Helena Furberg-Barnes is a molecular epidemiologist in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Dr. Furberg-Barnes conducts research to identify factors associated with genitourinary cancer etiology and prognosis, as well as genetic factors associated with smoking behavior. She has led the two largest genetic investigations of smoking behavior among individuals of European and African ancestry, both of which identified a region on chromosome 15 significantly associated with how much a person smokes per day. She is Co-Principal Investigator of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Urothelial Cancer Registry and an active member of the International Consortium for Bladder Cancer, which seeks to identify new genetic loci associated with bladder cancer etiology and prognosis. Together with clinical colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Weill Cornell Medical College, Dr. Furberg-Barnes investigates the impact of smoking on bladder cancer prognosis and the accuracy of self-reported smoking among bladder cancer patients. She also collaborates with colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering to evaluate how risk factors for renal cell carcinoma perform as prognostic factors and whether they are associated with specific mutational profiles of prognostic significance utilizing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas.

Richard S. Matulewicz is a urologic oncologist and health services researcher who focuses on using implementation science methods to improve the evidence-based assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of urologic malignancies. He is also a member of the Population Sciences Research Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Centers Cessation Initiative (C3I) Implementation Science Working Group. He is the recipient of the New York Academy of Medicine F.C. Valentine Award and the American Urological Association/Society of Urologic Oncology Research Scholar Award, for which he studied novel methods for evaluating microscopic hematuria. In collaboration with members of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (Dr Helena Furberg-Barnes) and the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences (Dr Jamie Ostroff), he uses implementation science methods to evaluate and optimize the delivery of evidence-based smoking cessation treatment given to urologic cancer patients at the national and local level. For this work, he was awarded a five-year NCI K08 Career Development Award grant. Dr Matulewicz also leads the prospective testicular cancer surgical outcomes program and the Testicular Health Outcomes Research Registry (THOR), a prospective cohort study that assesses patient-reported and health-related quality of life measures among men with germ cell tumors.

Andrew Vickers is a research methodologist in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Dr. Vickers’s research interests include randomized trials, surgical outcomes research, and molecular marker studies. A particular focus of his work is the detection and initial treatment of prostate cancer. Dr. Vickers has analyzed the learning curve for radical prostatectomy and is working on a series of studies demonstrating that a single measure of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) taken in middle age can predict prostate cancer up to 25 years subsequently. He is also researching methods for integrating randomized trials into routine surgical practice to compare different surgical approaches. Dr. Vickers’s methodologic research centers primarily on novel methods for assessing the clinical value of predictive tools. He has developed decision-analytic tools that can be directly applied to a data set, without the need for gathering data on patient preferences or utilities. Dr. Vickers is co-director of the Biostatistics Core of the Memorial Sloan Kettering SPORE in Prostate Cancer, which provides statistical analysis, consultancy, and ongoing quality assurance to all SPORE in Prostate Cancer investigators. He is also course leader of the biostatistics seminar series at MSK.

Fellows interested in Biostatistics/Epidemiology/Outcomes will have an opportunity to sit with Dr. Vickers’ team in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics to learn hands-on about data, statistical analysis, and, if interested, health informatics. Dr. Vickers also meets regularly with fellows to provide research mentoring. Research projects include health outcomes, quality of life data, and access to multi-institutional longitudinal cancer and surgical datasets. There are also opportunities for comparative effectiveness research under the guidance of Elena Elkin.

John P. Mulhall is Director of the Male Sexual and Reproductive Medicine Program, which is devoted entirely to the care of men who have suffered sexual difficulties or fertility problems as a result of their cancer or cancer treatment, including radical pelvic surgery or radiation. This program is designed to minimize the negative impact these treatments have on a man’s long-term sexual function. Dr. Mulhall’s laboratory research currently focuses on two areas: (1) the cellular mechanisms involved in the development of Peyronie’s disease and the means of modifying their behavior; and (2) reducing erectile dysfunction after radical pelvic surgery, particularly with the use of novel drugs to protect erectile tissue and promote regeneration of the nerves that facilitate erections. Among his clinical research interests are evaluating new treatments for Peyronie’s disease, exploring the link between erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular disease, and developing clinical trials of novel ways to preserve erectile tissue after radical prostatectomy.

