Rome Health welcomes pair of urology specialists

ROME — Two urology specialists, Dr. Jeffrey Sekula and Dr. Daniel Welchons, have joined the medical staff of Rome Health, according to an announcement by the organization’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Cristian Andrade.

Both board-certified urologists are performing their surgical cases at Rome Health and have begun providing urology call coverage for the hospital.

Currently, the physicians are located at 2 Ellinwood Drive in New Hartford and are accepting new patients.

“At Rome Health, we are continuously building relationships with new physicians with specialized expertise to expand access to the best care out there, here,” said Andrade. “Our goal is to make it easy for physicians to perform their procedures here so they can simply focus on delivering the best patient care.”

Sekula and Welchons provide medical and surgical treatment for conditions that affect the urinary-tract system and reproductive organs, including genitourinary cancers. They help people improve their quality of life by addressing problems with incontinence and sexual dysfunction, the Rome Health announcement said.

Sekula has special training in genitourinary cancers, benign prostate disease, and kidney stone management, including metabolic stone evaluation. In addition, he has expertise in prosthetic urology, including penile implants, urinary slings and sphincters, and interstim implantation.

Welchons’ specialties and interests are laparoscopic, robotic and prosthetic surgery. He has particular interest in urologic oncology (including prostate, renal, bladder, penile and testicular cancer), BPH, voiding dysfunction and sexual dysfunction. As of July 2020, Welchons has been designated as a Urolift Center of Excellence.

Sekula earned his medical degree at UMDNJ-NEW Jersey Medical School and completed his residency in urology at Duke University Medical Center in 2003. While in training, he earned his program’s only Pfizer Scholar Urology Award, three yearly academic achievement awards, and his research led to his co-authorship of an AUA Basic Sciences First Prizewinning paper on prostate cancer molecular pathways.

Sekula was certified by the Association of Clinical Research Professionals and has participated in many clinical studies. He has been published in several journals, including the Journal of Urology and Prostate, and co-authored an article on Emedicine.com.

Welchons received a full-tuition academic scholarship to attend medical school at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he graduated Alpha Omega Alpha. In medical school, he spent part of his fourth year at Istituto Mediterraneo per i Trapianti e Terapie ad Alta Specializzazione (ISMETT) in Palermo, Italy, assisting in transplantation surgery services.

He completed his surgical internship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and his residency at the Harvard Program in Urology. As a senior resident, he was an instructor for the New England Urology Training Course in Robotic Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston. Welchons was also involved with teaching students at Harvard Medical School.