The Reed M. Nesbit Urologic Society is the official alumni & friends' organization of the U-M Medical School Department of Urology.
It was founded by residents and faculty who worked with Dr. Reed Nesbit.
The mission of the Society is to gather the alumni, faculty, friends and supporters of the Department to discuss scientific, professional and academic concerns in an atmosphere of warm fellowship and friendship.
The Society holds two official events each year. In the spring, in conjunction with the annual American Urological Association meeting, a cocktail reception is held on Sunday evening in the host city. In the fall, the annual reunion meeting, held around a home football game weekend in Ann Arbor. This is a multi-day affair with a half day program on Thursday and a full day session including business meeting on Friday.
The scientific program is open to the public and interested physicians and other health care team members. The format of the program includes a visiting professor who will give talks on his or her area of urologic interest. After the meeting, an annual reunion dinner allows old friendships to be renewed, and new connections made. A Society tailgate is held before the football game on Saturday.
The Reed M. Nesbit Society offers several ways to participate, with three membership categories.
A full membership is available to all residents and fellows who trained through the U-M Department of Urology. All faculty of the Department are also offered full memberships. Full members can act as officers and vote on Society matters.
An associate membership is available to urologists who did not train at Michigan, other physicians and paraprofessionals who have a link with the University of Michigan, and to non-medical friends and supporters of the U-M Department of Urology. Associate members can participate in the scientific program and are invited to the social events and activities.
An honorary membership is offered to visiting professors, guest speakers and other dignitaries. Honorary members can participate in the scientific program and are invited to the social events and activities.
Reed Miller Nesbit was born on October 8, 1898 in Concord, California. He studied at the University of California and Stanford University where he earned an AB in 1921 and an MD in 1924. After interning at the Fresno County Hospital, he was recruited to Michigan by Hugh Cabot, the Director of Surgery at the University of Michigan and Medical School dean, a prominent genitourinary surgeon. During his first year in Ann Arbor, Nesbit shared a room with Charles Huggins, another Cabot recruit who would later be awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on the hormonal control of prostate cancer.
In 1926 Nesbit was appointed Instructor in Surgery. By 1929 he was promoted to Assistant Professor and in 1930 he became Chief of the Section of Urology. In 1943 he achieved the rank of Professor and served as the head of the Section of Urology for 37 years.
He authored over 150 scientific articles and achieved national and international recognition for his work in endoscopic surgery to treat prostatic disease. His 1943 textbook, Transurethral Prostatectomy, was the standard work on the subject for decades. His other major work, the textbook Fundamentals of Urology in 1942, was one of the early one-volume comprehensive works in urology. In 1957 he established a pioneering hemodialysis unit at the University Hospital. It was unusual in that it was run by the surgeons and not the internists. Nesbit became President of the American College of Surgeons in 1967, the first urologist to hold that position. He trained more than 80 residents, at least 18 of whom became chiefs of urology at their medical schools in the US and abroad.
After retiring in 1968 he moved to El Macero, California and was a surgical lecturer and special assistant to the dean at the University of California Davis School of Medicine. In 1969 he was appointed chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals.
In 2007, the Reed M. Nesbit Professorship in Urology was established at the University of Michigan in his honor with Edward J. McGuire, MD, serving as the first Nesbit Professor. Julian Wan, MD now holds the Nesbit Professorship title.
