Philip Butler, MD, FACS

Dr. Butler is certified by the American Board of Urology and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS). He has been practicing with Coast Urology Medical Group located in La Jolla and Encinitas, California, since 1986 after training with the late Dr. James Whisenand.

He attended the University of Oregon, then graduated with honors from the University of California at Irvine. He earned his medical degree at New York Medical College and then returned to Southern California to complete a six-year residency in surgery and urology at UC-San Diego Medical Center. Dr. Butler is a past chairperson of the department of urology, Scripps Memorial Hospital, LaJolla, and presently the chairperson of the department of urology at Scripps, Encinitas Hospital.

Dr. Butler has special training in prostate cancer therapy, laser lithotripsy, surgery for kidney stones, laparoscopy and other minimally invasive surgeries. He is also trained in special less-invasive therapies for prostate enlargement. He is active in clinical research and is a clinical instructor in urology at UCSD Medical Center.

Edward Cohen, MD, FACS

Dr. Cohen earned his undergraduate degree from UCLA with Magna Cum Laude honors, and initiation into Phi Beta Kappa. He attended University of California, Davis School of Medicine. After obtaining his medical degree, Dr. Cohen completed his surgical internship and urologic residency at University of San Diego Medical Center, San Diego, California. He has been in practice with Coast Urology Medical Group, located in La Jolla and Encinitas, California, since 1990.

Dr. Cohen is certified by the American Board of Urology and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS). He is a member of the American Urologic Association. He is currently chief of the section of urology at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California. He has received certification in the use of lasers, extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) and transuretheral needle ablation of the prostate (TUNA), as well as transperineal radioactive seed implants (brachytherapy).

John Naitoh, MD, FACS

Dr. Naitoh is certified by the American Board of Urology and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS). While he was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Dr. Naitoh spent most of his life living in San Diego. He grew up in the neighborhood of Point Loma, and later attended the UCSD School of Medicine in La Jolla. He subsequently completed two years of residency training in general surgery and four years of urology at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. In 1998, he finished two years of additional training in urologic cancer surgery at the UCLA School of Medicine, where he also served as a clinical instructor and associate attending at the UCLA Medical Center, the Sepulveda VA Medical Center, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and the Wadsworth VA Medical Center.

During his tenure at UCLA, he focused his efforts on the treatment of prostate cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer and testis cancer. During his time there, he gave over 50 presentations to national and regional meetings about the treatment of urologic cancer, and authored over 40 scholarly articles about prostate, bladder, and kidney cancer in publications that include The Oxford Textbook of Surgery, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the Journal of Urology. He has served as an editorial reviewer for the journals Cancer and the Journal of Urology, and has worked as a health care policy consultant for the RAND corporation.

Dr. Naitoh brings to his practice a strong interest in the treatment of urologic cancers, and the development of treatments that both cure cancer and preserve the patients quality of life. Areas of interest include the nerve-sparing, modified apical dissection radical prostatectomy, continent urinary diversion (neobladder) construction following bladder cancer surgery, and surgery to debulk kidney tumors prior to immunotherapy. He also has skills treating general urologic disorders that include benign prostate enlargement, urinary incontinence, sexual dysfunction, infertility urinary infections, and stone disease.

He moved his practice from UCLA to the Scripps La Jolla and Scripps Encinitis campuses in 1998 and is pleased to be associated with Coast Urology. He is fluent in English and Spanish, and has affiliations with Scripps Hospital and the UCSD School of Medicine (Thorton-UCSD Medical Center).