International Faculty

Dr. Ashish M. Kamat

Professor of Urology
University of Texas, USA.

Ashish M. Kamat, MD, MBBS is an Endowed Professor of Urologic Oncology (Surgery) and Cancer Research at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is also President of the International Bladder Cancer Group (IBCG) and International Bladder Cancer Network (IBCN). He is Associate Editor for European Urology Oncology, Editor for the UroToday Bladder Cancer Center of Excellence, directed the MDACC Urologic Oncology Fellowship from 2005-2016, and is an alumnus of the AUA Leadership Program.

Dr. Kamat is recognized internationally as an expert in urologic oncology with an emphasis on bladder cancer, immunotherapy, organ-sparing and minimally invasive techniques. Dr. Kamat maintains an active research portfolio in this area with a focus on efforts to develop novel therapies and diagnostics, and identifying predictors of response to therapy (e.g. intravesical immunotherapy), as a first step towards personalized cancer therapeutics. He has led several national and international studies, which have been reported in high impact journals. Dr. Kamat is an exceptional educator and as Program Director grew the Urologic Oncology Fellowship into the premier program in the US. In 2016, a scholarly endowment was created in honor of Dr Kamat, the "Wayne B. Duddlesten Professorship in Honor of Dr Ashish Kamat" for his work in Cancer Research and Education at MD Anderson. Dr Kamat has over 325 publications, is listed in 'Who's Who in Medicine' and 'Best Doctors in America', and has won the 'Compassionate Doctor Award' from patient groups.

Additionally, Dr. Kamat is on grant review panels of national and international study sections, serves in an advisory capacity to various organizations, such as the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Bladder Cancer Task Force (BCTF), Society of Immunotherapy for Cancer (SITC); and as an AUA International Faculty. He is a member of the AUA Guidelines Panel for Bladder Cancer.

Dr. Neeraj Agarwal

Professor of Medicine
University of Utah, USA

Dr. Neeraj Agarwal is a Professor of Medicine, and a Presidential Endowed Chair of Cancer Research at the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI), University of Utah. He also directs the Genitourinary Oncology (GU) Program, and the Center of Investigational Therapeutics (CIT) at the HCI.

Dr. Agarwal is an internationally recognized Physician-Scientist in the field of Genitourinary Cancers. He is the overall study chair of multiple Phase I/II and Phase III trials, and serves as a steering committee member of numerous other trials. He has received the SWOG Young Investigator Award, The William D. Odell Young Investigator Award, and The National Cancer Institute Cancer Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award. After receiving his medical training at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, he has completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at the University of IOWA, followed by a Haematology-Oncology fellowship at HCI.

Dr. Agarwal has authored more than 450 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He serves as a panel member for The NCCN guideline committees for Bladder and Kidney cancers. He is an advisor to the Oncology Drug Advisory Committee and The United States Food and Drug Administration and leads early Therapeutics in The SWOG Genitourinary Cancers committee. He holds numerous scientific communications leadership roles, including Chief Editor of The ASCO Daily News, specialty editor for ASCO’s cancer.net site, and Editorial board member of several journals, including the Journal of Clinical Oncology and European Urology. He also serves as a member of the ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Advisory Panel. Recently, Dr. Agarwal was appointed as the Senior Director for Clinical Research, directly reporting to the Cancer Center Director at the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI).

Dr. Petros Grivas

Professor of Clinical Research
Fred Hutch Cancer Centre, USA

Dr. Petros Grivas is a board-certified medical oncologist with expertise and experience in treating genitourinary (GU) cancers. He is the Clinical Director of the Genitourinary Cancers Program at University of Washington and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. He is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology. He is an Associate Member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He started on those positions in January 2018. Dr. Grivas completed his training at the University of Patras Medical School and took his M.D. degree in 2005; he then pursued Ph.D. in Medical Oncology under the mentorship of key academic faculty and defended his thesis successfully in late 2008.

He completed his Residency in Internal Medicine at Hahnemann University Hospital/Drexel University College of Medicine (Philadelphia, USA) in 2010. He then completed his Fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, USA) in 2013. He stayed there as Clinical Lecturer for another year before he was recruited as Assistant Professor at the Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, USA), where he was leading the bladder/urothelial cancer program, pursuing clinical and translational research, teaching and mentoring trainees, and seeing patients with GU cancers.

He has had a main role in clinical trials that led to the FDA approval of new drugs for bladder/urothelial cancer (e.g. avelumab switch maintenance based on Javelin Bladder100, sacituzumab govitecan based on TROPHY-U-01), and is considered a key opinion, thought leader and international expert, giving lectures in several countries, educating oncologists, other healthcare providers and trainees, leading large innovative clinical trials, reviewing grant proposals and manuscripts, and publishing novel and important research. He is dedicated to efficient, personalized, and outstanding patient care and believes in optimal patient-physician relationship as well as community outreach.

Dr. Sumanta Pal

Professor of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research
City of Hope, USA

Sumanta (Monty) Kumar Pal, M.D., F.A.S.C.O., is an internationally recognized leader in kidney cancer. Dr. Pal entered college at the age of 13 and began medical school at University of California Los Angeles at the age of 17. After completing his residency training at UCLA, Dr. Pal completed a fellowship program in medical oncology at City of Hope's comprehensive cancer center where he has remained on faculty since 2009.

Over that span of time, he has published more than 550 PubMed cited articles that have been featured in prominent journals including The Lancet, Cancer Cell and Nature Medicine. Dr. Pal maintains one of the largest portfolios of clinical trials for kidney cancer on the West Coast. He developed an integrated program that focuses heavily on collaborations with basic science researchers at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope and urologists in the Department of Surgery. He is well known for his practice-defining work in rare types of kidney cancer (such as papillary kidney cancer) and is a pioneer in techniques to modulate the gut microbiome to enhance the impact of cancer treatment. Ultimately, Dr. Pal’s goal is to stimulate collaborative research across multiple departments in order to discover novel therapeutic approaches for currently incurable diseases. He is the lead investigator on multiple trials, ranging from early phase 1 experiences to late-stage phase 3 studies.

Dr. Pal sits on the editorial board for CA: A Journal for Clinicians and European Urology, and is the host of the City of Hope podcast, “On the Edge of Breakthrough: Voices of Cancer Research.” Dr. Pal has received grants from the National Institute of Health, the Comprehensive Cancer Network, SWOG Cancer Research Network and multiple other leading entities in support of his formidable research.