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Jeffrey Holzbeierlein, MD

Dr. Jeffrey Holzbeierlein is the John W. Weigel Endowed Professor of Urology and the Director of Urologic Oncology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He was raised in Edmond, Oklahoma and received his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University where he played for the men’s tennis team. He received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma and joined the faculty at KU after completing his internship and residency at Vanderbilt University and a fellowship in Urologic Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Dr. Holzbeierlein is a member of the Society of Urologic Oncology where he is the past Chair of the Fellowship Committee and serves on the Executive Board of the SUO. He is the President-Elect of the South Central Section of the American Urological Association and serves on the Board of Directors. He has served on the American Board of Urology Examination Committee and is currently and Oral Examiner for the Board Exams. He is a past Assistant Editor for the Journal of Urology. Dr. Holzbeierein has served on numerous AUA Committees including: the Practice Guidelines Committee and the Public Media Committee and has completed the AUA Leadership Program. In addition, he is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and serves on the Kansas selection board. Dr. Holzbeierlein is also the past Chair and founding member of the Young Urologic Oncologists Section of the Society of Urologic Oncology. He is a reviewer for the Journal of Urology, Practical Reviews in Urology, Cancer, and Urologic Oncology. He was recently awarded the Resident Mentoring Award for faculty at the University of Kansas Hospital.

Dr. Holzbeierlein serves on numerous hospital committees including the University of Kansas Physicians Board of Directors, the Promotions and Tenure Committee, the Elections Committee for the School of Medicine, and the Board for the Kansas Tissue and Serum Repository. He is also co-director of the K-Inbre Translational Research Core, and the Director of the Genitourinary Disease Working Group. He is the Director of the Burns and McDonnell High Risk Prostate Cancer Prevention and Survivorship Clinic at the University of Kansas Cancer Center.

Dr. Holzbeierlein has published numerous peer reviewed journal articles, and has numerous presentation and abstracts in journals and textbooks dealing with urologic oncology. He has been an annual lecturer for an AUA Course focusing on the Management of High Risk Superficial Bladder Cancer which was selected as one of the “best courses” at the AUA. He has intramural and extramural grant support including a co-investigator on an R01, and as PI on several investigator initiated trials and Pharma trials.

Dr. Holzbeierlein specializes in the treatment of genitourinary malignancies including prostate, bladder, kidney, testicular, and penile cancers. His research interest includes the androgen receptor as a target of Hsp90 inhibitors in prostate cancer and clinically decreasing the morbidity associated with cystectomy. He lives in Kansas City with his wife Jill and their 4 children, and is civically active at the Hope Lodge of Kansas City and Maisson deNaissance.

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Sam S. Chang, MD

After completing his education and training at Princeton University, Vanderbilt University, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Dr. Chang returned to Nashville and is currently the Patricia and Rodes Hart Endowed Professor and Vice-Chair of Urologic Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Focusing on urologic oncology and education, he has led efforts in integration of evidence-based medicine in clinical pathways, enhanced guidelines formulation, and improved cancer staging as the former chair of the AJCC GU Staging Panel and as a former CoC member. He is the current chair of the AUA Guidelines on Noninvasive Bladder Cancer as well as the chair of the AUA-ASCO-ASTRO-SUO Guidelines on Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer and formerly, the facilitator for the AUA Renal Cancer Follow-up Guidelines and chair of the SUO Practice Statement on Advanced Prostate Cancer. Dr. Chang has authored more than 200 original publications. For his academic efforts, he received the SUO’s first-ever Distinguished Service Award, the CaPCURE Young Investigator Award, and has been twice named a Journal of Urology’s Best Reviewer. Dr. Chang was honored with the American Urological Association Gold Cystoscope Award in 2011.

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Michael S. Cookson, MD

Michael S. Cookson, MD is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Urology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, and holds the Donald D. Albers Endowed Chair in Urology. An accomplished researcher and lecturer, he is the author of 206 peer-reviewed journal publications and 28 chapters of various textbooks in urology and urologic surgery, and has been recognized nationally for his outstanding contributions to urologic oncology.

Dr. Cookson completed his Urology residency at the University of Texas, San Antonio and completed his Urologic Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He was a member of the faculty at Vanderbilt University from 1998 to 2013, where he served as the Vice Chairman of Urologic Surgery and Director of the Urologic Oncology Fellowship Program.

Dr. Cookson has devoted a significant portion of his academic career to the management of patients with urologic cancers, with a strong emphasis on Clinical Guidelines, Education and Evidenced Based Medicine. He was a member of the AUA/ABU examination committee for 10 years, including a member of Task for Cancer, Oncology Consultant and Pathology editor. He also serves on the ABU Oral Examination Committee. He is a co-founder of the OKAT, an SUO mandated oncology examination that is the standard for benchmarking for members and oncology fellows in training and served as Chair of that OKAT committee for 5 years. In 2011, he received the President’s Distinguished Service Award from the SUO for educational contributions. For his efforts in teaching at Vanderbilt, he was awarded the Michael Rodriquez Award.

Dr. Cookson recently served as the Chair of the AUA Guidelines Committee on Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer, and has previously served as the member of the AUA Guidelines on localized prostate cancer. He currently serves as Treasurer for the Society of Urologic Oncology.