Kenneth Offit is Chief of the Clinical Genetics Service in the Department of Medicine. Dr. Offit’s research focuses on defining genetic factors that cause an increased susceptibility to cancer. His laboratory serves as the translational research arm of the Clinical Genetics Service, and he also collaborates closely with colleagues in the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program of the Sloan Kettering Institute. Research in the laboratory focuses on three areas: discovery and characterization of novel cancer predisposing genes in humans, including both common and rare variants; studies to describe phenotype, penetrance, modifying effect, and clinical outcomes associated with germline genetic alterations in cancer patients and their families; and interpretation and clinical translation of results of massively parallel sequencing of germline genomes in cancer-prone kindreds. Dr. Offit’s research team identified the most common mutation associated with an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer among individuals of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. He and his Memorial Sloan Kettering colleagues published the first prospective series describing the outcome of preventive ovarian surgery and screening in women at hereditary risk for breast and ovarian cancer. His ongoing research is aimed at defining new genetic risk factors and tailored interventions for families at hereditary risk for cancers of the breast, ovary, colon, prostate, and lymphoid organs.

Sigrid Carlsson is an epidemiologist whose research is focused on the screening and early detection of prostate cancer. She is an investigator in the world’s largest randomized study of screening for prostate cancer, the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer. Dr. Carlsson’s research aims at finding a better balance between the harms and benefits of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening through the use of multiplex testing and risk-stratified strategies that incorporate clinical information, biomarkers, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Her work on how the benefits and harms of prostate cancer screening varies by PSA levels at age 60 and how re-screening intervals can be adapted accordingly was published in the British Medical Journal and has helped inform the screening guidelines in place at MSK, as well as national guidelines. Dr. Carlsson is funded by a K22 career development award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study the psychology of decision-making to better understand patients’ information needs, which will facilitate the development of better decision aids and lead to improved shared decision-making.

Behfar Ehdaie has joint appointments in the Department of Surgery and in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Dr. Ehdaie’s research interests include randomized trials, surgical outcomes research, and evaluating novel imaging and molecular diagnostic tests. A particular focus of his work is active surveillance and focal therapy for men with localized prostate cancer. Dr. Ehdaie led a multi-institutional phase II study evaluating the safety and effectiveness of focal therapy for prostate cancer. He is also researching methods for improving patient autonomy and understanding to improve patient accrual in randomized controlled trials. He has worked with Dr. Andrew Vickers to validate two-stage consent as a novel methodology for conducting randomized trials. Dr. Ehdaie has also developed novel techniques to communicate risk with prostate cancer patients using negotiation theory to boost the appropriateness of active surveillance. He collaborates with Dr. Maria Carlo to investigate the effects of germline DNA repair defects on prostate cancer progression for men managed with active surveillance. Dr. Ehdaie’s studies have been funded by the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). He currently leads the active surveillance clinic at MSK and directs programs in MR-targeted prostate biopsy and focal therapy.

Richard S. Matulewicz is a urologic oncologist and health services researcher who focuses on using implementation science methods to improve the evidence-based assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of urologic malignancies. He is also a member of the Population Sciences Research Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Centers Cessation Initiative (C3I) Implementation Science Working Group. He is the recipient of the New York Academy of Medicine F.C. Valentine Award and the American Urological Association/Society of Urologic Oncology Research Scholar Award, for which he studied novel methods for evaluating microscopic hematuria. In collaboration with members of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (Dr Helena Furberg-Barnes) and the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences (Dr Jamie Ostroff), he uses implementation science methods to evaluate and optimize the delivery of evidence-based smoking cessation treatment given to urologic cancer patients at the national and local level. For this work, he was awarded a five-year NCI K08 Career Development Award grant. Dr Matulewicz also leads the prospective testicular cancer surgical outcomes program and the Testicular Health Outcomes Research Registry (THOR), a prospective cohort study that assesses patient-reported and health-related quality of life measures among men with germ cell tumors.

