15 Leading Prostate Cancer Specialists Providing Care Across the United States

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men, with approximately 1 in 8 men diagnosed during their lifetime. 1 Navigating a diagnosis requires understanding not only treatment options but also the clinical landscape of specialists who lead those efforts. Across institutions ranging from Johns Hopkins and UCSF to the Cleveland Clinic and Huntsman Cancer Institute, a cohort of board-certified urologic oncologists, radiation oncologists, and medical oncologists are advancing both surgical technique and scientific understanding of the disease. The following profiles represent 15 leading prostate cancer specialists currently active across the United States.

Johns Hopkins Brady Urological Institute: A Cluster of National Expertise

The Brady Urological Institute at Johns Hopkins consistently ranks among the nation's foremost prostate cancer programs, and several of its faculty members appear consistently in national peer recognition lists. 6 Dr. Christian Pavlovich holds the Bernard L. Schwartz Distinguished Professorship in Urologic Oncology and serves as Director of the Prostate Cancer Active Surveillance Program. With more than 20 years of minimally invasive surgical experience, he was named one of the top prostate cancer surgeons in the United States by Newsweek in 2024. 2 His clinical focus spans robotic prostatectomy, MRI-guided biopsy, cryotherapy, and TULSA ablative therapy.

Dr. Mohammad E. Allaf serves as Urologist-in-Chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Director of the Brady Urological Institute. Having trained directly under Dr. Patrick Walsh, Dr. Allaf has performed more than 2,000 robotic procedures and published over 250 peer-reviewed research papers. 2 He holds the Jakurski Family Professorship and leads research aimed at reducing treatment-related morbidity. Additionally, Dr. Michael A. Carducci, the AEGON Professor in Prostate Cancer Research at Johns Hopkins, serves as Vice Chair of Solid Tumor Oncology and has led clinical research programs at the GU Oncology program since 2013, with expertise spanning prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers and clinical trials methodology. 2

UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center Specialists

At the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center in San Francisco, Dr. Peter Carroll is internationally recognized for his expertise in urological oncology, particularly prostate cancer surgery and active surveillance. 8 Carroll completed a fellowship in urologic oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and holds both the Ken and Donna Derr-Chevron and Taube Family distinguished professorships at UCSF. He is principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous peer-reviewed studies and has authored or co-authored more than 700 publications. 3 His patient rating stands at 4.9 out of 5, based on 438 recorded reviews.

Dr. Matthew Cooperberg, also at UCSF's Urologic Surgical Oncology Mission Bay program, co-directs the Prostate Program and serves as chief of urology at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. 3 In 2016, the National Cancer Institute awarded him a grant as principal investigator to refine prostate cancer prognosis using novel microRNA-based biomarker signatures. He co-authored the foundational proposal in 2013 for what became the American Urological Association Quality (AQUA) Registry and continues to serve as its Senior Physician Adviser. Dr. Rohit Bose, MD, PhD, rounds out the UCSF contingent as a genitourinary oncologist specializing exclusively in prostate cancer, with research supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the UCSF Benioff Initiative for Prostate Cancer Research. 3

Emory University and Winship Cancer Institute Representation

Dr. Martin G. Sanda holds the Louis McDonald Orr Distinguished Professorship of Urology at Emory University School of Medicine and directs the Prostate Cancer Program at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. 4 Previously a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and director of the Prostate Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, he co-led the Prostate Cancer Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute before joining Emory in 2013. Dr. Sanda currently serves as principal investigator on three multi-center National Cancer Institute and Prostate Cancer Foundation-funded consortium studies, with more than 4,400 patients enrolled across those trials, focused on urine-based cancer detection, quality-of-life benchmarking, and prostate cancer vaccine development. 4

Dr. Adam Lorentz, an Associate Professor of Urology at Emory University School of Medicine and Chief of Urology at Emory University Hospital Midtown, contributes robotic surgical expertise to the institution's prostate cancer program. 4 Dr. Lorentz achieved a distinction as the first urologist in Atlanta to perform single-port robotic surgery using advanced Da Vinci technology and has received multiple peer-recognized honors including the William Hollis Cooner Award for exemplary compassion in patient care. His clinical interests include urologic cancers, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and minimally invasive surgery. 4

Cleveland Clinic and UPMC Regional Specialists

Dr. Chad Ritch, MD, MBA, FACS, serves as Chair of the Division of Urology for the Cleveland Clinic Florida Market, based in Weston, Florida. A nationally recognized urologic oncologist, Dr. Ritch trained at Duke University for his undergraduate degree, earned his MD and MBA from the University of Chicago, completed his urology residency at Columbia University, and pursued a urologic oncology fellowship at Vanderbilt University. 5 His clinical expertise centers on bladder, prostate, and kidney cancer with a particular focus on robotic-assisted surgery. Dr. Carvell Nguyen, MD, PhD, serves as Director of the Cleveland Clinic West Region Submarket for Urology in Cleveland, Ohio. 5 He earned his MD and PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, completed residency and fellowship at the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, and has published extensively on prostate cancer prediction models, clinical decision-making, and racial disparities in urologic care, contributing to National Cancer Institute clinical trial review processes.

Dr. Bruce L. Jacobs at UPMC in Pittsburgh holds an associate professorship of urology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and a master's degree in public health from the University of Michigan. 7 His fellowships covered health services research, laparoscopy and endourology, and urologic oncology at the University of Michigan, and his clinical specialties span prostate, kidney, bladder, and testicular cancers. His patient rating is 4.8 out of 5, based on 255 recorded reviews.

