The urological community and the people of Haiti lost a true humanitarian on January 13, 2023. Marty Dineen was born and raised in Upstate New York, an hour and a half south of Rochester. Following his undergraduate degree at Notre Dame (ND) and medical school and urology residency at Louisiana State, Marty spent 2 years as a Fellow at Roswell Park (1985-1987). During that time, he visited Rochester numerous times, attending conferences, visiting our research labs, and observing surgery. He was always interested in organized urology and planning a lifetime career in helping patients clinically and by leadership roles in urology. We often discussed his future plans. During those 2 years, he presented at our section meetings and resident conferences. I would often see him at national AUA meetings over the years, as he became a leader in AACU (American Society of Clinical Urologists) and UROPAC, yet remained the humble person he was when I first met him more than 35 years ago. He was President of the AUA Southeastern Section 2008-2009 and President of the AACU in 2016-2017. Marty was an active member of the AUA Health Policy Council and the Board of Directors of the Urology Care Foundation. In 2016, Dr Dineen received the Distinguished Service Award from the AUA.

Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, I met Dr Dineen in Rochester in the office of Dr Ralph Pennino, a plastic surgeon and former Chief of Surgery at Rochester General Hospital. At that visit, Drs Dineen and Pennino, both ND grads, were discussing and planning how to assist the people of Haiti. Thirty years ago, plastic surgeons Ralph Pennino and Tim O’Connor founded InterVol, a Rochester organization that collects and repurposes medical equipment and unused medical supplies that now distributes to more than 80 countries and 65 local and national nonprofits. InterVol (www.intervol.org) collects at more than 500 locations in Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, and other facilities across Upstate New York. The following is Dr Pennino’s experience working, volunteering, and operating with Dr Dineen.

Compelled by a beloved former ND professor, Marty and I jumped at the opportunity to help the ND Haiti program in 2008. Its mission, funded by the Gates foundation, was to eradicate lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic disease endemic to Haiti. The existing successful ND program focused on prevention, but no one was caring for the secondary effects: marked lymphedema of the legs and male scrotum resulting in huge hydroceles estimated to affect 200,000 Haitian males. In the past, Marty had actively participated in surgical mission trips, but what was needed for this new venture was a larger effort by many colleagues. Together, we planned a repeating series of surgical missions by ND grads and their colleagues from around the country. Three back-to-back-to-back complete surgical teams were scheduled to begin January 24, 2010, with over 150 patients to be treated. Twelve days prior, the massive earthquake hit Haiti. While most were trying to get out of Haiti, Marty was trying to get in–and he did. Over the next 6 months, he helped InterVol and ND recruit, coordinate, and operate with surgical teams in a donated MASH (mobile army surgical hospital)-like surgical tent. These surgical teams rotated every 8-9 days. Despite a busy practice back home, Marty traveled to Leogane, Haiti every 3-4 weeks, eventually making more than 30 trips and operating on more than 1,000 hydroceles. On the very enormous ones, I got to do the reconstructions. I never thought that I would be doing scrotoplasties at the end of my career. We developed a close relationship and called ourselves the “Ball Busters.” Marty’s efforts to help those afflicted with lymphatic filariasis also included bringing needed surgical supplies. Dr Dineen also paid local Haitian doctors, nurses, and support staff to assist with the surgery, which in turn helped support the local community. Eventually, Haiti fell out of the headlines, and the tent hospital closed. However, the need did not. Marty continued his unwavering support over the next decade.

Over the past few years, Marty and his wife Marianne have supported the building of a new school in Leogane, started by a local resident and former Haitian head of the ND Haiti program. Through their help and many others, the school has been educating more than 100 children for the past 5 years. The permanent structure is almost completed and will contain a medical clinic to support the future medical and surgical teams. Appropriately, the clinic will be named after Marty.