Science & invention
Mani Menon
born 1948 · urologist, surgeon
Urologist who made Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit the birthplace of robotic cancer surgery as founding director of its Vattikuti Urology Institute.
- Born
Thrissur, India
age 78- Detroit years
- 1997–2019
- Field
- Science & invention
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Menon was born in India in 1948 and began his medical training at JIPMER in Pondicherry in 1964. In the United States he became known for research on the prostate and on kidney stones, and at 34 he was named chairman of urology at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester. In 1997 Henry Ford Hospital recruited him to Detroit to chair its urology department. Two years later the Farmington Hills software entrepreneur Raj Vattikuti offered funds for new prostate cancer research, and Menon's proposal to develop minimally invasive surgery won; the Vattikuti Urology Institute opened at Henry Ford in 2001 with Menon as founding director. There he built the world's first cancer-oriented surgical robotics program and developed a robot-assisted technique for removing the prostate that spread worldwide, later extending robotic methods to kidney and bladder cancer and to kidney transplantation. He chaired the department until 2019.
Highlights
- Founding director of the Vattikuti Urology Institute at Henry Ford Hospital (2001)
- Built the world's first cancer-oriented surgical robotics program
- Pioneer of robot-assisted prostatectomy and robotic kidney transplantation
- Chair of urology at Henry Ford Hospital, 1997–2019
- Hugh Hampton Young Award (2011) and Keyes Medal (2016)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1997–2019
Henry Ford Hospital (Vattikuti Urology Institute)
Home of the Vattikuti Urology Institute, opened in 2001 under Menon, the first institute to use robotic surgery to treat prostate cancer.