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Who

The chairman of the urology department at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Scardino is one of the top prostate surgeons in the country.

Backstory

Scardino was a religious studies major in college, but opted for medical school after graduation and ended up at Duke. After separate residencies in surgery and urology, he began teaching at Baylor's medical school in the late '70s. He was recruited away to head up the urology department at Sloan-Kettering in 1998. Eight years later, he was named chairman of MSK's department of surgery. He also teaches at Weill Cornell and SUNY Downstate.

Of note

Scardino's program, which is widely considered the best prostate treatment center in the nation, is also one of the busiest. Located in a state-of-the-art facility on East 68th Street—built thanks to a donation by Jones Apparel Group founder Sidney Kimmel in 2001—Sloan-Kettering's Center for Prostate and Urology Cancers is staffed by 30 physicians and surgeons, who perform more than 750 radical prostatectomies each year. Scardino's recognized for his innovative surgery techniques, which allow 50 to 70 percent of his patients to keep their sexual function. He was the first doctor to perform a nerve graft on a prostate patient, and has also become known for using Botox to relieve prostate pain.

In print

He's authored a number of books about his area of expertise, including Dr. Peter Scardino's Prostate Book: The Complete Guide to Overcoming Prostate Cancer, Prostatitis, and BPH, The Prostate Book, and Atlas of the Prostate. He's also the editor of urology research journal Nature Clinical Practice Urology.

For the record

He's been called "the Babe Ruth of prostate cancer surgery" by former patient Rudy Jaramillo, the hitting coach for the Texas Rangers. The two were introduced by Yankees skipper Joe Torre, who underwent treatment for prostate cancer at Scardino's center.

Personal

In 2007, Scardino married his second wife, novelist Judith Kelman (they were both 61 at the time), who co-authored Dr. Peter Scardino's Prostate Book with him. He has one daughter, Elizabeth, from his previous marriage; she's a recent graduate of Cornell Medical School. Scardino and Kelman live on East 68th Street.