Andrew Vickers is a research methodologist in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Dr. Vickers’s research interests include randomized trials, surgical outcomes research, and molecular marker studies. A particular focus of his work is the detection and initial treatment of prostate cancer. Dr. Vickers is well-known for his studies showing that a single measure of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) taken in middle age can predict prostate cancer up to 25 years subsequently, the development of the 4Kscore, and his critical work on PSA velocity. He is also researching methods for integrating randomized trials into routine surgical practice to compare different surgical approaches. Dr. Vickers’s methodologic research centers primarily on novel methods for assessing the clinical value of predictive tools. He has developed decision-analytic tools that can be directly applied to a data set without the need for gathering data on patient preferences or utilities. Dr. Vickers is co-director of the Biostatistics Core of MSK’s Specialized Program of Excellence (SPORE) in prostate cancer, which provides statistical analysis, consultancy, and ongoing quality assurance to all SPORE in prostate cancer investigators. He is also course leader of the biostatistics seminar series at MSK. Dr. Vickers routinely mentors fellows and focuses on teaching them good clinical research technique: data management, appropriate documentation of analyses and use of statistical code to run analyses.

Caisis Database

In the Urology Service, we have a robust Caisis database housing clinical data that is prospectively managed for all major disease groups including: prostate, bladder, kidney, testis, and sexual medicine. The database contains clinical data from 1995 to the current year for approximately 17,000 prostatectomies, 4,500 cystectomies, 8,000 nephrectomies and 2,500 retroperitoneal lymph node dissections. We also have a robust database of nearly 4000 patients on active surveillance for prostate cancer. Our database contains clinical variables, including pathology, radiology, treatment modalities, and outcomes (surgical, oncologic, and patient reported including quality of life and recovery post-surgery). MSK has an institutional database with data dating back to 1993, including but not limited to pathology, radiology, treatments; in urology, this information is used to supplement our Caisis database. We also have the capability to display data in interactive tableau graphs in Caisis to aid in visualizing data and discovering potential clinical research projects.

PRO-CEL Core

The Patient-Reported Outcomes, Community Engagement and Language (PRO-CEL) Core is a shared resource for MSK investigators who wish to incorporate patient- or other self-reported outcomes into clinical research or routine care via traditional survey or interview techniques, as well as those who seek to engage socioeconomically, linguistically, and culturally diverse patients and community members. Drs. Thomas Atkinson and Andrew Vickers are Co-Directors of PRO-CEL and have been assisting attendings and fellows from the Urology Service with the publication of analyses related to a large prospective health-related quality of life study of patients undergoing radical cystectomy since 2016.

Additionally, PRO-CEL leads a biweekly Qualitative Methods Workshop that provides fellows with a strong background in the foundation and execution of qualitative research methods, including data collection strategies, mixed methods integration and design, semi-structured interviews and focus groups, and software use for qualitative analysis.

Additional information can be found here. View a list of publications below:

Yu Chen is a medical oncologist on the Genitourinary Oncology Service in the Department of Medicine and is part of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program. Dr Chen’s research interests involve the study of genetic events promoting prostate cancer progression and the development of novel techniques to culture prostate cancer cells derived from patient specimens.

Eugene Pietzak is a urologic surgeon who a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research program centered on the development of biomarkers and novel therapies for patients with high-risk localized bladder cancer. Our objective is to translate our laboratory findings into rationally designed investigator-initiated trials for patients with bladder cancer that will lead to practice-changing advancements. Ongoing research efforts include a prospective immunogenomic profiling protocol for patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) focused on the identification of biomarkers of response and resistance to intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and immune checkpoint inhibition. Findings from this investigation have already been translated to multiple investigator-initiated clinical trials that are open at MSK (NCT04179162, NCT03504163) and evaluating this novel treatment combination to improve outcomes with BCG. Our group is also interested in expanding targeted therapies to patients with localized bladder cancer, using novel “window of opportunity” clinical trial designs that test these novel agents in genomically selected cohorts (such as NCT04917809). We also conduct parallel co-clinical trial studies using patient-derived xenograft and organoid models to gain biological insights into the development of future therapeutic strategies for patients with localized bladder cancer.

