USA Health expands urology services with addition of endourologist

By Carol McPhail
[email protected]

USA Health is expanding access to advanced treatment for kidney stone disease and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) with the addition of Troy M. Sofinowski, M.D., a fellowship-trained endourologist who specializes in minimally invasive surgical procedures, including laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP and ThuLEP).

“In urology, we are able to truly impact a patient’s quality of life,” said Sofinowski, who serves as an assistant professor of urology at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama. “Treating a patient in extreme kidney stone pain or reducing severe urinary symptoms is very gratifying. My goal is to make sure every patient feels comfortable and heard while providing the highest quality care to achieve the best possible outcome.”

As an endourologist, Sofinowski is an expert in the use of minimally invasive surgical techniques for treating complex kidney stones and enlarged prostates. Many of these minimally invasive procedures can be performed in an outpatient setting, allowing patients to recover more quickly with less pain.

Sofinowski spent more than a decade practicing urology in community and rural settings, first in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and later across rural Kentucky and southern Illinois, where he saw firsthand that the procedures his patients needed most were often unavailable because no one nearby was trained to perform them.

That experience led him back to academic medicine. He became the inaugural fellow in endourology at Prisma Health/University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville under the mentorship of Tim Large, M.D., where he trained in the treatment of advanced stone disease, HoLEP, percutaneous renal access and complex endoscopic techniques.

“I realized that mentoring the next generation of urologists and urology providers and working to find solutions to expand access to care were my next career goals,” he said. “Academic medicine is the natural home for such pursuits.”

He is also passionate about community outreach to increase awareness about enlarged prostate and kidney stone disease. “My plan is to create community engagement with marginalized communities in and around Mobile to improve understanding and access to high-quality urologic care,” he said.

Sofinowski earned his medical degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine. He completed his general surgery internship and urology residency at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.  

He holds bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry and physiology/neurobiology from the University of Maryland College Park. As an undergraduate, he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Research Fellow studying the biophysics of protein folding. He later served as an NIH Intramural Research Training Fellow in the Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology at the National Institute on Aging, where he investigated DNA repair mechanisms.

Sofinowski is currently completing a Master of Science in Clinical Research (MUSC) and the Harvard Catalyst Certificate in Applied Biostatistics.  

Born in Augsburg, Germany, to a military family, he was raised in the port town of Dundalk, Maryland, a working-class neighborhood of Baltimore.

Sofinowski sees patients at USA Health University Urology, 3290 Dauphin St. Suite 400 in Mobile, USA Health Providence Hospital in west Mobile and USA Mapp Family Campus in Fairhope. To make an appointment, call 251-660-5930.