Massachusetts General Brigham and Harvard-Affiliated Specialists

Dr. Adam S. Feldman at Massachusetts General Hospital serves as Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and as Program Director of the Combined Harvard Medical School Urologic Oncology Fellowship. 9 His research into novel proteomic biomarker discovery earned him a Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award and a Physician Research Training Award from the Department of Defense. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and manages multiple clinical outcomes databases at MGH covering prostate cancer, urothelial cancer, and renal cell carcinoma. 9

Dr. Michael L. Blute serves as Chief of Urology at Massachusetts General Hospital and holds the Walter S. Kerr, Jr. Professorship of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. 10 He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Creighton University School of Medicine in 1982 and spent decades at the Mayo Clinic, eventually becoming the Anson L. Clark Professor and Chairman of the Department of Urology there in 1999. His bibliography includes 387 peer-reviewed publications, and his academic interests span prostate cancer biomarkers, nephron-sparing surgery, and the discovery of B7 family checkpoint inhibitor biomarkers in kidney cancer. He received the 2010 AUA Career Contribution Award and serves on 13 editorial boards. 10

Huntsman Cancer Institute, Columbia, and Additional U.S. Specialists

At the University of Utah's Huntsman Cancer Institute, two specialists represent distinct but complementary dimensions of prostate cancer care. Dr. Jonathan D. Tward, MD, PhD, FASTRO, holds the Vincent P. and Janet Mancini Presidential Endowed Chair in Genitourinary Malignancies and directs the HCI Genitourinary Cancers Center, coordinating nearly 100 investigators across 45 departments and 21 interdisciplinary programs. 11 An internationally recognized pioneer in artificial-intelligence-driven digital and molecular oncology, he deploys cutting-edge radiation technologies including IMRT, IGRT, SBRT, and both low- and high-dose-rate brachytherapy, enhanced by AI-based image segmentation and adaptive-planning algorithms. 11 Dr. Neeraj Agarwal, MD, FASCO, also at Huntsman, directs the Genitourinary Oncology Program and the Center of Investigational Therapeutics. He served as study chair or steering committee member for trials leading to FDA and EMA approval of apalutamide, olaparib, and talazoparib for patients with metastatic prostate cancer, and has received the SWOG Young Investigator Award and a National Cancer Institute Cancer Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award. 11

Dr. Michael Feuerstein, MD, MPH, practices urologic oncology through ColumbiaDoctors at NewYork-Presbyterian in White Plains, New York, holding a 4.9-star patient rating across 106 recorded ratings. 12 In Charlotte, North Carolina, Dr. Nicholas Noble at Urology Specialists of the Carolinas offers a broad urologic oncology scope including da Vinci prostatectomy, kidney cancer surgery, robotic surgery, and endourology, trained at Louisiana State University Health Sciences and completing residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. 13 Multidisciplinary team-based care, combining urologic surgeons with radiation oncologists and medical oncologists, remains the standard organizational model across all of these institutions, ensuring that treatment decisions for prostate cancer reflect the full range of available clinical evidence and emerging therapeutic options. 1

Evaluating Specialist Qualifications and What Patients Should Understand

Selecting a prostate cancer specialist involves assessing multiple professional dimensions beyond institutional prestige. Board certification through the American Board of Urology or the American Board of Internal Medicine sub-specialty in medical oncology signals minimum credential standards. Fellowship training in urologic oncology at a recognized cancer center provides additional depth. Publication output, principal investigator status on funded clinical trials, and membership in guideline-setting bodies such as the American Urological Association and the Society of Urologic Oncology reflect ongoing scientific engagement. 1 Patient-reported outcome scores, where available, provide supplemental information on communication quality and care experience, though these metrics vary significantly by reporting volume and should be interpreted within context.

Patients should also recognize that prostate cancer care carries meaningful decision complexity. Gleason score and PSA levels are critical diagnostic markers that specialists use to determine staging and treatment pathways. 1 Active surveillance is an increasingly recommended approach for low-risk disease, involving periodic PSA monitoring and biopsy rather than immediate intervention, and not all specialists apply surveillance protocols with equal rigor. Treatment side effects, including urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and bowel changes, vary substantially by treatment modality and surgical technique. Hormone therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radioligand therapy represent advanced options for metastatic disease, but eligibility criteria for these interventions are strict, and access to clinical trials may be limited to high-volume NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers. 1 Seeking consultations across more than one specialist, particularly when facing high-risk or advanced disease, remains an evidence-aligned practice encouraged across major oncology guidelines.

Sources

1. American Cancer Society - cancer.org/cancer/types/prostate-cancer.html
2. Johns Hopkins Medicine - hopkinsmedicine.org
3. UCSF Health - ucsfhealth.org
4. Emory Healthcare - emoryhealthcare.org
5. Cleveland Clinic - providers.clevelandclinic.org
6. Johns Hopkins Medicine Brady Urological Institute - hopkinsmedicine.org/brady-urology-institute
7. UPMC - providers.upmc.com
8. UCSF Medical Center - ucsfhealth.org/conditions/prostate-cancer
9. Mass General Brigham - doctors.massgeneralbrigham.org
10. Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School - doctors.massgeneralbrigham.org
11. University of Utah Health / Huntsman Cancer Institute - healthcare.utah.edu
12. ColumbiaDoctors at NewYork-Presbyterian - doctors.columbia.edu
13. Urology Specialists of the Carolinas - urologyspecialistsnc.com