Marianne Passarelli, MD, is a urologist at Yale Medicine focusing on female urologic issues, including urinary tract infections, kidney stones, overactive bladder, voiding dysfunctions, and pelvic health issues.
When meeting with new patients, Dr. Passarelli starts by asking a set of routine questions before allowing the patient to chat freely. This helps her get more information about each patient’s life and underlying stressors. “We usually do pelvic exams as part of their routine visit. While patients are preparing for physical examination, I will talk with them about their daily life, and I think that’s where a lot of the issues come out that are affecting what’s causing their actual urinary dysfunction issues,” she says.
As a clinician, Dr. Passarelli prefers conservative treatment methods. “I try not to jump to pharmacologic treatments, medication treatments, or surgery immediately, and just try to do a lot of behavioral modification,” she says.
She also treats her patients as people. “I establish friendly relationships with my patients at a level where we talk about things other than their physical needs and medical problems. A lot of times, they feel relief just talking about those issues,” she says.
In addition to treating patients, Dr. Passarelli is an assistant professor of clinical urology at Yale School of Medicine.
