Dr. Ron Lewis Creates Endowed Chair in Urology

Dr. Ron Lewis may have retired in 2018, but his legacy at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University lives on through his planned estate gift to establish the Ronald W. Lewis, MD Chair in Urological Education.

This endowment was created to support the ongoing needs of urology residents, including education, research, travel, equipment and more.

“When you’ve been in academics as long as I was, you want to leave a legacy. What better way than to do something that involves continual teaching,” Lewis says. “That’s always been a part of my career.”

Before Lewis came to MCG, he was an internationally recognized expert in sexual medicine and a longtime prostate cancer researcher. He served as co-director of the fertility clinic and male sexual dysfunction clinic at Tulane University School of Medicine; vice chief of the medical staff at two Louisiana hospitals; chief of surgery, and a professor and consultant in urology at Mayo Clinic and Medical School.

After leaving Mayo, Lewis would ultimately spend 24 years at MCG and make MCG’s urology resident training program one of the most sought-after in the Southeast and beyond. He saw the potential to grow the program and seized the opportunity. His efforts included giving the residents opportunities to conduct research and encouraging them to go into teaching.

Lewis also started a weekly Monday night conference to allow residents and faculty to review surgical cases together and share their viewpoints and determine together the best path of care for their patients. These conferences were so successful and valued that they are still part of the residency program today.

Because of Lewis’ changes and innovations to the urology resident training program, the program receives roughly 200 to 300 applications per year and conducts 60 applicant interviews to fill two residency slots, ensuring that MCG’s program trains some of the top residents in the country.

Given Lewis’ passion for education and making sure the residents he mentored and encouraged while at MCG had every chance to excel in urology, creating an endowed chair is a way to ensure that MCG continues to attract educators just as dedicated to training the residents.

“It’s been a value to me to be able to continue this legacy of education…When Charlie Howell [a ’73 MCG graduate and chair emeritus of surgery] came up with the idea, ‘Why don’t we establish a chair that would just support that educational aspect of residency?’, I just thought it was a super idea, and I said, ‘I’m in.’”