As ‘Your Favorite Urologist’, Fenwa Milhouse is using her social-media presence to tackle serious health issues, bust medical myths and help people understand their bodies.
Early in her medical degree at the University of Texas at Austin, Dr Fenwa Milhouse was waiting for an information session about a career in urology. Before the session even began, she had second thoughts, and packed up to leave.
“Not only are urologists surgeons – and for some strange reason, I didn’t see myself as a surgeon at the time – but [in the United States] they’re almost all white men,” says Milhouse. “It’s not a very diverse field at all. I remember thinking: ‘How does a Black girl like me have any business as a urologist?’”
And then, in walks a Black woman physician, and I realised she’s the speaker. She’s the urologist!” I was mesmerised just by her presence. I don’t even remember much of what she said because she was already making a statement – almost like defiance – by being there.”
“I was like, ‘Wow. She’s a badass. I want to be like her’. I could now see myself as a urologist. [I thought], if she can do it and she looks like me, then I can do it! A light switch went on in my brain.”
Seventeen years later, Milhouse is an internationally regarded urologist. She is a pelvic floor surgeon and sexual medicine specialist, with a board position in the Chicago Urological Society. She’s also “Your Favorite Urologist.”
A fixture on social media, Milhouse busts medical myths, shares health facts and, by talking about all things pee and “private parts” in a fun and educational way, she aims to make people feel more comfortable with their bodies.
The everyday life of a doctor, pelvic floor dysfunction and avoiding STIs (the urgent need to pee is a recurring theme), are a few of the many and varied topics she covers on her TikTok channel.
Tackling self-doubt
Born in Nigeria, Milhouse was two years old when her parents immigrated to the United States in the 1980s. Education was paramount, in both Nigerian culture and the family home, she says. “My mom was a nurse and dad had a PhD in geology, and he would always say corny things like ‘BA means begin again, MA means more ahead’,” she laughs. “My dad encouraged my brother and I to strive for the highest level of educational attainment that we wanted.”
When the time came for medical school, Milhouse began having feelings of self-doubt, and worried that she wasn’t ‘good enough’ for fields such as urology, which involved surgery.
My parents instilled in me a belief that I could do whatever I wanted,” she says. “But the world teaches you something else. The world doesn’t really teach Black girls and boys that they can be these professional experts. Being Black in the United States is very different from being Black in like Nigeria, where you’re not subjected to systemic discrimination and subconscious feelings of inferiority.”
After four years of general medical training at the University of Texas at Austin, Milhouse spent another six years at the University of Chicago to become a urology specialist, before adding a sub-specialty, female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery, with a further year’s work.
Newly qualified, Milhouse was hungry to communicate more broadly about health, but was mindful of the competitive nature of the field and the fact that, in the US, only 8–9% of urologists are women, and fewer than 2% are Black.
“When I first got my ‘big girl’ urology job at the largest multi-speciality private practice in the state of Illinois, my goal was to have the reputation of being a good physician and a good surgeon,” she says. “The community I served was predominantly medium and upper-class white suburbia, and I had a sense of having to mind my p’s and q’s.”
But with professional confidence came a stronger voice and the desire to use it to de-mystify key aspects of urology itself, says Milhouse.
Urologists, for example, specialise in the urinary tract of all genders, but because they also care for the male reproductive system (whereas a gynaecologist deals with the female reproductive system), male patients are sometimes surprised or embarrassed to encounter a female urologist, she says. Through her playful TikTok videos, Milhouse is challenging the assumption that urology is a male-led field.
Challenging the stereotype
Milhouse may have a 50,000-strong following on TikTok, which includes patients, doctors and medical students, but acknowledges that she’s “not everybody’s cup of tea”. “I think a lot of people are outdated in their thinking about how a doctor should represent themselves,” she says. “I’ve crossed that line. They think its unprofessional, that you shouldn’t be on your social media dancing and joking about peeing.”
Health misinformation is endemic online, and all but unstoppable, Milhouse laments. Snake oil salesmen offer elixirs to make penises bigger, scientific evidence is scorned and everyone’s an expert, she says. “Trying to combat deeply entrenched ideas is almost impossible. I want to reach people who say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know this! Now that I know more, I can empower myself to get actual professional help.’”
“I’m talking about sex, urine, about your privates in detail, so it’s really important that people from any background can walk into my office and feel comfortable,” she says. “I’m proud to say that my social media helps to create that comfort and connection.”
Milhouse’s social media accounts have also connected her to “progressive” colleagues, who are keen to communicate more widely and challenge stereotypes about who a doctor is and what they do. It’s also opened her up to professional and business opportunities and research collaborators from around the world. Milhouse says social media has been so essential to her career, it even influenced her decision to work independently rather than in a large organisation, where she might “ruffle feathers” with her outlook.
That’s not to say that Milhouse is cavalier with her messaging. “I have a message that’s important and I want to reach all people, so I have to exercise a little bit more caution about which political things I want to involve myself with on my social media,” she says.
Milhouse concedes that having such a strong online presence isn’t for everyone. It’s time- and energy-consuming, for a start, she says. But it’s fun, creative and offers healthcare professionals with a powerful opportunity to communicate directly with the public and, potentially, to educate thousands of people with one well-crafted Facebook post or YouTube clip.
“When I started my social media, I felt like I needed to do it because ‘To whom much is given, much is required’, says Milhouse. “Because I had a life-changing representation moment, I felt – not out of self-importance – a duty to the larger community that does not see themselves having this potential. Obviously, that is going to include Black girls and women, but that could be anybody.”
“I want to be that badass and create a representation moment for others who feel like an outsider, who feel like they don’t fit the mould,” says Milhouse.
Follow Fenwa Milhouse on Twitter | TikTok | Instagram | Facebook | Website
Story by Michelle Fincke
Photo credit: Ayaka Sano
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