Cleveland Clinic Foundation Program

Program Identity & Fit

Cleveland Clinic's Urology Residency is a six-year, research-intensive program combining preliminary general surgery/nephrology training with a full dedicated research year and four years of subspecialty urologic and renal transplant training at a high-volume tertiary/quaternary academic center. Residents run their own inpatient services from PGY-2 onward and rotate across Main Campus, the VA, and community sites (Fairview, Avon, Hillcrest) to build breadth from endourology to complex oncologic, reconstructive, and transplant surgery, with early autonomy in procedural and continuity clinics. The mandatory research year embeds residents in named labs (Novick Center, GU Malignancies Center, Kidney Precision Medicine Center) alongside PhD and physician-scientist faculty, reflecting an institutional identity built on translational and outcomes research as much as clinical volume. Graduates are prepared for both academic and private-practice careers, but the program's infrastructure, faculty pedigree (Novick, Poutasse, Straffon legacy), and Doximity research/reputation ranking signal a strong pull toward academic and subspecialty-fellowship trajectories.