Panel Discussion: TechCon: Novel and New Technologies in Prostate Cancer

David M. Albala, MD, is a Chief of Urology at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, New York. Dr. Albala is considered a national and international authority in laparoscopic and robotic urological surgery. His clinical interests include minimally invasive treatments for benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), the use of fibrin sealants in surgery, and robotic urologic surgery.

Dr. Albala earned his medical degree at Michigan State University in East Lansing. He completed a residency in Surgery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. He then completed a fellowship in Endourology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Under the direction of Ralph V. Clayman, Dr. Albala was part of the team that performed the first laparoscopic nephrectomy in humans. 

Dr. Albala is a past White House Fellow (1995-1996), who acted as a special assistant to Federico Peña, Secretary of Transportation, on classified and unclassified public health related issues. He has been a visiting professor at numerous institutions across the United States as well as overseas in countries such as India, China, Iceland, Germany, France, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and Singapore. He has done operative demonstrations in over 32 countries and 23 states. Dr. Albala has over 215 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has authored 3 textbooks in endourology and 4 books in general urology. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Robotic Surgery and serves on the editorial board for Current Opinions in Urology, Reviews in Urology, and Urology Index and Reviews. In addition, he serves as a reviewer for 8 other surgical journals. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Large Urology Group Practice Association (LUGPA). Dr. Albala is also currently the Visiting Professor of Urology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, College of Medicine. Dr. Albala has been identified (by a Stanford University-led study) as one of the top 2% of scientists in the world.

Brian J. Davis, MD, PhD, FABS, is a Professor of Radiation Oncology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Davis also serves as a consultant for the Department of Radiation Oncology and the Department of Physiology & Biomedical Engineering at Mayo Clinic. He specializes in genitourinary cancer, and his research interests include prostate cancer, proton therapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, external beam radiotherapy, and brachytherapy.

Steven J. Frank, MD, is an endowed tenured professor of Radiation Oncology and holds the Bessie McGoldrick Professorship in Clinical Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Frank is the Executive Director of the Particle Therapy Institute and Deputy Head of Strategy for the Division of Radiation Oncology.
Dr. Frank was instrumental in facilitating the restructuring of MD Anderson’s Proton Therapy Center through an asset acquisition and a subsequent expansion of a second Proton Therapy Center to advance Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy (IMPT). Dr. Frank is amongst the first, if not the first, to use IMPT to treat head and neck tumors, and he is the Principal Investigator of an NIH/NCI -sponsored multi-institutional Phase II/III randomized trial in advanced-stage oropharyngeal cancer that compares outcomes after chemoradiation given by IMRT versus IMPT.
Dr. Frank has approximately 300 peer-reviewed publications, has authored many book chapters, and has recently published the first textbook on Proton Therapy, based on the MD Anderson experience. Dr. Frank’s lab is studying the biologic enhancement factor of proton therapy and FLASH radiotherapy for head and neck cancer, as well as MRI-Assisted Radiosurgery (MARS) as the next generation of prostate brachytherapy. Dr. Frank’s expertise in MRI radiotherapy has led to the development and FDA approval of multiple novel positive-contrast implantable markers for use in MRI-guided LDR and HDR prostate brachytherapy and external beam radiation therapy.
As founder of the company, C4 Imaging, Dr. Frank has developed the MRI marker technology at MD Anderson, has been granted 31 national and international patents, developed three FDA-approved products, and has established MRI-Assisted Radiosurgery (MARS) at MD Anderson for the treatment of prostate cancer. He has funding from the NIH, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the Texas Ignition Fund, Hitachi, and MD Anderson, and he has also raised multiple rounds of private equity financing to advance C4 technology.
Dr. Frank has served as the past President and Chairman of the Board of the American Brachytherapy Society and is the 2023 recipient of the Ulrich Henschke Award, the highest honor awarded by the ABS to a practitioner of brachytherapy. Dr. Frank has served as the chair for the head and neck oral boards for the American Board of Radiology over the last six years and will join the Board of Trustees in October 2023. Dr. Frank is a fellow of the ABS, ACR, and ASTRO.
Prior to entering medicine, Dr. Frank served in the military as a U.S. Navy Diver and submarine officer on the fast attack nuclear submarine USS Batfish (SSN-681). He is married to Dr. Ivy Frank, a veterinarian, and his hobbies include golf, flying, and coaching softball for his four daughters.

Edwin M. Posadas, MD, FACP, is Director of the Experimental Therapeutics Program and the Medical Director of the Center for Uro-Oncology Research Excellence (CURE) / Urologic Oncology Disease Research Group at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He is also an associate professor at Cedars-Sinai and a full professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Posadas received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins and completed his residency at the University of Michigan before finishing a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Posadas’s clinical and research interests include the treatment of advanced prostate cancer and the biology of cancer metastasis. He is studying the mechanisms through which cancer cells in localized tumors spread to other parts of the body. Hais current research interests focus on the most aggressive subtypes of prostate cancer that spread to organs such as the liver and lungs. Dr. Posadas’s laboratory has been studying the role of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and immune cells (ICs) as biomarkers in prostate and other cancers using novel nanotechnology platforms. Clinically, he specializes in the use of medical therapies for prostate, kidney, bladder, and testis cancer with an emphasis on integrated, trans-disciplinary care.

Dr. Christian P. Pavlovich, MD is a renowned urologist specializing in urologic oncology, focusing on prostate and kidney cancers. He is the Bernard L. Schwartz Distinguished Professor in Urologic Oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and directs the Prostate Cancer Active Surveillance Program. Dr. Pavlovich is known for his expertise in minimally invasive and robotic surgeries, as well as his pioneering work in cancer detection and active surveillance strategies. He is dedicated to providing personalized, high-quality care to patients with urologic cancers.

Andrew W. Hahn, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Hahn’s research focus is to investigate how host factors influence response, resistance, and toxicity to cancer treatments and to design and run clinical trials to improve outcomes for patients with prostate and kidney cancer. His clinical focus is on prostate and kidney cancers.