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Check Out Scott Zeitlin’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Zeitlin. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Dr. Scott Zeitlin has been a practicing Urologist since 1998. He is internationally recognized and specializes in male fertility, microsurgery, sexual health, Peyronie’s disease, prostatitis and erectile dysfunction.

His skill in diagnosing and treating male infertility has helped many couples achieve their goal of parenthood. His expertise in treating difficult and esoteric issues in Urology garners referrals from USC, Cedars Sinai and UCLA.

Dr. Zeitlin completed the CUNY Brooklyn College’s prestigious combined BA-MD program. He earned his Medical Doctorate at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, also located in Brooklyn, New York. He completed two years of residency in General Surgery followed by a 4-year urology residency at SUNY Downstate.

During his Urology residency, Dr. Zeitlin studied urologic oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. After completing his residency, he was a clinical fellow in Andrology (the study of male fertility, microsurgery and erectile dysfunction) at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles Department of Urology under Dr. Jacob Rajfer. Since 1998, he’s taught at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and has gone from being a Clinical Instructor to Clinical Professor of Urology. He was also a Clinical Professor of Ob/GYN at the David Geffen School of Medicine from 2014 to 2021.

He’s been honored three times (2000, 2011 and 2020) for this teaching as the Clinical Faculty Member of the Year in the UCLA Department of Urology and received the Master Teacher in Urology Award from the SUNY-Downstate Alumni Association in 2004. In addition to teaching, he’s performed NIH-funded research at UCLA for more than a decade in the study of Prostatitis and Male Pelvic Pain.

Although Dr. Zeitlin has received recognition as a clinician, professor, and researcher, his greatest reward is helping patients start families and overcome urological conditions. The best part of his day is meeting new people and seeing valued returning old patients.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been a long road. I always wanted to be a starting point guard in the NBA, but my lack of height was a major obstacle. At under 5 feet tall entering high school, coupled with my lack of speed and limited vertical I was destined to be a doctor.

I ultimately made the decision to pursue medicine when my grandmother got sick and was hospitalized. I felt helpless in the hospital after she had a stroke. I felt like no one else cared. I wanted to make a difference

I went to a seven years medical program in Brooklyn where you get to skip a year of college. It was very intensive and in retrospect, I don’t recommend taking this type of shortcut. I went to Brooklyn College at 18. It wasn’t a typical college experience. Brooklyn College, while providing a good academic experience, is a commuter school or at least was at that time. So I lived with my grandfather Dave and his 2nd wife in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn. That is when they weren’t spending the winters in Florida. While I never lived in an undergraduate dorm and did not go away to school, the experience was priceless and I wouldn’t trade it. At the time we began to live together, he was 75. My grandfather was an amazing man. He made the trip over from what was then Austria- Hungary in 1911 at the age of two to NYC. After two world wars, his hometown is now in Western Ukraine. He was a chemical engineer who took ten years to get a degree at night from the prestigious Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, which was a free college at that time. He was serious, focused and wise. His counsel was priceless and getting to know him as a young adult made us close and gave me insight into who he was more than you know your grandparent as a child. It also gave me a newfound respect for the elderly.

The curriculum of the seven years program was intense and we lost about 1/3 of my fellow program students along the way. I started medical school at age 21 in 1987 and was among the youngest in my class. I looked so young one of my classmates thought I was one of the other students’ younger siblings and just hanging around at the orientation. I was frankly intimidated by the experience.

There were a number of fields in medicine that interested me. I liked the operating room very much and wanted to be a surgeon. This coupled with my interested in nephrology (the study of the kidneys), oncology (the study of cancer) and endocrinology (the study of hormones), led me to Urology, which at the time was doing a lot of open surgery using lasers and minimally invasive surgery using endoscopes. I considered a number of other fields but the not only was the field great but the Urologists were fun and most didn’t take themselves too seriously. I don’t think doctors as a group are highly regarded for their personalities.

I stayed in Brooklyn for my residency as I valued the autonomy it provided. For better or worse, we were on our own for a lot of our training. That doesn’t exist anymore but I think it was priceless. I got to Brooklyn 20 years too late and left 20 years too early. It wasn’t the cool hipster place it is now. It was gritty and tough and to this day I suspect that East Flatbush remains unchanged in this way. You become numb to people getting shot and stabbed, but as they say you only physically leave Kings County Hospital, which is one of the busiest in America. As a resident, I rotated at a number of public and private hospitals and experienced various levels of oversight. The most well-known is the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. I did my best to provide outstanding care everywhere I went.

In 1997, I came to UCLA to do a year of fellowship in Andrology, which is infertility and erectile dysfunction. I have been here ever since. It’s no secret that the weather is intoxicating. I practiced at the University from 1998 to 2004 and still perform surgery there. And after more than 30 years as a doctor, I have 3 grown sons, a 2-year-old daughter, a second (The Best and Last) wife and 100 lb. Pitbull. The non-medical parts are an even longer story so I’ll leave it at that.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in male infertility and microsurgery, erectile dysfunction and prostatitis. I perform the state of the art vasectomy which does not involve needles or a scalpel. I use a jet injector for anesthesia. The patients choose the music. I perform all forms of sperm retrieval procedures and do vasectomy reversals(through small incisions) to give patients a first and second chance to have children. I also perform the true subinguinal microsurgical varicocelectomy, which is the gold standard. Not all microsurgical varicocelectomy procedures are the same and I pride myself on offering this procedure. I think what sets me apart from most of my peers is that when I am with my patients I’m never the most important person in the room. And I have a dry sense of humor that some people actually think is funny.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I think you need to first decide what you want to do and what your goals are. Then find someone who you look up in your field to help guide you. Also, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Don’t be discouraged by rejection, provide outstanding service and be affable and available.

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