Daniel George, MD provides an overview of the dramatic changes that have happened in the treatment of genitourinary cancers over the last ten years.
Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers
The DCI Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers is a multidisciplinary team of physicians and researchers who are leaders in screening, diagnosing, and treating prostate and urologic cancers. The center is a major referral center and specializes in difficult-to-treat prostate cancers. We are also nationally recognized leaders in clinical and translational research in the areas of radiotheranostics, immunotherapy, cancer biomarkers, health disparities and population sciences. Our overall goal is to help patients with prostate cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, and testicular cancer live better, longer lives.
- About
- Team
- Research
- Events
- News
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Overview
The DCI Prostate & Urologic Cancer Center provides comprehensive patient care and education, professional training, and cutting-edge clinical, translational, and population research. Our team includes urologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, a dedicated genitourinary (GU) radiology and pathology group, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, scientists, and pathologists. The Center’s priorities are to:
- Discover, develop and deliver new GU cancer treatments that lead to longer, better lives
- Understand patient factors that affect the most aggressive forms of prostate GU cancers
- Integrate new immunotherapies into existing treatment paradigms
- Educate patients about cancer detection and empower them to make shared decisions about their treatments
- Lower the burdens of disease through management of toxicities
- Inspire and support careers of junior faculty and trainees to become the next generation of clinical and research leaders in the field
At Duke Prostate and Urologic Cancer Center, we’ve put together a team of rising stars and world-renowned physicians specializing in managing patients with all types of urologic cancers — from both common and unusual cases of:
- Prostate cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Bladder cancer
- Testicular cancer
- Upper tract urothelial cancers
- Mediastinal germ cell cancers
- Pagets disease of the scrotum
- Penile cancer
- Stromal tumors of the testis
- Small cell/Neuroendocrine cancer of the prostate or bladder
- Teratoma
- Urethral cancer
- Urachal cancer
Genitourinary Cancers Community Education Event
This annual community event highlights the latest clinical advances in the treatment of prostate, kidney, and bladder cancers.
Active Surveillance Registry and Clinical Program for Prostate Cancer
We are strong advocates of active surveillance for small, nonaggressive prostate cancer. Our active surveillance registry and clinical program incorporates molecular testing of tumor tissue, prostate MRI, and lifestyle and dietary approaches to identify men who will benefit from treatment and those who can safely defer therapy. We aim to keep men on active surveillance until treatment is necessary and believe surveillance is a safe and important course for certain men with low-risk prostate cancer. Some men are candidates for watchful waiting. Patients who are not candidates for surgery or radiation are carefully observed until treatment is needed.
Personalized Medicine Approach
We understand that each patient's cancer possesses unique characteristics that can manifest in a variety of behaviors and outcomes. We utilize precision medicine to examine a patient’s urine or blood-based biomarkers, tissue-based biomarkers, and imaging biomarkers. We use this information to optimize and tailor treatment while minimizing risks. Our multi-disciplinary team-based approach includes patient counseling, risk stratification, and therapy based on individual patient’s health conditions, prostate and urologic cancer subtypes, and preferences.
