Faculty

Bio

Dr. Agarwal is an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota specializing in endoscopic management of benign prostatic hyperplasia and urinary tract stones. He attended medical school at Indiana University School of Medicine and completed a residency in Urology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He completed a fellowship at Indiana University Department of Urology, with a special emphasis in Holmium Laser Enucleation of the Prostate (HoLEP) and surgeon-guided access for percutaneous nephrolithotomy.Dr. Agarwal's clinical interest is not only in the surgical treatment of enlarged prostate and HoLEP, but being able to offer patients a variety of options and allowing them to pick the best one for their situation. Similarly, he is interested in not only the surgical management of kidney stones, but helping patients find the underlying cause of their stone disease to prevent them from recurring.Dr. Agarwal is engaged in clinical research in enlarged prostate and kidney stones. With the Department of Urology, he strives to continue the rich history of endourology at the University of Minnesota and offer patients the best and innovative treatments.

Bio

Dr. Ahmadi attended Tehran University of Medical Sciences for medical school and then completed his residency training in Urologic surgery at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon. He recently completed Society of Urologic Oncology fellowship at University of Southern California and joined our department shortly after. He is specialized in open and minimally invasive management of complex genitourinary cancers. His main research interest is tumor marker-based management of bladder and testis cancer.

Meet Dr. Ahmadi

Bio

Dr. Kyle Anderson is interested in a variety of urologic conditions, including laparoscopic treatment of abnormalities including kidney cancer, ureteral pelvic junction obstruction, prostate cancer, adrenal abnormalities. He also specializes in minimally invasive thermotherapy for kidney cancer and kidney stone disease.

When he’s not in clinic, Dr. Anderson is an associate professor of urologic surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School. His research focuses on the use of thermotherapy (cryotherapy and radiofrequency ablation) for the treatment of kidney cancer.

Meet Dr. Kyle Anderson

Administrator Information:

Casey Pratt
Email: cpratt@umn.edu
Phone: 612-626-0697

Clinical Summary

Expertise

• Hematuria (blood in urine)
• Kidney stones
• Polycystic kidney disease
• Kidney cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Ureteral cancer
• Ureteral pelvic junction obstruction
• Ureteral obstruction

Bio

I treat patients as I would expect to be treated. I enjoy explaining conditions and educating the patients and couples I see. Taking time for education makes for more satisfied patients who also have more successful outcomes. I believe strongly that treatment decisions should be guided by discussion between the physician and patient, and any interventions backed by current scientific evidence. Although physicians can make treatment recommendations, patients must be closely involved in the decision-making process. Because insurance plans cover fertility treatment variably, I am mindful of the financial burden infertility can place on a couple. My goal is to help couples conceive in the most natural, cost-effective manner, always keeping in mind their wishes. I am honest, forthright, caring, and advocate for my patients.

Bio

I believe in providing comprehensive care for common urologic conditions. I am particularly interested in medical therapy and minimally invasive surgical treatment for benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) and kidney stones. My interests also include trying to identify reasons kidney stones form in the first place and developing individualized strategies to prevent them from recurring. I strive to treat all patients with integrity and respect and create personalized strategies for how to best address medical ailments.

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Administrator Information:

Traci Trotter

Email: trott083@umn.edu

Phone: 612-625-7486

Bio

Dr. Philipp Dahm, MD, MHSc, FACS is Professor of Urology and Vice Chair of Veterans Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He also serves as Director of Research and Education for Surgical Services at the Minneapolis Veterans Administration Medical Center.

A board certified urologist, Dr. Dahm graduated from the University of Heidelberg in Germany before starting residency in general surgery and urology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He subsequently completed an American Foundation for Urological Diseases (AFUD) fellowship at the same institution and earned a Masters degree in Health Sciences in Clinical Research from the Duke Clinical Research Institute. He was an Assistant Professor of Urology at Duke University Medical Center until 2006 when he moved to the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he held the rank of Associate Professor (2006-11) and Professor of Urology (2011-14). During the time, he also held the departmental positions of Director of Clinical Research (2006-14), Associate Residency Program Director (2006-2010) and Residency Program Director (2011-14).

Dr. Dahm is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and an active member of the American Urologic Association. He has published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters. He is best known for his efforts to promote the principles of evidence-based medicine in urology through research and education. Dr. Dahm serves as the Coordinating Editor of the Cochrane Prostatic Diseases and Urological Cancers Group. He is also the urology lead of the IDEAL Collaboration that strives to improve how surgeons conduct clinical research as well as founding member of the US GRADE Network that promotes transparent methods for guideline development and clinical decision-making.

