Hugh Young: a surgeon's autobiography

Abstract

Hugh Hampton Young (September 18, 1870 - August 23, 1945) is considered to be the Father of Modern Urology in the U.S. Among many groundbreaking milestones, he is credited with beginning the country's premier urology residency and achieving the first-ever cure for prostate cancer—with radical perineal prostatectomy, a surgical procedure he invented. Dr. Young was a visionary of the field: Long before the importance of early detection was widely known, he advocated for screening. He developed novel techniques to remove cancer and was among the first to use radiation therapy to treat urological diseases. With the help of one grateful patient, James Buchanan Brady, Dr. Young created the country’s first dedicated urological research hospital. As the Director of Urology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1907 to 1942 he transformed the field of urology from an outpatient diagnostic field to one of major surgery.