The AUA has learned from the Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University that Dr. Demetrius H. Bagley Jr. died on Monday, January 17, 2022.
Dr. Bagley was well-known internationally for his contributions to the field of endourology, particularly ureteroscopy and its diagnostic and therapeutic applications in diseases of the upper urinary tract. In 2010, he was the recipient of the Karl Storz Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2012, he received both the TJU Inter-Professional Education Award and the Valentine Award from the New York Academy of Medicine. In 2014, he was awarded the American Urological Association Lifetime Achievement Award for visionary leadership and educational contributions in ureteroscopy and minimally invasive surgical techniques for the upper urinary tract.
Dr. Bagley was a past President of the Philadelphia Urological Society. He was Editor-in-Chief of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Endoscopy (online journal), Associate Editor of the Journal of Endourology, Section Editor of the Arab Journal of Urology, and a reviewer for the Journal of Urology, Urology, British Journal of Urology International and African Journal of Urology. Dr. Bagley was the author/co-author of eight books on urologic endoscopy and wrote over 350 original papers and chapters. From 1990 to 2006, Dr. Bagley was Chairman of a course on ureteroscopy at the AUA.
Dr. Bagley was cited in the Best Doctors in America and Philadelphia Magazine's "Top Doctors" for stone treatment, cancer treatment and ureteroscopy.
After receiving his undergraduate and medical degrees at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Bagley completed two years of general surgery residency at Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, before completing a three-year fellowship in oncology at the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Bagley then completed his four-year urology residency at Yale New Haven Hospital. His first faculty appointment in Urology was at the University of Chicago where, together with Drs. Ed Lyon and Jeffrey Huffman, he pushed the boundaries of ureteroscopy, defining the limitations of available instruments, and relentlessly working to improve and refine them. He then moved to Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1983; there he became The Nathan Lewis Hatfield Professor of Urology and Professor of Radiology until his recent death.
Dr. Bagley’s passion for education matched his innovative contributions. In addition to the publication of over 400 original papers and books, he trained over 60 residents and endourology fellows. Many have risen in academia throughout the US, and internationally in Egypt, the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Israel and Japan. Fully appreciating the importance of a care team, he was a strong supporter of multidisciplinary education, frequently including nurses and medical assistants in academic projects. Additionally, Dr. Bagley presented many courses to educate practicing urologists.
His vision and tireless pursuit of excellence lit the path for the contemporary practice of semi-rigid and flexible ureteroscopy. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, there are no immediate funeral plans.