Bio

Dr. Yibin Deng received his M.D. from North Sichuan Medical College and Ph.D. in Pathology from Jilin University Norman Bethune Medical Health Science Center, China. He did his postdoctoral training at New York University and Baylor College of Medicine. In 2005, he joined the Department of Genetics as an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Deng was recruited to The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota as an Assistant Professor in 2009 to lead the Section of Cell Death and Cancer Genetics. In 2019, he was promoted as an I.J. Holton Professor in the Hormel Institute. In 2020, Dr. Deng relocated to The University of Minnesota Medical School as a Professor in the Department of Urology. He is a current member of Masonic Cancer Center and a graduate faculty of M.S. and Ph.D. Programs in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BICB) at the University of Minnesota.

Research Summary

Deng laboratory focuses on addressing two fundamental questions of cancer biology: how normal cells become cancer cells, and how to selectively kill cancer cells. The Deng lab has been developing four major areas to study prostate cancer by employing a combination of multiple approaches, including conditional gene knock-out/knock-in, genome editing (CRISPR-Cas9), X-ray crystallography/Cryo-EM, and structure-based virtual screening combined with drug design and chemical synthesis.(1) Discovery of metabolic targets for currently incurable castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) Through genetic and pharmacological studies, Deng laboratory demonstrated for the first time that hexokinase 2 (HK2)-mediated Warburg effect plays an important role in tumor growth of CRPC in vivo. Dr. Deng has been building a strong cross-functional collaboration team comprising medicinal chemists, structural and computational biologists to dissect the function of HK2-translation axis in prostate tumorigenesis and discover HK2-selective inhibitors to block HK2-driven tumor growth. Utilizing genetic screening and cell metabolomics, they have identified a crucial molecular target that switches Warburg effect into the mitochondrial-dependent oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) signaling, which in turn is essential for prostate cancer cell survival and tumor development under tumor microenvironment. Various types of experimental models are being used to determine the function of cancer metabolic networks in prostate tumor initiation, progression and metastasis. (2) Structural and functional understanding of oncogene mRNA translation in prostate tumorigenesisPhosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) is a tumor suppressor gene that plays a key role in controlling oncogene mRNA translation through the human translation initiation eIF4E/eIF4G/eIF4A(eIF4F) complex. The Deng lab is interested in deciphering how the eukaryotic eIF4F complex regulates oncogene mRNA translation in prostate tumorigenesis using structural biology methods (X-ray crystallography and Cryo-electron microscopy) coupled with biological studies. The results from these studies will facilitate a structure-based discovery of small-molecule compounds disrupting the assembly of a functional eIF4F complex in prostate cancer cells to selectively block the PTEN loss-driven oncogenic protein synthesis axis and thus inhibit prostate tumor development in vivo.(3) Dissect the role of dysfunctional telomere-initiated immune response in prostate tumorigenesisTelomeres are nucleoprotein complex structures that protect chromosomal ends from being recognized as aberrant damaged DNA. Dysfunctional telomeres could arise either from progressive telomere attrition (telomere shortening) or when components of the telomeric DNA-binding proteins ("shelterin complex") are perturbed (telomere uncapping). The Deng lab has generated a novel in vivo prostate cancer mouse model to study the role of uncapped telomeres in tumorigenesis. Utilizing the genetically engineered mouse models, they have revealed that a dysfunctional telomere-initiated DNA damage response induces an intrinsic cell death signaling in cancer cells with a concurrent activation of innate immune checkpoints extrinsically to remarkably diminish prostate cancer cells. These unexpected studies could provide an effective targeting therapeutic strategy through telomere uncapping-initiated immune response to selectively erase prostate cancer cells.(4) Gain-of-function of mutant p53 in PTEN loss-driven prostate tumorigenesisThe recent comprehensive sequencing studies revealed that the TP53 gene encoding a tumor suppressor protein is mutated in over 40% of metastatic human prostate cancer. Alterations of TP53 in cancer cells occur predominantly through missense mutations, including six "hotspot" mutations carrying most frequently substitutes, which ultimately result in accumulation of a full-length mutant p53 protein.These mutant p53 proteins not only lead to loss of tumor suppressive function of wild-type p53, but also confer "gain-of-function" (GOF) oncogenic activities that enhance tumor progression and metastasis. Interestingly, the TP53 mutation and loss of PTEN co-exist in metastatic prostate cancer. Owing to technical challenges, a mouse model harboring loss of Pten but expression of a mutant p53 does not exist. To circumvent these deficiencies, the Deng lab has been developing prostate cancer mouse models using a combination of a Pten conditional knockout mouse, p53 conditional knock out and a mutant p53 "hot spot" (identified in prostate cancer patients) knock-in mouse model, in which expression of mutant p53 could be conditionally induced while the expression of wild type p53 and/or Pten could be conditionally deleted in a prostate tissue-specific manner. These mouse models would provide a therapeutic model for drug discovery in vivo and faithfully recapitulate the crucial roles that PTEN loss and mutant p53 expression play during prostate tumor initiation, progression, and metastasis in situ. 

