Dr. Turek Invited to Participate in NIH “Visioning” Process for Reproductive Health
San Francisco – January 26, 2011. Paul Turek, MD, Director and Founder of The Turek Clinic, a men’s health medical practice, was one of 60 individuals invited to participate in a new health “visioning” process undertaken by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Washington D.C. In a conference held at the National Institute of Child Health and Disease (NICHD) this week, thought leaders in reproductive health from around the country met to help identify the NIH’s top research opportunities for the next decade.
“It was quite an honor to be involved in this visioning process for the future of health care in America,” said Dr. Turek, who chaired a session on the topic of how reproductive health relates to overall health in both sexes. ”This was a perfect fit for me as we have published extensively about how male infertility may be a ‘window’ into the later development of testis and prostate cancers.”
In Dr. Turek’s session, new and novel scientific opportunities were developed and later presented to the gathering at large. “Our most significant and original contribution was a proposal for an NIH-served, on-line communication platform that would connect the public and the government in ways that Facebook and other social media sites connect friends.”
By connecting the government directly to citizens, each one of us can help to improve healthcare in America.”
– Dr. Paul Turek
Dr. Turek suggested that this web-based platform could serve as a “Personal Health Diary” that encourages citizens to notify and update the NIH of their personal health status over time. It would also offer a venue for the government to educate citizens about flu epidemics and other public health issues as they happen. Lastly, it could serve as a rich database of information for scientists and clinicians to use for unprecedented discovery in medical research.
What excites Dr. Turek the most about this proposal is that “by connecting the government directly to citizens, each and every one of us can help to improve healthcare in America.” To read more about Dr. Turek’s thoughts on his recent experience, read about it on his blog: www.TurekonMensHealth.com.
About Paul Turek, MD
Paul Turek, MD is founder of The Turek Clinic and a former professor and endowed chair at the University of California San Francisco. As a men’s reproductive health expert, he has pioneered innovative techniques for treating male infertility, including Testicular Mapping. In addition to his appointment to the Cooperative Reproductive Network Advisory Board, Dr. Turek sits on the Advisory Board for the Men’s Health Network, Fertile Hope and is on the Board of Directors of the Society of Male Reproduction and Urology. He is also President of the American Society of Andrology and President of the Northern California Urology Society and is an Editorial Board member of several journals including Systems Biology in Reproductive Medicine, the International Journal of Men’s Health and the International Brazilian Journal of Urology.
A complete biography of Dr. Turek is available on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_J._Turek.
About The Turek Clinic
The Turek Clinic, founded in 2008, is a leading men’s health practice specializing in male infertility, vasectomy, vasectomy reversal, varicocele repair and other minimally invasive procedures using innovative and leading-edge techniques with success rates that are among the highest in the world. Its director, Dr. Paul Turek, FACS, FRSM, is a recipient of a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for research designed to help infertile men to become fathers. A complete biography of Dr. Turek is available on Wikipedia.
