Mitch Bassett, MD

PGY-2 Urology Resident (Resident 2013 - 2018)

Before I began my application, I made a list of what I wanted from a residency program. My list probably sounds familiar to most urology applicants visiting this website and included: a high volume surgical center, an academically intense curriculum, a respected faculty, support for research, and well-balanced adventurous co-residents. After careful selection, I decided to rotate here which confirmed my initial impression that the University of Utah was the best match for me.

The department has invested in multiple PA/NPs in recent years which free up our time to go to the operating room. My friends at other schools were shocked when I told them my case log surpassed 100 surgeries in the first five months of intern year. Due to our large case volume, it is more common to see a case go uncovered by a resident than it is to see someone double scrubbed. Since there are no other academic medical centers within 500 miles of Salt Lake City, we see a great diversity of cases that are not subdivided out to other hospitals. We routinely see patients from Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Western Colorado due to the established referral patterns.

Our faculty serve as outstanding mentors both in and out of the operating room. We have a broad spectrum of specialists from infertility and one of the busiest andrology labs in the country to five pediatric urologists at a dedicated children’s hospital to the world’s largest population database for medical research at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The facilities are top notch and are always expanding.

We have productive research faculty and large databases which leads to great opportunities for papers. Motivated statisticians, clinical trial teams, and post-docs are always willing help us with our projects. Being in the Western Section is an added bonus with sectional meetings in places like Hawaii, Vancouver, Monterrey, and Las Vegas. Of course, these meetings are all financed by the department!

IVUmed (International Volunteers in Urology) was founded by one of our faculty members and the organization still calls Salt Lake City home. Our program director will make sure you get opportunities to participate if you are interested in global health.

Finally, the real clincher is the atmosphere of Salt Lake. I grew up skiing, mountain climbing, boating, biking, and shooting and there is no better place to do any of those than Utah. At the end of a busy week, you can be up in the mountains in less than five minutes. In the summer, I keep my mountain bike on the back of my jeep and can take one of several trails that originate from the parking lot of the hospital directly into the foothills if the day ends early. The people that choose to come here are generally light-hearted, friendly, and adventurous folk that quickly become life-long friends. I hope to see you join us.