Dr. Dean George Assimos is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Urology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He obtained a BS degree in biology from Purdue University in 1974 and an MD degree from Loyola University of Chicago in 1977. He subsequently completed his urology residency at Northwestern University in 1983. He was a fellow intra-renal surgery and kidney stone disease at Wake Forest University in 1984 after which he was an A.U.A. research scholar at the same institution from 1984-1986. He has dedicated his career to the care of patients afflicted with complex renal stone disease including medical and surgical management. He conducts clinical, translational and basic science research focusing on factors which impact urinary oxalate excretion. He and his research colleagues have received steady funding from the NIH for these endeavors. They have demonstrated the important contribution of dietary oxalate to the urinary oxalate pool, defined the importance of interactions between dietary calcium and oxalate, and characterized mechanisms of gastrointestinal oxalate absorption and endogenous oxalate synthesis. He has served as a member of the A.U.A. Nephrolithiasis Guidelines Panel since its inception and is currently the Chair of this committee. Dr. Assimos is on the editorial board of several urologic journals. He is also committed to urologic education participating as a speaker and course director for the A.U.A. and other organizations.