By Gregg Shields

Dr. Shreeya Popat

Dr. Shreeya Popat, recipient of the 2016 John D. McConnell Award for Excellence in Urology, has built and benefitted from the network of mentors and friends she has established while at UT Southwestern.

Perhaps most impressive, is what her new network is saying about her.

“Shreeya excelled during her rotations at UT Southwestern,” said Dr. Gary Lemack, Professor of Urology and Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, and Residency Program Director in Urology. “She exhibits a unique combination of compassion, tremendous work ethic, intellectual curiosity, and collegiality which is sure to make her a very successful urologist.”

But Dr. Popat is just as effusive in her opinions about the UT Southwestern faculty. She also cited Dr. Claus Roehrborn, Chairman of Urology, as another of the institution’s supportive departmental leaders.

“They have given me so many opportunities to exceed goals that I set for myself, goals that I hadn’t even imagined until they inspired me,” said Dr. Popat, “The faculty was incredibly generous – they consistently provided me support and guidance and fostered my clinical and surgical skills.”

The McConnell Award honors the clinician whom many in the department credit for the continued success of Urology at UT Southwestern. Dr. McConnell, now Chief Executive Officer at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina, was the third leader of what was then a division at UT Southwestern. He oversaw the elevation of Urology to department status, greatly improved the grant support for basic urological research, and grew both the clinical and basic science research faculty through a nationwide recruiting effort.

Dr. Popat might be emblematic of the saying “wasn’t born in Texas, but got here as fast as she could.” She was born in England and moved to Katy, near Houston, with her parents as a youth, graduating from Cinco Ranch High School.

She got her first taste of the UT System at UT Austin, earning a bachelor of arts degree in the prestigious Plan II Honors program, an interdisciplinary arts and science course. 

Dr. Popat’s interest in urology was piqued during a summer research project after her first year of medical school working on a trial funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The project focused on kidney stone recurrence rate in the context of CT imaging and was under the direction of Dr. Yair Lotan, Professor of Urology, Dr. Margaret Pearle, Professor of Urology and of Internal Medicine, and Dr. Jodi Antonelli, Assistant Professor of Urology.

In 2015, she had the opportunity to work with Dr. Phillipe Zimmern, Professor of Urology, on several projects in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery.

Dr. Popat also recognizes the value of the student friendships she has built as she heads off to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston for her residency.

“UT Southwestern has given me friends that will last a lifetime,” she said.

The Houston residency is “perfect for me professionally and personally,” said Dr. Popat, since it will bring her physically closer to her most important network – her parents and her fiancé’s family, who all live in the area.

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Dr. Lemack holds the Rose Mary Haggar Professorship in Urology.
Dr. Lotan holds the Helen J. and Robert S. Strauss Professorship in Urology.
Dr. Pearle holds the Dr. Ralph C. Smith Distinguished Chair in Urologic Education.
Dr. Roehrborn holds the E.E. Fogelson and Greer Garson Fogelson Distinguished Chair in Urology, and the S.T. Harris Family Chair in Medical Science, in Honor of John D. McConnell, M.D.
Dr. Zimmern holds the Jane and John Justin Distinguished Chair in Urology, in Honor of Claus G. Roehrborn, M.D.