Christopher Payne
Christopher Payne (Col ’81 CM)
Christopher Payne (Col ’81 L/M) was recognized as the 2019 Distinguished Philanthropist by the American College of Surgeons. The award honored Payne for his philanthropic endeavors, service to the surgical profession and long-lasting contributions to the medical community and the ACS.
Christopher Payne (Col ’81 CM)
Christopher K. Payne (Col ’81 L/M) has been elected Chair of the Worldwide Fistula Fund (WFF) Board of Directors. An expert in female urology, Dr. Payne joined the WFF in 2012 and has provided valuable leadership as the organization expands into new regions of the developing world. Dr. Payne travels to WFF programs in Ethiopia and Niger and provides expert instruction and surgeries each year
In collaboration with Dr. Itengre Ouedraogo, WFF FIGO certified fistula surgeon in Niger, Dr. Payne recently published two papers related to programs at Danja Fistula Center–a six month follow-up study of over 300 fistula patients and a report of 10 cases in which fistulas were caused by Female Genital Mutilation.
Dr. Payne will help further the mission of WFF to protect and restore the health and dignity of the world’s most vulnerable women by preventing and treating childbirth injuries. Founded in 1995, Worldwide Fistula Fund strategically partners with local organizations and institutions to enable Africans to solve their own problems in meeting their women’s health care needs. We support girls and women to recover and build new lives after devastating childbirth injuries.
Although childbirth injuries like obstetric fistula are both preventable and treatable, an estimated one million girls and women currently suffer from this injury in the developing world. Caused by prolonged, obstructed labor, obstetric fistula leaves a woman incontinent. Watch Irene’s story. In addition to treatment, WFF provides social reintegration services and promotes prevention through doctor & community health advocacy training to improve the overall safety of childbirth. WFF also treats women with pelvic organ prolapse, another devastating childbirth injury.
Dr. Payne is also currently an elected Trustee of the International Continence Society and a member of the ICS Developing World Committee. Originally from West Virginia, Dr. Payne graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Virginia. He earned his MD at Vanderbilt University and completed his urology residency at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Following his fellowship in Female Urology, Urodynamics, and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery at the University of California Los Angeles, Dr. Payne joined Stanford University in 1993 to launch their program in Female Urology and NeuroUrology. He left Stanford in 2014 as Emeritus Professor having published over 100 articles and book chapters during his tenure there.
Dr. Payne co-founded Vista Urology and Pelvic Pain Partners in San Jose, CA where he continues to focus his work in female urology.
Christopher Payne (Col ’81 CM)
Christopher Payne (Col ’81 CM) retired after serving for 21 years as the director of female urology and neurourology at Stanford University Medical School; he will remain on the faculty as emeritus professor of urology. For 10 consecutive years, Dr. Payne was voted to Castle Connolly’s “America’s Top Doctors” list. In summer 2014, he and his wife, Dr. Jeannette Potts, opened a new practice, Vista Urology and Pelvic Pain Partners, in San Jose, Calif. The practice aims to provide comprehensive, personalized care to patients with complex urological disorders. Dr. Payne and Dr. Potts have also started a holistic farm and vineyard, Al Pie del Cielo, in the Central Coast region of California.