Faculty

Richard E. Link, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, is a Board-certified and fellowship-trained
urologist specializing in the treatment of urologic disease affecting the kidney,
ureter, adrenal gland and prostate. He holds the Carlton-Smith Endowed Chair in
Urologic Education at the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, Texas. He
focuses on the use of laparoscopic, robotic-assisted, percutaneous, and
endoscopic techniques to treat kidney tumors, renal and ureteral obstruction, and
urinary tract stones. He directs the BCM Division of Endourology and Minimally
Invasive Surgery. Dr. Link has been an early pioneer in the development of
laparoendoscopic single-site donor nephrectomy, a less invasive laparoscopic
technique in which a donor kidney can be removed via only a single, small periumbilical
incision for transplantation. He serves as Director of Living Donor
Procurement for several major kidney transplant programs in Houston, including
Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, Texas Children’s Hospital, and the Houston
Methodist Hospital. He also has a strong interest in applying single site robotic
technology using the da Vinci SP platform to retroperitoneal and transvesical
urologic surgery.

Dr. Link completed his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford
University. His research laboratory studies the genetic basis for renal cell
carcinoma using a combination of genetically engineered mouse models, stem cell
biology, and sophisticated whole genome molecular techniques. His clinical
research interests include surgical simulation, decision analysis modeling, and the
application of 3D reconstruction and printing techniques to surgical education