About the Association of Peyronie’s Disease Advocates

Our Mission

Established in 2002, the Association of Peyronie’s Disease Advocates (APDA) is a non-profit 501c(3) organization working to advance the education and awareness of the men’s health condition called Peyronie’s Disease (PD).

We believe that an alliance of concerned patients, partners, and physicians can re-identify and strengthen the core issues associated with PD.  The APDA promotes the marketing, dialog and creation of treatment options, solid unbiased education, comprehensive support, and relevant referral services.  The better a man with Peyronie’s disease understands how to deal with its effects, the better he can move forward with his condition and lead a fulfilling life.

About APDA

Working together to provide support and find a cure. That’s what inspired us — two men with Peyronie’s disease and a woman whose husband had the condition — to establish the Association of Peyronie’s Disease Advocates (APDA) in 2002.

The APDA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to Peyronie’s disease sufferers and their families. Our Medical Advisory Board is made up of renowned physicians and leaders in the medical field who share our commitment to advance the understanding and treatment of this condition. Our mission is to provide sound information, comprehensive support, and relevant referral services to patients, partners, and physicians seeking Peyronie’s disease resources. At APDA, it is our sincerest intention to become your primary resource for honest, direct information and to connect you with others who face the physical and psychological effects of Peyronie’s.

As a representative of Peyronie’s disease sufferers and their partners, our commitment to finding a cure for Peyronie’s disease is unwavering.

If you could help other men with Peyronie’s disease get the help they deserve, would you?

Board of Directors

Stan Hardin, President

Stan cofounded APDA and created this website after being diagnosed with Peyronie’s disease. His main interests are to help others with this disease, to provide a list of physicians experienced in treating this disease, and to work with doctors and research organizations to obtain funding for more research into a cure and improved treatments.

Laurence Levine, M.D.

Dr. Levine is a Professor in the Department of Urology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, and Director of the Male Sexual Function and Fertility program. He is also in group practice with Urology Specialists in Chicago.

John P. Mulhall, M.D.

Dr. Mulhall is Director of the Male Sexual and Reproductive Medicine Division of Urology in the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York.

Twitter: @Peyroniesguru

Medical Advisory Board

The APDA Medical Advisory Board is made up of leading physicians in Peyronie’s disease treatment and research. Each board member is also a member of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America and their expertise is highly regarded among their peers.

The advice and guidance of the Medical Advisory Board are paramount in accomplishing the mission of this organization. They review all medical content on this site to ensure its accuracy and share their expertise in their answers to questions from patients and their partners.

John P. Mulhall, M.D.

  • Director, Sexual Medicine Research Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • Associate Attending Physician, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • President, Sexual Medicine Society of North America
  • Chairman, APDA Medical Advisory Board
  • Member, APDA Board of Directors

Dr. Mulhall is currently an Associate Professor of Urology and Director of the Sexual Medicine Program at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York Presbyterian Hospital. He has a joint appointment with the Department of Urology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he is an associate attending physician and directs the Sexual and Reproductive Health Program. He is also the Director of the Sexual Medicine Research Laboratory at Weill Medical College.

Dr. Mulhall has received numerous research awards for Peyronie’s disease. He sits on the committees of several national and international organizations, including the board of directors of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA) and the editorial boards of the Journal of Urology and the International Journal of Impotence and Sex Research. He is a reviewer for multiple journals and grant funding agencies.

In his own, words: “Satisfactory sexual relations has been identified by WHO (World Health Organization) as a basic human right. The suffering that men with Peyronie’s disease experience has largely been unappreciated and the responsibility to change this lies firmly on the shoulders of both the physicians who treat this condition and the men who suffer from it. My primary goal for involvement in this online forum is to improve patient knowledge and public awareness of this condition so that we can in the future discover its cause and develop effective medical treatments.”

Laurence Levine, M.D.

  • Professor, Department of Urology, Rush Medical College, Rush Medical Center, Chicago
  • Past President, Sexual Medicine Society of North America
  • Past President, Chicago Urologic Society
  • Member, APDA Board of Directors
  • Co-coordinator and primary contributor to “Ask the Doctor” on the APDA website
  • http://www.drlevinemenshealth.com/

Dr. Levine is a Professor in the Department of Urology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois and the Director of the Male Sexual Function and Fertility Program. He is also in group practice with Uropartners in Chicago. He is a past Board Member and President of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America and has served as a member of the Executive Committee and is a past President of the Chicago Urologic Society. He is an ad hoc reviewer for The Journal of Urology, Urology, Journal of Sexual Medicine, Journal of Andrology, and Asian Journal of Andrology.

Dr. Levine has made substantial contributions to the medical press in the form of peer-reviewed journal articles, abstracts, book chapters, and internet publications regarding Peyronie’s disease, male sexual dysfunction, fertility, and reconstructive urology. Dr. Levine was the editor and contributor the first textbook on Peyronie’s disease, which was published by Humana Press in December 2007, and wrote a book for patients entitled Understanding Peyronie’s Disease published by Addicus books in 2008. He is the lead author of the chapter on Peyronie’s Disease in Campbell’s Textbook of Urology. Other recent publications include review articles on medical and surgical treatments of Peyronie’s disease, as well as recommendations to the medical community on a standardized assessment of Peyronie’s disease.

He also have been actively involved in basic science research on Peyronie’s disease at Rush University Medical Center, where he and his colleagues are looking for the causes of and new treatments for this distressing medical problem.

Wayne Hellstrom, M.D.

