Dr. Barry is from rural Minnesota and of parents who lived through the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression and WWII. He is the product of the public education systems of Minnesota and Oregon. He came to the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) after his military service His Mach 1 gloves are on the wall in his office.
He has spent his entire academic career at OHSU where he is Professor of Urology and Emeritus Professor of Surgery in the Division of Abdominal Organ Transplantation.
He was Chief of Urology at OHSU from 1979-2008 when he stepped down to be President of the American Urological Association (AUA). He was Surgical Director of Kidney Transplantation from 1976 to 2009, and he stepped down on the 50th anniversary of that program. From 2001-2002 he was President of the American Board of Urology. He is Past- President of his freshman medical school class at the U of Minnesota, the Urologic Society for Transplantation and Renal Surgery, the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons, and the Clinical Society of Genitourinary Surgeons. He was the 2014 recipient of the Society of Government Services Urologists H. Godwin Stevenson Award, the 2015 recipient of the AUA’s Ramon Guiterras Award, the 2016 recipient of the Societe Internationale d’Urologie Astellas European Foundation Award, the 2018 recipient of the Ig Nobel Prize for Reproductive Medicine (the Stamp Test), the 2019 recipient of the AUA’s Didusch Award for his medical art work, the 2021 Keyes Medal from the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons and the inaugural Barry Medal from the Clinical Society of Genitourinary Surgeons in 2024. His primary clinical interest is renal transplantation. His in-person contributions to international education have been to Egypt, India, Bangladesh, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Mexico.
He is the namesake for endowed scholarships at Pine City High School (PCHS), a supporter of the PCHS Dragons basketball, football and girls’ tennis teams, a member of its Athletic Hall of Fame, a donor to Pine City’s A Place for You and the namesake for an endowed lectureship in the Department of Urology at the U of Minnesota, an endowed professorship at OHSU, a travelling fellowship for the Urologic Society of Renal transplantation and Renal Surgery, and an endowed award for the Clinical Society of Genitourinary Surgeons.
He is Lilly Aurelius’ grandfather.