The William P Didusch Center For Urologic History

"Next stop on the strange museum tour is a topic close to our hearts- but even closer to the zipper of our pants. The Urology Museum is a collection of cringe-inducing devices and horrific treatments meant to help men, but mostly just makes us writhe with squeamishness and empathize with the poor gents who came before us. The William P. Didusch Center for Urology History collects 300 years of history and studies of all things uro-related. Didusch, a scientific illustrator, committed to mapping the evolution of the treatments- from the more medieval-seeming procedures to the the modern day methods. The museum includes a varied collection of petrified gall stones and an assemblage of the different devices used to treat them, ranging from the long metal tubes used to “plunge” the mineral blockages, to a device called the “Prostate Punch”, which was basically a curved hypodermic needle. If these medical curiosities aren’t enough to convince you from ever going to a urologist again, we don’t know what would. The museum is aware of the uncomfortable nature of some of their displays, so to alleviate the tension, they’ve created scavenger hunts and other fun ways to educate without sending museum patrons running for the door." -Roadtrippers The Didusch Center encompasses a rich and varied collection of drawings, photographs and instruments of historical importance to urology, many displayed in our urological exhibits. The center also houses a library devoted to urological and early medical texts and the AUA archives. The William P. Didusch Center for Urologic History of the American Urological Association (AUA) is presently located at the AUA headquarters in Linthicum, MD. The Didusch Center is named in honor of William P. Didusch, a world-renowned medical artist at the Johns Hopkins Brady Urological Institute, and the first curator of the AUA's museum. The museum was conceived by Didusch and opened in 1971. Didusch remained curator until his death in 1981, and was succeeded by Dr. Herbert Brendler. Dr. William W. Scott—who worked with Nobel Laureate Charles Huggins at the University of Chicago and later became director of the Brady Urological Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital—assumed the position upon Brendler's death in 1986. Upon his retirement in 1993, Dr. Rainer Engel, also of Johns Hopkins became curator and remains in the same position today.