  • Past President, Sexual Medicine Society of North America
  • Professor of Urology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana

Dr. Wayne Hellstrom is Professor of Urology and Chief of Andrology (male infertility and sexual dysfunction) at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, where he has been employed since 1988. His practice is devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of sexual dysfunction, including Peyronie’s disease, surgical and vascular reconstruction, and penile implantation. A clinician, author, and lecturer, Dr. Hellstrom has published nearly 200 peer-reviewed articles in professional publications and contributed numerous chapters in textbooks. He also is the editor of Male Infertility and Sexual Dysfunction and The Handbook of Sexual Dysfunction. Dr. Hellstrom earned his undergraduate and medical degrees at McGill University in Montreal and completed his urology residency at the University of California at San Francisco and his fellowship at the University of California at Davis. He has been awarded many honors in the field of urology, infertility, and erectile dysfunction. He currently serves as President of the Sexual Medical Society of North America and Committee Chair of the International Society for Impotence Research, and is an associate editor for The Journal of Andrology and The International Journal of Impotence Research.

David Ralph, M.D.

  • Consultant Urologist at St. Peter’s Andrology Centre Hospital, London
  • Past President British Society of Sexual Medicine

Dr. David Ralph is Consultant Urologist at St Peter’s Andrology Centre Hospital and the Institute of Urology, London since 1996. His practice is entirely confined to Andrology with main interests in penile reconstruction, Peyronie’s Disease, Penile cancer and male infertility. He is Past-President of both the British Society for Sexual Medicine and the Andrology Section of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and is currently Treasurer of the ESSM.

He completed his MD thesis on the aetiology of Peyronie’s Disease and has an active research programme on this topic with 2 research fellowships. He chaired the international consensus panel on Peyronie’s Disease in 2010 and is heavily involved on the international Peyronie’s circuit. He has written many chapters on all aspects of Andrology, has published extensively Peyronie’s Disease and has presented his work worldwide. He also runs a European training fellowship for penile prosthesis implantation as well as research fellowships.

Christian Nelson, PhD.

  • Attending Psychologist Dept. of Psychiatry at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Cnt
  • Asst. Professor of Psychology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Dr. Nelson is a Clinical Psychologist who is an Assistant Attending Psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Psychiatry Department at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He is also on the Editorial Board and is the statistical consultant for the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Dr. Nelson has been working with men on the psychological aspect of Peyronie’s Disease for the past 7 years. The primary aim of his research to understand the emotional impact sexual dysfunction can have on men and their relationships and to test the efficacy of psychological interventions to help men overcome these difficulties. Dr. Nelson has authored over 70 peer reviewed publications and text book chapters, and recently published one of the only manuscripts outlining the emotional impact Peyronie’s Disease can have on a man, “The chronology of depression and distress in men with Peyronie’s disease.” He is currently conducting two National Institutes of Health sponsored studies investigating the most effective way to help men with the emotional aspect of sexual dysfunctions, and he also has research funded from the National Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Martell Foundation.

Martin K. Gelbard, M.D.

  • Chief of Surgery at St. Joseph Medical Center, Los Angeles, California
  • Consulting Urologist at Sepulvedo Veteran’s Administration Hospital
  • Assistant Clinical Professor of Urology at UCLA School of Medicine

Dr. Gelbard graduated with honors from Stanford University, after attending Burbank High School. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of California at Davis. Two more years at the Sacramento Medical Center followed, in a General Surgery Martin K, Gelbard, MD internship and residency. His final four years of postgraduate training were spent in the UCLA Urology residency program.

In private practice in Burbank since 1982, Dr. Gelbard is certified by the American Board of Urology, is a consulting Urologist to the Sepulveda Veteran’s Administration Hospital, and an assistant Clinical Professor of Urology at the UCLA School of Medicine. He has served as Chief of Surgery at Saint Joseph Medical Center, a consulting Editor to the Journal of Urology, and is a contributing member of a number of professional organizations, including the American Urologic Association, the Society of Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgeons, and The Society for Impotence Research. Dr. Gelbard ihas a special interest in reconstructive surgery, having published extensively in this , and has served as the princi-investigator in several PDA clinical trials.

Mohit (Mo) Khera, M.D.

Medical Director of Houston Hospital for Specialized Surgery
Assistant Professor of Urology at Baylor College School of Medicine

Dr. Mohit (Mo) Khera is an Assistant Professor in the Scott Department of Urology at Baylor College of Medicine, he specializes in Male Infertility and Female Sexual Dysfunction. He also serves as the Director of the Laboratory for Sexual Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Medical Director of the Houston hospital for Specialized Surgery.

Dr. Khera is an enthusiastic investigator in the laboratory. In 2006 he was awarded the American Urological Association and Pfizer Scholars Grant to study testosterone replacement therapy for prostate cancer patients, an in 2008 he was awarded an Allergan grant to study the effects of botulinum toxin in treating Peyronie’s disease. These studies continue, and in 2009 Dr. Khera won the Sexual Medicine Society of North American Basic Service Award.

Dr. Khera freely shares his time and knowledge with the general public. He has been voted of Houston’s Best Doctors and Sport Fitness Magazine and is a frequent guest on such TV programs as Fox News “Ask the Doctor”. He also writes a blog on Men’s Health for the Houston Chronicle Newspaper.

Register for our newsletter!

To help you find answers and better understand this condition, a question-and-answer forum has been developed, where Dr. Laurence Levine and Dr. John Mulhall, along with other members of the APDA Medical Advisory Board and guest contributors, answer questions from patients and their partners. As leaders in Peyronie’s disease research and treatment, board members provide comprehensive and unbiased information about a broad range of topics.