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As the COVID-19 pandemic affects residency application cycles across the country, one WMed student saw an opportunity to help other students in his specialty.

M4 Phillip Key, an aspiring urologist, said there wasn’t a repository of information for the hundreds of students that apply annually to urology residency programs across the nation.

“It’s very difficult for students to get a look at programs even in a normal year,” Key said. This year is even more challenging with COVID. These are big concerns when it comes to students figuring out program cultures and meeting people at those programs prior to interview day.”

Key found programs were putting together virtual open houses to showcase their campuses and details about the residency. The virtual open houses would feature faculty members from each program, but programs were having a hard time reaching students, and students were having a hard time finding out when events were and how to access them.

Key and Jay Jiang, a student at University of Nebraska Medical Center, independently launched a website, , and built a calendar of the about 200 urology virtual open houses and meet-and-greet sessions scheduled for June, July and August. They later added calendars of grand rounds presentations and virtual interview dates at several campuses.

“It came as a shock when, in the first week, our calendars had been downloaded over 1,000 times because this information wasn’t really available anywhere else,” Key said.

The calendars proved useful. A Key and Jiang started to highlight the website quickly amassed more than 2,000 followers and information on more than several dozen programs has been submitted using questionnaires the students developed. 

Since starting the website, Key and Jiang also have started hosting the UR Roundtable Series, which consists of chief residents and program directors speaking to large groups of applicants in virtual events. One roundtable in August titled “Success in Your Urology Application,” included a panel of program directors from around the country and had 140 attendees.

Key and Jiang also partnered with residents at University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to build upon a mentorship program that connects students with residents. The program has grown to 100 residents paired with students, and Key said there are plans to grow it even more. 

A series of resident-made videos called “Urocribs” showcases the facilities at urology programs around the nation. So far, 22 videos have been added.

Overall, the website’s popularity and growth has been surprising, Key said. Now a leadership board of five aspiring urologists help run the site. Since its June 1 launch, the site has been visited more than 20,000 times.

“It’s amazing how engaged faculty have been across the country with students,” Key said. “As a student it can be intimidating, but program directors say to message them with any questions. They say they want to help.”