David Solit is a medical oncologist on the Genitourinary Oncology Service in the Department of Medicine, and his R01-funded laboratory is part of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program. Dr. Solit’s research interest is in developing therapies that target pathways associated with cancer initiation and progression, with a particular focus on cancers that are dependent upon alterations in tyrosine kinase and steroid receptor signaling. His laboratory has demonstrated that tumors with BRAF mutations are selectively sensitive to MEK inhibition, as compared to tumors in which the pathway is activated by either RAS mutation or mutation/amplification of upstream receptor tyrosine kinases.

Michel Sadelain is Director of the Center for Cell Engineering, which he founded in 2007 to bring together researchers who are investigating stem cell engineering, immune cell engineering, cell delivery and bone marrow transplantation, the transfer and regulation of genes in human cells, and gene repair. Dr. Sadelain’s expertise lies in gene transfer and genetic therapies, as well as in immunotherapies. His research currently focuses on two major areas. One is immune engineering — with a focus on T lymphocytes, dendritic cells, natural killer cells, and artificial antigen-presenting cells — to stimulate the body’s immune response to cancer, while reducing the risk of the immune cells attacking normal tissues. The other area of interest is human stem cell research, with a dual focus on hematologic and neurologic disorders.

Jonathan Coleman, Vincent P. Laudone, and Karim A. Touijer supervise research in minimally invasive surgery. State-of-the-art facilities include a live animal vivarium and allow for the critical evaluation of current robotic, laparoscopic, and image-guided therapeutics as they apply to surgical outcome. Clinical research protocols in minimally invasive procedures explore the range of techniques applicable for the diagnosis and treatment of all urologic cancers, including cryoablation for renal tumors and MRI-directed prostate biopsy, initiated with our colleagues in diagnostic and interventional radiology. Interested fellows will play a role in the critical steps of trial design and implementation, as well as in the performance of percutaneous image-guided procedures. Outcomes research is also an important component in understanding the appropriate application of minimally invasive techniques and is a major effort in our program.

Jonathan A. Coleman is a urologic surgeon in the Department of Surgery whose laboratory is focused on understanding the mechanism of disease recurrence, progression, and response to therapy in upper tract urothelial cancer, a rare but aggressive disease. To interrogate molecular diversity, Dr. Coleman and his team uses genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and tumor immune microenvironment profiling of patient samples, as well as patient-derived organoids and xenograft models generated in his lab. The goal of this research is to inform and develop a rational approach to therapeutic strategies for addressing localized and advanced stages of disease. Along these lines, we are also developing novel photodynamic therapies for local tumor ablation. Our preclinical models are used in support of translational studies for ongoing clinical trials across multiple cancer types. Combination studies of photoablation with immunotherapies is an active area of investigation.

Vincent P. Laudone is Co-Director for Robotic Surgery in the Department of Surgery, where he specializes in minimally invasive surgical techniques for the treatment of urologic cancers. Dr. Laudone’s research focuses on the application of novel surgical technologies and the development of optimal treatment strategies that can be tailored to each patient. He is leading a prospective, randomized trial comparing robotic and open radical cystectomy, as well as conducting an evaluation of molecular forms of PSA and human kallikrein 2 in patients who experience biochemical recurrence after prostate surgery.

Karim A. Touijer is a urologic surgeon in the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a professor of urology at The Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York. Dr. Touijer received a Master’s in Public Health from Harvard University, with an emphasis on comparative effectiveness research. He is recognized internationally as an expert in the use of advanced laparoscopic/robotic surgical techniques to treat patients with genitourinary (GU) cancers. Dr Touijer’s translational research focuses on the development of innovative minimally invasive techniques, such as image-guided interventions, and the implementation of quality outcome metrics to objectively measure and assess surgical performance. His laboratory research collaboration focuses on studying lymph node metastases for GU malignancies using cancer targeted nanotechnology probes and molecular imaging. 

