Dr. Ralph V. Clayman is a Distinguished Professor of Urology and Dean (emeritus) at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. He and his collaborators have done pioneering work in the minimally invasive treatment of kidney stones and the development of laparoscopic urologic surgery, having performed the world’s first laparoscopic removal of a kidney in 1990 and the first laparoscopic radical prostatectomy in 1991; the latter set the stage for the evolution of robotic surgery. Dr. Clayman is a co-founder of the Endourology Society and served as co-editor of the Journal of Endourology for thirty-four years, ending in 2020. He holds 23 patents and has published over 490 peer reviewed manuscripts and three books. His primary clinical and research interests are in the areas of urolithiasis and endoscopy.