Dr. Kane

New Professor and Division Chief Christopher J. Kane, M.D., is internationally recognized for his contributions and his expertise in prostate cancer, renal cell carcinoma, and minimally invasive surgery. An investigator on numerous active research grants, he has published over 110 peer-reviewed scientific articles.

Dr. Schmidt

Professor Emeritus and former Division Chief Joseph D. Schmidt, M.D., is internationally recognized for his research in treatment of prostate cancer.  He served as a principal investigator in the landmark multi-center National Prostatic Cancer Project conducted by the National Institutes of Health.

 
Dr. C. L. Parsons

Dr. C. Lowell Parsons, Professor of Surgery/Urology, is one of the world's leading researchers in the causes, diagnosis, and treatment of interstitial cystitis (IC). In his laboratory and clinics at UCSD, he pursues a number of research studies whose purpose is to identify the precise causes of IC and to develop effective new treatments for it. 

 
Dr. Albo

Dr. Michael Albo, Associate Professor of Surgery/Urology, is co-principal investigator of the largest clinical site in the multi-center Urinary Incontinence Treatment Network (UITN). The UITN involves clinical research centers throughout the United States in a cooperative, ongoing effort to evaluate the effectiveness of medical and surgical treatments for urinary incontinence.

 
Dr. Alagiri

Dr. Madhu Alagiri, Associate Professor of Surgery/Urology and Director of Pediatric Urology, is working to develop minimally invasive methods for diagnosing and treating urologic problems in children. Minimally invasive methods can reduce the discomfort and risk of procedures, making urologic tests and treatments less traumatic for both child and parent. Dr. Alagiri has developed new techniques for hypospadias repair and for correction of vesicoureteral reflux.

Dr. Sakamoto

Dr. Kyoko Sakamoto, Assistant Professor of Surgery/Urology, focuses on developing new, minimally invasive technologies for early diagnosis of urological diseases. Dr. Sakamoto also conducts basic science research studies in physiology and urologic disease.

Dr. Downs

Dr. Tracy Downs, Assistant Professor of Surgery/Urology, investigates several different aspects of urologic cancer, from the causes of cancer to its impact on a patient’s personal and social life. Dr. Downs is developing a prostate cancer clinical database to record in-depth information about individual cases of genitourinary cancer. This database will make it possible to analyze many different factors to help determine what causes cancer and how it develops. Dr. Downs also investigates the use of radioisotope studies to help improve the early detection of bone metastasis.  

Dr. Zupkas

Paul Zupkas, Ph.D., is a Division of Urology research scientist and Director of the Urology Laboratory. He serves as co-investigator on many of the ongoing research projects in the Division, including Dr. C. Lowell Parsons’s studies of new methods for diagnosing and treating interstitial cystitis and Dr. Kyoko Sakamoto’s analysis of the vascular morphology of the bladder wall.

Dr. J. K. Parsons

Dr. J. Kellogg Parsons, Assistant Professor, pursues clinical trials and collaborative studies in the epidemiology of prostate cancer, the epidemiology of BPH, surgical outcomes, patient safety, and evidence-based medicine. 

New Research Reports from UCSD Urology
Click on the article title to see a summary of the report

Prostate Cancer Dr. Kane and coworkers: Effect of BMI on Primary Treatment of Prostate Cancer. Urology. 2008 Feb 9 [Epub]. Dr. JK Parsons and coworkers: The Men’s Eating and Living (MEAL) Study: A Cancer and Leukemia Group B Pilot Trial of Dietary Intervention for the Treatment of Prostate Cancer. Urology 2008 Feb 14 [Epub]. Drs. JK Parsons and Bennett: Outcomes of Retropubic, Laparoscopic and Robotic Assisted Prostatectomy. Urology 2008 Feb 9 [Epub]. Dr. JK Parsons and coworkers: Dietary modification in patients with prostate cancer on active surveillance: a randomized, multicentre feasibility study. BJU Int. 2008;101(10):1227-1231. Dr. Kane and coworkers: PSA in the New Millennium: A Powerful Predictor of Prostate Cancer Prognosis and Radical Prostatectomy Outcomes - Results from the SEARCH Database. Eur Urol. 2008;53:758-766. Dr. Kane and coworkers: The effect of race/ethnicity on the accuracy of the 2001 Partin Tables for predicting pathologic stage of localized prostate cancer. Urology 2008;71:151-155. Dr. Kane and coworkers:  Risk stratification of men with Gleason score 7 to 10 tumors by primary and secondary Gleason score: results from the SEARCH database.  Urology 2007 Aug;70(2):277-82. Dr. Kane and coworkers: Predicting Unilateral Prostate Cancer Based on Biopsy Features: Implications for Focal Ablative Therapy-Results From the SEARCH Database. J Urol. 2007 Aug 13. Dr. Kane and coworkers: Body mass index, prostate weight and transrectal ultrasound prostate volume accuracy. J Urol. 2007 Sep;178(3 Pt 1):990-5. Prostate Biopsy Dr. J.K. Parsons and coworkers: Local anesthetic reduces pain associated with transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy: a meta-analysis. Urology. 2007 Mar;69(3):520-5.

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Dr. JK Parsons and Kashefi: Physical activity, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and lower urinary tract symptoms. Eur Urol. 2008;53(6):1228-1235. Dr. JK Parsons and coworkers: Lipids, lipoproteins and the risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia in community-dwelling men. BJU Int. 2008;101:313-318. Kidney Cancer Dr. Kane, Woldrich, and coworkers: Sex differences in renal cell cancer presentation and survival: an analysis of the National Cancer Database, 1993-2004. J Urol. 2008;179(5):1709-1713; discussion 1713. Dr. Kane and coworkers: Renal cell cancer stage migration: analysis of the National Cancer Data Base. Cancer. 2008 May 19 [Epub]. Case Report: Bladder Cancer Drs. Schmidt and Metzdorf: Urinary bladder leiomyoma associated with pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis. Urology. 2008;71(4):755.e3-4 Intertstitial Cystitis Dr. CL Parsons: The role of the urinary epithelium in the pathogenesis of interstitial cystitis/prostatitis/urethritis. Urology. 2007 Apr;69(4 Suppl):9-16. Dr. CLParsons and coworkers: The emerging presence of interstitial cystitis in gynecologic patients with chronic pelvic pain. Urology. 2007 Apr;69(4 Suppl):53-59. Dr. CL Parsons and coworkers: Contemporary clinical presentation of interstitial cystitis. Urology. 2007 Apr;69(4 Suppl):41-47. Dr. CL Parsons and coworkers: Role of sialic acid in urinary cytoprotective activity of Tamm-Horsfall protein.  Urology 2007; 69:577-581. Urinary Stones Drs. J.K. Parsons, Hergan, Sakamoto, and Lakin:  Efficacy of alpha-Blockers for the Treatment of Ureteral Stones. J Urol. 2007 Mar;177(3):983-987. Urinary Incontinence Dr. Albo and coworkers:  Burch colposuspension versus fascial sling to reduce urinary stress incontinence. N Engl J Med. 2007 May 24;356(21):2143-55.  Urodynamics Dr. Albo and coworkers: Reference urodynamic values for stress incontinent women. Neurourol Urodyn. 2007;26(3):333-40. Dr. Albo and coworkers:  Process for development of multicenter urodynamic studies. Urology. 2007 Jan;69(1):63-7; discussion 67-8.