Inaugural Weiss Distinguished Alumni Award

Yale Urology recently announced Michel Pontari, MD, resident graduate class of ’91, as the inaugural recipient of the Robert M. Weiss Distinguished Alumni Medal award. This recognition celebrates the legacy and contributions made by Yale alumni in the field.

“Our program has been around for more than 100 years. We’ve been too modest in acknowledging those who’ve gone before us,” says Isaac Y. Kim, MD, PhD, MBA, professor and chair of urology.

Pontari is professor and vice chair of the Department of Urology at Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia. He has been an attending for 32 years. He was one of the original investigators on the NIH-sponsored Chronic Prostatitis Collaborative Research Network [CPCRN] project, which was the first large scale study of men with chronic pelvic pain. Since 2008, he has been on the Executive Committee for the NIH Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Pelvic Pain [MAPP] project, overseeing research on Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome [CP/CPPS]. He is also on the Data and Safety Monitoring Board for an NIH-funded study on transcranial magnetic stimulation for chronic pelvic pain. He has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications.

Pontari says he is “extremely honored” to be the first Robert M. Weiss Distinguished Alumni Medal recipient and feels it is particularly special because the award carries the name of his resident mentor, Robert M. Weiss, MD, Donald Guthrie Professor of Urology, who was chair of the Yale Urology program for 25 years and continues to serve the department.

“He got me started in the field and helped me hone my subspecialty and research,” says Pontari. “I guess you could say I’m in his scientific family tree.”

Yale Urology officially presented the award at this year’s “Bulldog Debates,” an annual CME event at The Yale Club in New York City. As part of his acceptance, Pontari gave the first keynote of the weekend, providing insights on his career spanning work with chronic pelvic pain.

“I predict future Bulldog Debates will become more and more of an impromptu alumni reunion,” says Pontari. His advice to fellow alums? “Don’t miss out!”

Although he completed his residency training in 1991, Pontari says he has reconnected with former colleagues at other recent departmental events, and they have been able to pick up where they left off.

“My time at Yale has always been special,” says Pontari. “I look back fondly and, again, feel honored to be recognized this way”—a sentiment Yale Urology leadership hopes to build upon.