4th Year Medical Students

For 4th year medical students applying to urology residency, we offer one-month elective rotation for both BUSM and visiting students (June – September). For those applying to another specialty but still interested in learning urology, please see the electives below available October to May.



Urology MS-4 Rotation

  • BUSM Students (June, July)
    • BUSM 4th year medical students applying to urology residency will be offered rotations in June and July.
  • Visiting Students (July, August, September)
    • Visiting 4th year medical students applying to urology may apply for month-long rotations in July through September. Availability is limited to a total of 2 students per month on a first come first serve basis. July is usually filled by BUSM students.
  • Location: Boston Medical Center
  • Contact: Karen Clements (karen.clements@bmc.org)
  • Number of Students: Up to 2
  • Period to be Offered: One month

Students will work only at Boston Medical Center (not the VA or Boston Children’s). Students will participate in all departmental activities. Students will participate in all aspects of general urology, functioning as integral members with the urology resident staff. They will be assigned to perform primary urologic consultations on patients from other services; in addition, they will participate in the evaluation and management of urology service patients.  They will become proficient in the evaluation of a variety of urologic problems, including urologic neoplasms, neurogenic bladder, renal transplantation, reconstructive urologic surgery, urinary calculus disease and obstructive uropathy.

  • Applying
    • Please contact Karen Clements as early as possible if interested in applying, so that she can provide further details. You will also need to submit a VSLO application and fulfill Boston Medical Center immunization requirements.
  • Grand Rounds Presentation
    • Towards the end of your rotation, you will give a 20-25 minute presentation during urology grand rounds. The topic should be relatively specific within urology and be based on a thorough review of the literature (as in, not covering a general review of all of prostate cancer). By the second week of your rotation you should discuss topics with the residents and/or attendings to ensure it is appropriate and has not been recently discussed in grand rounds.
  • Letters of Recommendation
    • You should schedule a meeting with both Dr. Chai (chairman) and Dr. Ng (residency program director) via Karen Clements to take place during the third week of your rotation and bring the necessary materials (CV, personal statement, application LOR forms) to ask them to write a combined program letter of recommendation. If there are other attendings that you worked closely with and would like to ask for a LOR, please do the same. We will do our best to have you spend time with every attending throughout the month.
    • Housing
      • Housing is not provided by Boston Medical Center. RotatingRoom is a helpful resource to find housing for visiting students.
    • Reporting Instructions for 1st Day
      • We will send you a preliminary schedule for the first week (cases/clinic assignments) the Friday prior to your start. Please let us know if there are any expected absences or conflicts with the schedule. Please plan to meet on Monday morning at 6:15 am in the Colorectal/Urology workroom on 4-West (Rm 4176). Page #9000 if any questions or need help finding us that morning.


    Urology MS-4 Electives

    Available to BUSM 4th year medical students entering a specialty other than urology. Available October to May.


    • 570.1 Urology
      • Instructor:Mark Katz, MD
      • Location: Boston Medical Center, Shapiro 3B
      • Contact: Karen Clements (karen.clements@bmc.org)
      • Number of Students: Up to 2
      • Period to be Offered: One month

    Full-time rotation of one month’s duration offered by the Urology Department for two students during each month. Students will be assigned to one primary hospital (Boston Medical Center). Students will be able to participate in all departmental activities in all aspects of general urology, functioning as integral members with the urology resident staff. They will be assigned to perform primary urologic consultations on patients from other services; in addition they will participate in the evaluation and management of urology service patients. They will become proficient in the evaluation of a variety of urologic problems, including urologic neoplasms, neurogenic bladder, renal transplantation, reconstructive urologic surgery, urinary calculus disease and obstructive uropathy. Students will participate in all department conferences.


    • 571.2 Clinical Elective in Sexual Medicine
      • Instructor: Ricardo Munarriz, MD
      • Location: Center for Sexual Medicine, Shapiro Building, 725 Albany St., Suite 3B
      • Contact: Karen Clements (karen.clements@bmc.org)
      • Number of Students Per Block: One (4th year medical students only)
      • Period to be offered: One Month

    Students will learn about the specialty of Sexual Medicine and what makes Sexual Medicine unique in regard to patient care. Sexual Medicine is the medical discipline that embraces the study, diagnosis and treatment of sexual health concerns of men and women. It is based on knowledge primarily from the areas of endocrinology, gynecology, neurology, psychology and urology along with transgender medicine and surgery, but incorporates other disciplines as well.

    The elective is primarily an outpatient experience. Students choosing this elective will observe patients being evaluated and treated and potentially participate in ongoing clinical research at the Center for Sexual Medicine. Students will have the opportunity to observe patient examinations and patient surgeries and accompany physicians on rounds. They will learn how to 1) generate a sexual health history, 2) perform an appropriate physical exam, 3) make an assessment and 4) develop a plan of therapy. They will be invited to attend ongoing educational programs including but not limited to rounds and sexual medicine information sessions for the general public.

    The student must demonstrate that he or she is not embarrassed discussing sexual health issues, is comfortable using the vocabulary of the genital anatomy, and is not judgmental about the sexual practices of others.

    This elective is offered only to students attending Boston University School of Medicine or medical schools with established exchange programs with Boston University.