Dr. Stanley Zaslau spent the past 25 years of his career with WVU Medicine at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. He has served as Chief of Urology and then Founding Chair of the Department, spending 15 years in Urology leadership roles. The accomplished physician, professor, and published author built the department from the ground up. When the opportunity arose to create a center of excellence in urology at Reynolds Memorial Hospital, he jumped at the chance. Now he begins his next chapter, providing access to world-class urologic care to northern West Virginia and the Ohio Valley.

“It gave me an opportunity to come here and try and build something that we haven’t had and the community really needs right now,” he said of his new venture.

Now, area residents can receive care for urologic conditions close to home, rather than traveling to larger cities like Morgantown, Columbus, or Pittsburgh for treatment. Bringing local access to a medical specialty in a small town or rural area is a tremendous advantage for any community, improving patient outcomes, reducing costs, and strengthening community vitality.

Dr. Zaslau originally hails from New York. He earned his medical degree from Hahnemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia (now Drexel University School of Medicine) and completed his residency and surgical internship at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He has more than 30 years of experience in clinical care, academic medicine, and research.

The new urology department at Reynolds Memorial diagnoses and treats a wide range of conditions in men and women. These include prostate cancer screening and prevention, incontinence, sexual dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, reconstructive surgery, and more. Dr. Zaslau specializes in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery, though he is well-versed in general urology.

Dr. Zaslau approaches patient care with a combination of compassion, trust, and honesty. Due to the sensitive nature of urologic conditions, some patients may find it difficult to talk about their issues or even be resistant to seeking care in the first place. To better understand his patients, he puts himself in their shoes.

“It would be difficult for me also. It means that I need to go the extra mile to be supportive and helpful to them,” he says.

Dr. Zaslau and the new Department of Urology at Reynolds Memorial have been embraced by both the community and hospital leadership.

“It’s been a lot of fun. When people appreciate what you bring them and are thankful for it, you want to do it that much more,” he says.

Dr. Zaslau confesses that he loves practicing medicine in a small town, because the feeling of community is stronger than that of a larger city hospital. He feels a personal connection to the people.

“It’s a community where everyone knows everyone. It’s this down-home feeling that you have, because your patient may be someone that you know or family of someone that you know. It creates this closeness that there really aren’t words for,” says Dr. Zaslau.

“I mean I could walk into Kroger, or Walmart, or Circle K to get gas, and someone will say ‘Hey Dr. Z, thanks for taking care of my family member,'” he says. “It’s something you wouldn’t see in a big city.”

Dr. Zaslau has spent summers in Bar Harbor, Maine for most of his life. He says that the natural beauty and sense of tight-knit community in West Virginia is very similar to the area in Maine that he so deeply loves.

After managing a department of more than 50 people for many years, Dr. Zaslau is proud of his accomplishments and the work that he’s done, but he’s thrilled about the new chapter in his career and getting back to the core of why he loves medicine–patient care.

“For me, in this stage of my career, this is just way more fun than I could even tell you,” he says. “It’s so nice to come to work and just practice medicine for the joy of it.”

When he’s not practicing medicine, Dr. Zaslau is an avid runner, frequently training for marathons and other long-distance races. His wife, April, is a speech therapist and his son, Darren Zaslau, is a sports broadcaster and media personality based in Pittsburgh.