International Bladder Cancer Update 2025 Expert Forum™

Piyush K. Agarwal, MD, serves as a Professor of Surgery, the Vice Chief of the Department of Urology, the Fellowship Director of the Urologic Oncology Program, and the Director of the Bladder Cancer Program at the University of Chicago in Illinois. Dr. Agarwal specializes in the multidisciplinary management of bladder cancer, using complex surgical techniques, such as robotic and open radical cystectomy and continent urinary diversions, to treat his patients. His clinical and laboratory research focuses primarily on bladder cancer, specifically BCG-unresponsive disease, the urinary microbiome, molecular targeted therapy, and immunotherapy.

He earned his medical degree at Weill Cornell University in New York, New York. Dr. Agarwal completed his residencies in Urology and Surgery at University Hospital Cleveland Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. He then completed a fellowship in Urologic Surgical Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. 

Dr. Agarwal has conducted several original, investigator-initiated clinical trials and has presented his research at national and international meetings. He has served on the FDA’s oncologic drug advisory committee and authored over seven book chapters and 100 manuscripts. Dr. Agarwal is an associate editor for two medical journals with a focus in urothelial cancers and has mentored over 50 trainees at various levels to successful careers in academic medicine. He was also in the leadership class of 2023-2024 for the American Urological Association.

Nima Almassi, MD is a Urologist at the Glickman Urological & Kidney Institute at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Almassi’s research interest is in bladder cancer, focused primarily on the impact of variant histology on treatment outcomes in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer treated with intravesical therapy and patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer treated with neoadjuvant systemic therapy and radical cystectomy. 

Dr. Almassi earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin. He completed an internship and residency at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Almassi then completed a fellowship at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York. 

Dr. Almassi is also a member of the Cancer Imaging Program in the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center for the Cleveland Clinic. He has authored and co-authored over 70 publications and has been featured in prominent journals including, Urology, Journal of Urology, Bladder Cancer, European Urology, and the International Urogynecology Journal.

Steven E. Finkelstein, MD, DABR, FACRO, is the Director of the Center of Advanced Radiation Excellence, and Director of Radiation Oncology Research for Associated Medical Professionals in Syracuse, New York. Dr. Finkelstein has a special interest in the study and patient care and research of a variety of cancers, using radiation driven, and personalized systemic therapy.  

Dr. Finkelstein earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, graduating cum laude eruditions causa. He then completed fellowships in Surgical Oncology and Clinical Immunotherapy at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, New York. Dr. Finkelstein then completed a residency in Radiation Oncology, where he was named Chief Resident, at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg. 

Dr. Finkelstein was one of the youngest physicians to receive accelerated fellowship in the American College of Radiation Oncology (ACRO) in 2017 and elected to the ACRO Board of Chancellors and Chair of Education in 2018. He holds three internal patents in medical technology. Dr. Finkelstein has been an invited lecturer nationally and internationally, and has authored and co-authored over 120 publications. He serves on the editorial board of key international journals, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) as the ASCO Associate Editor for Immunotherapy. Dr. Finkelstein is a member of the American College of Radiation Oncology, the American Medical Association, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, the Radiological Society of North America, and the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group.

Leonard G. Gomella, MD, FACS, serves as the Bernard W. Godwin, Jr. Professor of Prostate Cancer, Chairman of the Department of Urology, Senior Director of Clinical Affairs for the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Enterprise Vice President of Urology at the Jefferson Health System at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Gomella’s lab, a part of the Jefferson Sidney’s Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, is involved in clinical research for the development of techniques to treat cancers.

Dr. Gomella earned his medical degree and completed residencies in General Surgery and Urology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. He then completed a fellowship in Urologic Oncology, in the Department of Surgery, at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. 

Dr. Gomella’s team was first to use RT-PCR to detect micrometastasis in patients with prostate cancer, a discovery that led to a new field of investigation in this disease. He is also recognized as an early contributor to urologic laparoscopy, initiating the program at Jefferson in 1990. Dr. Gomella has given almost 500 presentations at local, national and international meetings and has authored over 300 papers, chapters, and monographs in the field of Urology. He has also authored and edited 54 editions of 17 different books for medical students, residents, and practicing physicians, many of which have been translated into foreign languages. Dr. Gomella is the editor-in-chief of the 5 Minute Urology Consult, and laparoscopy section editor for Glenn’s Urologic Surgery. Dr. Gomella is known for the Clinician’s Pocket Reference, now in its 11th edition, a widely used reference for medical students and health care providers.

Donna E. Hansel, MD, PhD, is currently the Division Head of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Hansel’s lab focuses on identifying high-yield, targetable pathways in advanced bladder cancer, with a strong emphasis on mTOR signaling and novel downstream targets that are involved in cell motility and invasion.

Dr. Hansel earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She subsequently completed the MD-PhD Medical Scientist Training Program, a residency in Pathology, and a fellowship in Urologic Pathology at Johns Hopkins University. 

Dr. Hansel has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications, edited or authored five textbooks on urologic pathology and biospecimen repositories, and participated in more than 100 national or international talks on bladder cancer. She has participated in the kidney-urinary tract panel for the 8th Edition Cancer Staging Manual of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and contributed to the 5th edition of the WHO Classification of Tumours of the Urinary System and Male Genital Organs. In addition, Dr. Hansel is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Surgical Pathology, Advances in Anatomic Pathology, American Journal of Pathology, Histopathology, and Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine where she serves as Deputy Executive Editor. She has mentored over 40 residents, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows while remaining active in clinical science and overseeing a research laboratory focused on invasive cancer mechanisms.