Leadership
Co-Chair
Co-Chair
Director of Research
Director of Imaging
E. Fulton Brylawski Associate Professor in Women's Health
Director of Surgical Technology
Professor of Radiology
Urologic Oncology
Associate Professor of Urology
Instructor in the Department of Urology
Assistant Professor of Urology
Assistant Professor of Urology
James H. Semans, M.D. Distinguished Professor of Urologic Surgery, in the School of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Urology
Lawrence C. Katz Distinguished Professor
Associate Professor of Urology
Assistant Professor of Urology
Assistant Professor of Urology
Medical Oncology
Professor of Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine
Medical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine
Eleanor Easley Distinguished Professor in the School of Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine
Instructor in the Department of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Medical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Radiation Oncology
Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology
Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology
Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology
Radiology
Professor of Radiology
Associate Professor of Radiology
Associate Professor of Radiology
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Associate Professor of Radiology
Professor of Radiology
Jonathan Spicehandler, M.D. Distinguished Professor of Neuro Oncology, in the School of Medicine
Pathology
Associate Professor of Pathology
Johnston-West Distinguished Professor of Pathology
Assistant Professor of Pathology
Associate Professor of Pathology
Associate Professor of Pathology
Translational Science
David Bartlett
Associate Professor in Medicine
Margaret Harris and David Silverman Distinguished Professor
Cless Family Distinguished Professor in Neuro-Oncology
Research Professor of Chemistry
Professor of Medicine
Glaxo-Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Molecular Cancer Biology, in the School of Medicine
Professor in Surgery
Associate Research Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology
Assistant Professor in Medicine
Professor of Radiology
Professor Emeritus in Population Health Sciences
Charles D. Watts Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Banks Anderson, Sr. Distinguished Professor
Biostatistics and Informatics
James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Associate Professor in Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Survivorship
Professor of Medicine
Associate Professor in Family Medicine and Community Health
Development
D'Ann George
Clinical research is critical to our collective mission to reduce the burden of prostate and urologic cancer. Our clinical research focuses on early diagnosis, and the development of new treatments, including targeted treatments and individualized care. We are making meaningful strides in tackling metastasis and aggressive cancer behavior. Each year, the DCI Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers team presents pioneering data and practice-changing results at national and international conferences for cancer care.
As the recipient of millions of dollars in research funding annually, we offer patients access to clinical trials studying new therapies and advances in technologies and techniques, long before they become routinely available.
We are one of the few institutions participating in the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium. This clinical research group is sponsored by the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program. It facilitates patient enrollment in phase I and phase II clinical trials and improves drug development for prostate cancer. Our physicians work with pharmaceutical companies to design clinical trials that allow us to study all phases of prostate and urologic cancers. We also provide access to phase 3 clinical trials, registries, biomarker studies, and genetic testing and counseling for men with prostate cancer.
As a result of these collaborations, we can offer a broader selection of medical, surgical, and minimally invasive options to more people, including those who are not considered candidates for treatment elsewhere.
Prostate Cancer Research
As leaders in the field of prostate cancer research, we work on the development of new therapies to improve survival, quality of life, and optimize care for patients most likely to benefit. Trials include:
- Precision medicine approaches
- Genetic sequencing (germline and tumor)
- Immunotherapies
- Molecularly targeted therapies based on a personalized genetic test
- Circulating tumor cell biology studies
- Radiopharmaceuticals
- Combination approaches across all stages of prostate cancer.
Health Disparities Biology/Therapy
There are substantially higher rates of prostate cancer among Black men than men of other racial/ethnic groups. Our group studies how the biology of cancer is different in these men at highest risk of developing and dying from prostate cancer. We are committed to finding the best treatment for each patient.
Novel Immunotherapies
Our immune systems can recognize and fight cancer, but sometimes the cancer develops ways to trick our immune systems. Immunotherapies target our immune system to help fight the cancer. We are committed to developing, identifying, and testing new immunotherapies to improve how we treat prostate cancer.
Precision/Predictive Medicine and Biomarkers of Aggressive Disease
Our genes, lifestyles and environment can affect the way prostate cancer develops and responds to certain treatments. We study DNA and other molecules in cancer cells to tailor prostate cancer treatments. We work to identify biomarkers or biological differences between aggressive and less aggressive prostate cancers and use this information when making treatment decisions.
Lifestyle and Survivorship Studies
Our lifestyle and survivorship research aims to help patients and their families recover from the stress and long-term effects of prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment. Our studies hope to:
- Bridge the gaps in knowledge about the relationships between physical activity, sedentary behavior, nutrition, and cancer
- Optimize lifestyle factors to improve health, quality of life, and cancer outcomes
- Examine how exercise testing may improve the assessment of functional status and drug toxicity
- Investigate how exercise training may mitigate fatigue and other treatment-related adverse events and modulate the immune system to synergize with targeted therapies and immunotherapy.
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This page was reviewed
on 11/15/2023