Martin G. Sanda, MD, an internationally recognized prostate cancer surgeon and scientist, has been appointed chair of the Department of Urology of the Emory University School of Medicine and urology service chief for Emory Healthcare. He will also serve as director of the Prostate Cancer Center, which will be established within Emory's Winship Cancer Institute.
Dr. Sanda joins Emory from Harvard Medical School, where he served as professor of surgery in urology, and from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he directed the Prostate Cancer Center. He was also co-leader of the Prostate Cancer Program at the Dana Farber Cancer Center.
Dr. Sanda is principal investigator of three multi-center consortium studies funded by the National Cancer Institute and the Prostate Cancer Foundation. The first seeks to design urine tests for detecting prostate cancer, the second to develop benchmarks for improving quality of life among cancer survivors, and the third to create innovative prostate cancer vaccines. These studies have enrolled over 4,400 patients, and findings have been published in leading medical journals, including theJournal of the American Medical Associationand theNew England Journal of Medicine.
"Dr. Sanda brings a wealth of experience, energy, and vision to his new role as chair of Emory Urology," says Wright Caughman, MD, executive vice president for health affairs for Emory University and CEO of the Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center. "He has a proven track record of research excellence, patient-centered care, and is accomplished in bringing people and disciplines together."
"It is a privilege for me to join the exceptional team that is in place within Emory's Department of Urology," says Dr. Sanda. "The leadership of the Emory School of Medicine, Emory Healthcare, and Winship Cancer Institute have committed substantial resources that will make it possible for us to enhance and expand Emory Urology together through interdisciplinary collaboration. In addition, I am deeply humbled and honored to follow in the footsteps of Dr. Fray Marshall, the inaugural chair of Emory Urology. I had the extraordinary opportunity to train under Dr. Marshall at Johns Hopkins, and am grateful for the impact of his outstanding leadership in clinical care, research, and education."
Dr. Sanda's clinical practice, which includes robotic prostatectomy and robotic cystectomy, is focused on developing new surgical and non-surgical approaches to cancer care and to improving the quality of life among cancer survivors.
After receiving his BA in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University cum laude in 1983, Dr. Sanda went on to receive his MD degree at Columbia University in 1987. He then trained as a general surgery resident at the Medical College of Virginia and as a surgical oncology fellow at the National Cancer Institute. He completed his urology residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
"Dr. Sanda will elevate multi-disciplinary prostate cancer care and research within the Winship Cancer Institute to a new level," says Walter J. Curran, Jr., MD, executive director of Emory's Winship Cancer Institute. "In addition, he will enhance Winship's role in advancing prostate cancer research on an international level."
Dr. Sanda has served as chair of the Prostate and Genito-Urinary Collaborative Group of the National Cancer Institute's Early Detection Research Network (2007-2010); spearheaded two nationwide, NCI Cooperative Group prostate cancer clinical trials; served on numerous federal funding review panels; and has served on the Research Council of the American Urological Association since 2011. Dr. Sanda has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, and his work has been cited more than 5,000 times in the biomedical literature.
