When it comes to caring for children with rare or life-threatening pediatric urologic conditions, experience matters. That’s why providers across the tristate area trust the Children’s Health network of RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH), which offers world-class genitourinary care for children, with their most complex cases.
For the third consecutive year, RWJBH’s Pediatric Urology program is ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report. The program treats a full spectrum of conditions affecting the kidneys, bladder, and genitourinary tract, including challenging diagnoses like neurogenic bladder and bladder exstrophy.
“There aren’t many places in New Jersey that do the kind of procedures we do,” says Joseph Barone, MD, Medical Director of Pediatric Urology for RWJBH’s Children’s Health network, a pediatric urologist with The Bristol-Meyers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, and Chief of Urology at Rutgers RWJ Medical School.
Reconstructing a Tiny Bladder
Manha Kamran is a survivor. Born at 26 weeks and weighing just 4 pounds, Manha spent her first four months fighting for her life inside a neonatal intensive care unit. “Doctors gave her a 50/50 chance of survival,” says her mom, Gulshan Majid, of Sayreville.
Manha was born without an anus, a tiny bladder, a swollen left kidney, and a right kidney positioned in her pelvis. She had several surgeries that lead to complications ultimately leaving her with chronic urinary incontinence. Searching for a solution, Manha and her mom traveled to hospitals in New York City and Philadelphia. While some treatments and surgeries helped Manha, none fixed her urinary incontinence. By age 12, she still had to wear diapers, creating a serious emotional toll for her and her family.
Frustrated and exhausted, Majid turned to Dr. Barone who, together with pediatric urologist Wayland Wu, MD, his Children’s Health network of RWJBH and RWJBarnabas Medical Group colleague, offered hope.
Manha had likely had cloacal exstrophy, a rare birth defect in which the bladder and intestine open outside the abdomen. In her case, urine leaked continuously onto her belly. “Cloacal exstrophy is a rare diagnosis occurring in 1 per 200,000 to 400,000 births,” Dr. Wu says. “Manha's case is even rarer, as she has a variant."
Drs. Barone and Wu were confident they could fix Manha’s incontinence and improve her quality of life. In February 2025, they performed a complex 14-hour procedure, closing the outlet of Manha’s bladder to stop leakage and using a segment of her large intestine to create a new bladder.
“We then used another segment of her intestine to create a continent, catheterizable channel, giving her the ability to syphon out urine with a tube several times a day,” Dr. Barone says. The procedure offered Mahna the best chance at regaining normal bladder function.
“I was so happy with Dr. Barone and his team,” Majid says. “The fact that they did this surgery and it went well—that’s the biggest achievement for them, for me and for Manha.”
Pediatric Urology functions like a specialty hospital within the RWJBH network, supported by a team of five board-certified, fellowship-trained pediatric urologists. “Each of us has unique training, and we bring our expertise together for the benefit of children in our care,” Dr. Barone says.
At RWJBH, it’s common for two or three pediatric urologists to partner on challenging surgical cases, as in Manha’s case. The pediatric urology team also hosts regular Complex Case Conferences to develop treatment plans tailored to each patient’s needs.
A System-Based Approach
Unique to RWJBH is a system-wide approach to pediatric urology, championed at the highest levels of the organization. “Our pediatric urology team is part of the Division of Urology at RWJBH,” Dr. Barone says. “That means referring providers can access the same high-level of care for their patients whether they live in Monmouth, West Orange, or anywhere in between—or even out of state.”
RWJBH’s Children’s Health network includes The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital (BMSCH) at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Children’s Hospital of New Jersey at Newark Beth Israel, Unterberg Children’s Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center, and the McMullen Children’s Center at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center.
Specialized Pediatric Resources
As the hub of New Jersey’s only academic pediatric medical campus, BMSCH offers extensive child-specific services, including:
- A Pediatric Operating Room (OR), allowing children to receive pre-op, post-op and recovery care in a child-only environment
- A Pediatric Spinal Anesthesia Program, led by double-board certified anesthesiologists and pediatric-certified OR nurses, offers spinal anesthesia as an alternative to general anesthesia for certain infant urologic surgeries.
- A Pediatric Emergency Department, offering a child- and family-friendly environment staffed 24/7 with board-certified pediatric emergency physicians.
Children who are patients across RWJBH also have access to dedicated Pediatric Intensive Care Units staffed by pediatric intensivists, along with Certified Child Life Specialists, who support each child’s emotional and physical well-being while in the hospital, and keep family members updated on the child’s status and how they’re handling their time in the hospital.
To learn more about pediatric urology at RWJBarnabas Health, visit Pediatric Urology or call 732-235-7960.