2026 ABU Report Newsletter

Robert E. Brannigan, MD is the Janice Binstein Professor and Vice Chair of Clinical Urology in the Department of Urology at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine with a clinical focus on male reproductive medicine and surgery.  He obtained his undergraduate and medical degrees from Northwestern University.  After completing residency in Urology at Northwestern, he completed a fellowship in Male Reproductive Medicine and Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Brannigan returned to join the faculty at Northwestern, where he is Head of the Division of Male Reproductive Surgery & Men’s Health and Director of the Andrology Fellowship. His research interest is in fertility preservation, with a focus on optimizing the delivery of this clinical care to adolescents and adults with an oncologic diagnosis. At Northwestern, he also serves as the Assistant Director of Student Affairs for the Feinberg School of Medicine, and in this role, he is extensively involved in medical student career advising and mentorship, as well as oversight of the medical school’s learning environment.

Dr. Brannigan has served in the leadership of several national organizations and societies, and he is currently President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). He is a Past President of the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology (SMRU) and the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction (SSMR). He is a former Assistant Editor for The Journal of Urology and Associate Editor for Fertility and Sterility, and he is currently on the Editorial Board of the AUA Update Series.  He serves on the American Board of Urology Examination Committee, and in 2021, he was elected to the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons (AAGUS).

Kirsten Greene, MD, MS, FACS received her undergraduate training from the University of Virginia on full academic scholarship. She received her MD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed her general surgery and urology training at the University of California, San Francisco where she also received a Masters in Clinical Research. She specializes in urologic cancers and minimally invasive robotic surgery. Kirsten was Vice Chair and Chief of Urology at the SFVA and Associate Chair for Education and Program Director for the Department of Urology at UCSF until 2019. She was the first woman to achieve the rank of full Professor in the UCSF Department of Urology. In 2019, she became Chair of the University of Virginia Department of Urology and holds the John Cole Endowed Chair in Urology. She served as Associate Chief Medical Officer for UVA Health from 2020-2024.  Her research interests include robotic surgery, novel imaging technologies in prostate cancer, resident and physician well-being and burnout, and outcomes in bladder, kidney and prostate cancer. She is the Executive Secretary of the Society of Academic Urologists (SAU) and the Secretary of the Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO). She served on the ABU Exam Committee from 2021-2025. She won the UCSF Resident Teaching Award and Peter R. Carroll Mentorship award at UCSF in 2018, the UVA Resident Teaching Award in 2022, and the AUA Mid Career award in 2022.