors. His research efforts also include benign prostatic hyperplasia, reconstruction, and urethral wound healing.

1. Historic development of translational reconstructive urology and current state of the art 2. Buccal mucosa and its use for urethral reconstruction 3. Use of mesenchymal stem cell-seeded scaffolds for bladder augmentations 4. Pathophysiology of radiation-induced urethral strictures and therapeutic strategies optimizing outcomes of surgical repair 5. Testosterone supplementation to prevent artificial urinary sphincter erosion in hypogonadal men 6. The molecular profile of urethral stricture disease 7. Pathophysiology of Urethral Stricture and optimizing urethroplasty outcomes 8. Engineered solutions for urethral stricture disease: From bench to bedside 9. Novel approaches correcting form and function in sexual medicine 10. Pathophysiology of underactive bladders 11. Tissue engineering in pediatric urology 12. Engineered neovaginas in patients with MRKH syndrome 13. Using cultured autologous oral epithelial cells for vaginoplasty in male-to-female transsexuals 14. Underlying mechanisms of rejection in penile vascularized composite allotransplantation