Gopakumar Iyer, MD, is a genitourinary oncologist and early drug development specialist serving as the section head for bladder cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Iyer is a member of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Bladder Cancer Oncogenomics Project, a multidisciplinary effort to discover the key genetic abnormalities that drive this disease. He specializes in research in and treatment of patients with genitourinary cancers, including bladder, prostate, kidney, and testis cancers. Dr. Iyer earned his MD at Vanderbilt University Medical School, completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Michigan as well as a fellowship in medical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology. 

Dr. Iyer’s laboratory research focuses on defining the genetic aberrations that characterize bladder cancer, thereby identifying mutations that may serve as targets for novel therapies. Specifically, alterations within the PI3 kinase/Akt/mTOR pathway are commonly found in bladder cancer, and efforts to understand the biologic effects of pharmacologic inhibition of this pathway are underway. Loss of the TSC1 protein, a negative regulator of mTOR activation, has been shown to contribute to dramatic sensitivity of bladder tumors to everolimus therapy. He is working to elucidate the mechanisms underpinning drug sensitivity and defining the pattern of co-alterations with TSC1 loss in bladder cancer using next-generation sequencing techniques.

Christopher Pieczonka, MD, is the Chief Executive Officer for Associated Medical Professionals and Director of Clinical Research at U.S. Urology Partners in Syracuse, New York. Dr. Pieczonka specializes in advanced prostate and bladder cancer. 

Dr. Pieczonka earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. He received his medical degree and completed his surgical and urologic training at the University of Buffalo in New York.

Dr. Pieczonka has served as the Executive Vice-President of the Physician Teamster Alliance of CNY Local #1149. He has been the primary investigator of over 50 interventional oncology studies and is currently managing more than 40 clinical studies in Phases 1-3. He is an active member of the American Urological Association, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the Society of Urologic Oncology. Dr. Pieczonka has also been a co-author of over 100 publications and published abstracts. He was also designated as a UroLift® Center of Excellence physician.

Sima P. Porten, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor of Urology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Porten has research interests in bladder cancer, upper tract urothelial cancer, and high-risk prostate cancer. Dr. Porten’s clinical interests include the diagnosis and treatment of genitourinary malignancies, including minimally invasive approaches to cancer treatment.

Dr. Porten earned her doctoral and public health degrees from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. She was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society during medical school and also completed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-NIH Research Scholars fellowship. She then completed her Urology residency training at the University of California, San Francisco, where she received the Julius R. Krevans Award for Clinical Excellence.  She went on to complete her Urologic Oncology Fellowship at The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. During her fellowship, she was awarded the John Quale Travel Fellowship for her research on bladder cancer.

Dr. Porten’s research interests focus primarily on the diagnosis and management of urothelial carcinoma (bladder and upper tract). In studying the biologic basis of urothelial carcinoma using genomic techniques, Dr. Porten hopes to develop new tests and novel therapeutics to bring personalized medicine to patients with bladder cancer. She is an active member of the American Urological Association (AUA), American Society of Clinical Oncology, Society of Women in Urology, and the Society of Urologic Oncology.

Arlene O. Siefker-Radtke, MD, is a Professor in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, in the Division of Cancer Medicine, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Siefker-Radtke is board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology, and she has exclusively focused on the treatment of urothelial cancer.

Dr. Siefker-Radtke earned her medical degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. She completed a clinical residency in internal medicine at New England Medical Center (now Tufts Medical Center) in Boston, Massachusetts, and a clinical fellowship in medical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

An active researcher, Dr. Siefker-Radtke has published over 150 journal articles, abstracts, editorials, and book chapters. She focuses on developing effective therapies for the treatment of urothelial cancer and other rare tumors of the bladder and upper tract. She is well known for her novel clinical trial designs and development of novel agents and targets, including immunotherapy, fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitors, the development of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and expertise in treating even the rarest tumors of the bladder. Dr. Siefker-Radtke is actively involved in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s (NCCN) Oncology Research Program. She serves as a member of the NCCN Bladder/Penile Cancers Panel and its Value Pathways Task Force, as well as on the National Institutes of Health Bladder Cancer Task Force.

Guru P. Sonpavde, MD, is the Director of Genitourinary Oncology, Director of Phase I Clinical Trials, Assistant Director of the Clinical Research Unit, and the Christopher K. Glanz Chair for Bladder Cancer Research at the AdventHealth Cancer Institute in Orlando, Florida. Additionally, he holds a position of Professor of Medicine at both the University of Central Florida in Orlando and Loma Linda University Health in California. His focus is on drug development, including the evaluation of immunotherapy, targeted therapy, antibody-drug conjugates, and translational research to cure genitourinary cancers. He serves on the steering committees of several pivotal phase III trials evaluating treatments for bladder cancer. Under his leadership, the Phase I and GU Oncology program has grown robustly at the AdventHealth Cancer Institute.

Dr. Sonpavde earned his medical degree at Christian Medical College in Vellore, India. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, New York. Dr. Sonpavde then completed a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Dr. Sonpavde is a member of the Southwest Oncology Group, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN), and the Bladder Cancer Task Force of the US NCI GU Steering Committee. He has published over 849 articles and book chapters and has contributed to or has been cited in video and written cancer education portals, including Uptodate®, Practice Update, Onclive, Physician Education Resource (PER), and Research to Practice. He has also been cited in several lay magazine articles — most notably in TIME magazine regarding participation in clinical trials in August of 2022.