Mani Menon

Mani Menon, born July 9, 1948 in Trichur, India, is an American surgeon and the director and the Raj and Padma Vattikuti Distinguished Chair of the Vattikuti Urology Institute at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, MI. Menon is widely regarded as a pioneer in the development of robotic surgery techniques for the treatment of patients with prostate cancer. In May 2008, Menon received the prestigious B.C. Roy award from the President of India, under the category of "Eminent Medical Person" for his achievements in the fields of urology and robotics. He is profiled in the America's Top Doctors list and in the International Who's Who in the World in Biology and Medicine. He is currently the symposium director of the International Robotic Urology Symposium. == Early years and urological career == Menon developed a novel technique to measure androgen receptors in the human prostate. At the age of 34, Menon became the chairman of the Urology department at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. During early career, his major contributions were in the field of kidney stone disease where he helped develop the use of intra-operative ultrasonography as an aid to renal stone management and also devised methods to quantify citrate and oxalate levels in urine using ion chromatography. He was a major co-author on the landmark paper that helped formulate FDA approved guidlelines for ESWL utilization in management of stone disease. In addition to his contributions to the field of urolithiasis, during his early career he was also helped develop the technique of flexible cystoscopy (one of the most common urological procedures) and demonstrated the utility of flourescin dye in renal angiography. Menon has published more than 300 papers, 400 poster presentations, 90 book chapters and invited articles mostly in the field of robotic prostatectomy, renal transplantation and urolithiasis. He has been an invited lecturer and guest professor over 70 times at institutions all over the world. His work of research has been published in many urological journals such as the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the American Journal of Physiology, Proceedings of the National Academy, the New England Journal of Medicine and many more.