Victor Reuter is Vice Chair of the Department of Pathology, Director of the Immunohistochemistry Core Facility, and Director of the SPORE in Prostate Cancer Biorepository. Dr. Reuter’s research interests focus on the evaluation of new prognostic markers, particularly the pathologic, genetic, and immunohistochemical features of genitourinary tumors that may determine prognosis and predict response to treatment. Fellows working in Dr. Reuter’s laboratory focus on clinical pathological correlations using detailed histologic and immunohistochemical analysis of surgical specimens.

Andrew J. Roth is a board-certified psychiatrist with expertise in the psychological and psychiatric problems of patients with prostate cancer and other genitourinary diseases. Dr. Roth provides individual and couples interventions to patients and their families, as well as care for patients through the Geriatric Counseling Program, Bereavement Services, and Male Sexual and Reproductive Medicine Program. He is the psychiatric liaison to the Genitourinary Cancer Disease Management Team and the Geriatrics Service. Dr. Roth is affiliated with the psychotherapy laboratory, which conducts and examines clinical trials to identify aspects of therapy that prove therapeutic to patients. His research interests have included studying fatigue related to prostate cancer and the development of geriatric-specific psychotherapy.

Oguz Akin is Director of Genitourinary Radiology and Director of Body MRI in the Department of Radiology. Dr. Akin’s research interests are focused on the use of MRI in diagnosing and staging prostate, renal, and gynecologic cancers, including novel functional MRI methods that provide information about tumor biology and metabolism, such as MR spectroscopy, dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, and diffusion-weighted MRI. He is investigating the best use of these imaging methods in predicting and monitoring treatment response and assessing emerging cancer therapies.

Hebert Alberto Vargas is a diagnostic radiologist in the Department of Radiology with a particular interest in imaging of patients with cancers involving the urinary system (e.g., prostate, bladder, and kidneys) and the female reproductive organs (e.g., uterus and ovaries). Dr. Vargas’s research activities are centered on the use of advanced imaging modalities, such as diffusion-weighted and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, and novel PET tracers for the noninvasive diagnosis, staging, assessment of treatment response assessment, and follow-up of patients with cancer.

Hedvig Hricak is Chair of the Department of Radiology. She supervises a broad program of basic and clinical research in imaging urologic cancer, including prostate imaging using MRI and MR spectroscopy (MRS). Clinical studies investigate the use of MRI for staging prostate cancer and for identifying features associated with increased perioperative morbidity. Expanding areas of research include molecular imaging, optical imaging, and the role of MRI and MRS in bladder imaging.

Bernard H. Bochner is Vice Chair of Surgical Services and Co-Director of Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery in the Department of Surgery, as well as coordinator of the bladder cancer multidisciplinary working group. Dr. Bochner conducts clinical and translational research in bladder cancer, focusing on developing prognostic tools and improving surgical outcomes for patients with bladder cancer. He was Director of the International Bladder Cancer Nomogram Consortium, which developed a prognostic outcomes nomogram to predict five-year risk of recurrence following radical cystectomy for bladder cancer. Currently, Dr. Bochner is conducting a prospective study of quality of life in bladder cancer patients undergoing radical cystectomy, and is involved in ongoing studies to determine which features of a tumor predict for more or less aggressive behavior, which would help individualize treatment based on a patient’s tumor characteristics. He is also collaborating on a study investigating the influence of smoking status on the prognosis of bladder cancer.

Hans Lilja is a member of the Departments of Clinical Laboratories, Surgery, and Medicine. Dr. Lilja discovered free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and other prostate-related proteins. He is primarily interested in circulating tumor markers that predict the development and progression of prostate cancer, as well as in the possibility that these markers play a key role in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer. Dr. Lilja continues his research in using prostatic kallikreins to detect prostate cancer, particularly in the early identification of men at high risk of developing the disease. Dr. Lilja and his team are using their findings to develop early risk-group stratification, discriminate clinically significant from insignificant prostate cancer, identify aggressive disease, and monitor therapeutic efficacy.