78 Photo Essay: Dr. Alan McCool, General Urologist, Walker Baptist Medical Center

Words by Terrell Manasco | Image by Blakeney Clouse 

Dr. Alan McCool leans back in his office chair at Walker Baptist hospital, head slightly cocked to one side and arms folded across his chest. He is wearing his white lab coat and his words frequently erupt in rapid bursts as he reminisces about his years of practicing medicine in the Wiregrass region of south Alabama. 

“I took care of tons of peanut farmers – just great guys,” Dr. McCool says. 

Originally from Gadsden, Dr. McCool “just kind of fell in love” with urology as a UAB student while working with a couple of physicians. “Those were just good guys, funny guys,” he says.  “They were a different breed.”

After completing his residency at Indiana University, Dr. McCool practiced at Flowers Hospital and at Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan for eight years before partnering with Dr. Brian Stone at Walker Baptist Medical Center in 2014. Dr. McCool is a general urologist who treats all urologic disorders with special interest in robotics, oncology, and the surgical correction of male and female incontinence and erectile dysfunction. 

Dr. McCool says he enjoys the surgical aspect of urology, particularly the variety of surgical procedures performed. “In a given day, I might perform a minimally-invasive endoscopic stone procedure, a laparoscopic-assisted robot procedure, and an open-cancer operation,” he says. 

The medical landscape has changed dramatically in the last several decades as technology has become more advanced. In 2003, Dr. McCool assisted with one of the first robotic cases in the Midwest. This procedure was a prostate cancer operation that took eight hours. Now, because of improvement in technology and physician experience, that same procedure can be performed in two hours. 

Dr. McCool wants patients to know Walker Baptist’s surgical department offers the most up-to-date robotic technology available at the hospital. Because of this technology, post-operative pain and hospital length of stay have decreased dramatically. He believes for a hospital the size of Walker Baptist, the surgical department can compete with any hospital in the country.

Now in his sixth year in Jasper, Dr. McCool says he really loves his patients in Walker County.  Much like his former patients in the Wiregrass, they seem to have a genuine sense of trust in their doctor and an attitude of “whatever you think, doc.” 78