Carson Sponsors Visiting Scholar in Men’s Health Fund
Early in his career, former UNC Department of Urology chair Culley Carson, MD, had a crucial, career-defining encounter with Jim Glenn, a visiting professor while he was in training at the Mayo Clinic. The relationship established from this interaction led to Carson’s first job in academic medicine. This experience, according to Carson, was crucial for establishing his career and leading to him eventually coming to work at UNC.
“The visiting professorship was really the catalyst that began my entire career,” Carson said. “I wanted to carry forward that legacy.”
In honor of this experience and as a way to give back to the department that was his professional home for decades, Carson has helped establish a new visiting scholar position for the department. The Culley C. Carson III, MD, Visiting Scholar in Men’s Health will provide the funds to bring visiting scholars to the department to teach, lecture and work with urology residents.
Visiting professors benefit the university in many ways. They provide ways for early career researchers and physicians to have their first experience in academic medicine, but they also allow departments to invite established professionals to share their expertise. The exact shape of the professorship, whether the fund will support a physician or dedicated researchers, will be determined by the department need.
“There hasn’t been a good visiting professor program in the Department of Urology for a long time, and visiting professors are incredibly important for marketing, for education, for the residents, for education for the medical students,” Carson said.
Exposure to visiting professors can transform the careers of younger faculty and trainees. When Carson was chief resident at the Mayo Clinic, Duke Urology chair James Glenn was there as a visiting professor. Carson was assigned as his guide, and he got to know someone at the top of the field. A year later, he visited Durham and accepted a job at Duke, where he worked for 15 years before coming to UNC.
“That visiting professorship at Mayo was the catalyst that began my career,” Carson said.
Current chair Matthew E. Nielsen, MD, MS, FACS, said that the gift will allow the department to expose its faculty and students to experts from other institutions, rounding out their educational perspective while building relationships and partnerships with scholars and clinicians from across the field.
“Bringing in visiting scholars and colleagues from around the world provides opportunities for shared learning and building new collaborations,” Nielsen said. “The landscape of academic medicine has changed over the years, with resources that used to be able to support activities of this nature falling to the wayside. Dr. Carson’s generous gift establishes a firm foundation for us to bring this important activity back to the Department.”
Urology is a globally underserved field, Carson noted, especially when it comes to screening and prevention around cancers such as prostate cancer. North Carolina has four programs that train new urologists – UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, and Carolina’s Medical Center in Charlotte – but they are struggling to meet the loss in urological care as smaller hospitals around the state and nation close.
“It’s been estimated that we are somewhere between 6,000 and 9,000 urologists short in the country,” Carson said.
Prostate cancer, especially, remains the second leading cause of male death, and Eastern North Carolina has some of the highest rates of men’s cancers in the world. The expansion of UNC Urology’s ability to treat more patients and train more physicians will save lives.
“There’s a huge need for screening, and many men don’t see anybody to screen for prostate cancer, or to evaluate them for prostate cancer until the prostate cancer has spread and become difficult to treat, if not impossible to treat,” Carson said. “So, we have outreach, we go to some of the outlying communities and screen men.”
Carson feels privileged to be able to give back to the field and the university. By expanding the capacity of the Department of Urology to do this life-saving work, he’s giving back to the institution that supported his career.
“I had a very good experience at UNC Urology,” Carson said. “It’s provided a wonderful time for me to build my own career, and I think it’s important for senior faculty to give back. The university and the careers that are built in the university are generally very generous and impactful on people’s lives. And once they’re retired, then I think giving back is an important part of the legacy of the faculty.”
For the department, Nielsen said that Carson’s gift expands on the connections and careers he touched while working as chair of the department. Carson created bonds with scholars and trainees across the world which still benefits the department and its patients.
“This particular program is a nice full-circle moment for Dr. Carson, as he personally forged a relationship with a visiting professor when he was a resident at the Mayo Clinic that launched him on his spectacularly successful academic career,” Nielsen said. “This gift helps ensure similar opportunities are available for the next generation of future leaders in the field coming through our program here at UNC.”
To learn more about supporting research and education related to men’s health and the UNC Department of Urology, contact Kara Raynor at [email protected].