Bio

Dr. Drake is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology, a Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator and a Masonic Scholar. He received his B.S. degree from Minnesota State University, Mankato in Biochemistry and Ph.D. degree from the University of Iowa in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics in the laboratory of Dr. Michael D. Henry. His postdoctoral training was in the lab of Dr. Owen N. Witte at UCLA. Prior to coming to the University of Minnesota in 2018, Dr. Drake held a faculty position at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in the Department of Medicine.

Research Summary

Research in the Drake Lab focuses on blending basic and translational research approaches to better understand the signaling networks in lethal metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer, and how to more effectively treat patients who are suffering from this disease using rationalized targeted therapies. Previous research from Dr. Drake and others suggest that kinase activation may be a primary mechanism of resistance to current therapies in late stage prostate cancer. Using in vivo primary mouse and human cancer model systems, the Drake Lab investigates what particular kinase signaling pathways are activated that lead to this resistance and how new targeted therapies, such as kinase inhibitors, may perturb these pathways for future clinical utility.In addition, Dr. Drake's lab will also employ phosphoproteomics enrichment technologies coupled to quantitative targeted mass spectrometry to identify the activated kinases and pathways in pre-clinical and clinical tumors for development of predictive biomarkers. The results of this research aim to evaluate single liquid or tissue biopsies from metastatic prostate cancer patients for activated kinase signatures that will lead to targeted therapies in real time.

Bio

Dr. Elliott is a Professor, Vice Chair of Urology and Director of Reconstructive Urology at the University of Minnesota. He directs a fellowship in Genitourinary Trauma and Reconstruction and the Urology Clinic at Gillette Lifetime Specialty Healthcare. He received his M.D. at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and completed a urology residency and fellowship in Genitourinary Trauma and Reconstruction at the University of California-San Francisco. He earned a Master's of Science in Health Services Research at the University of Minnesota and completed the program in leadership Development for Physicians in Academic Health Centers at Harvard University's School of Public Health.

Dr. Elliott's clinical interests include urethral stricture disease, male urinary incontinence, urinary diversion, male genital reconstruction and neurogenic bladder including the long-term bladder management of people with spina bifida or spinal cord injury. He directs a clinical and research fellowship in Genitourinary Trauma and Reconstruction, with the goal of training future leaders in this field.

Dr. Elliott is board certified in urology and a member of the American Urologic Association. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is a member of the Board of Directors and serves as Secretary-Treasurer of the Society of Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgeons, the leading academic and clinical forum for reconstructive urology. In this role, he directs the day-to-day activities of the society and guides the Society's long-term vision.

Dr. Elliott is a founding member of the Trauma and Urinary Reconstructive Network of Surgeons (TURNS). University of Minnesota is one of 8 centers that collaborate in the study of patients treated for a variety of conditions in trauma and reconstructive urology. This network is designed to collect centralized data and provide sophisticated analysis of both surgical and patient reported outcomes from urethral stricture surgery, male incontinence and a variety of other conditions. This type of collaborative research effort is essential to moving forward outcome research that is increasingly important in modern medicine.

Dr. Elliott directs a urologic surgery outcomes research group at the University of Minnesota. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Gillette Children's Foundation and the American Cancer Society. His group seeks to improve the delivery of urologic care, particularly in 4 areas: (1) benign prostatic hyperplasia, (2) urethral stricture disease, (3) neurogenic bladder secondary to spina bifida, cerebral palsy or spinal cord injury, and (4) reducing complications of radiation or surgery for the treatment for prostate and cervical cancer.

Meet Dr. Elliott

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Administrator Information:

Lee Ann Knight
Email: ltveit@umn.edu
Phone: 612-626-7099

 

Research Summary

Understanding the severe urinary adverse effects of pelvic radiotherapyValidating a Claims-Based Method for Assessing Severe Rectal and Urinary Adverse Effects of Radiotherapy

Clinical Summary

• Urethral stricture disease, Urinary diversion including Mitrofanoff creation/revision and bladder augmentation, Urinary fistula repair, Peyronie's disease, Erectile dysfunction, Ureteral strictures, Male stress urinary incontinence, Reconstruction of male external genitalia, surgical reconstruction of genital lymphedema, Paget and rsquos disease, Penile cancer or trapped penis, Genitourinary cancer

Bio

Born in Madison Wisconsin, Dr. Cynthia Fok received her undergraduate education in Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She then went on to receive her M.D. at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She finished her urologic residency training in at Loyola University Medical Center in 2010 and then completed an American Board of Urology (ABU) & American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology (ABOG) accredited fellowship in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery at Loyola University Medical Center in 2013. During her fellowship she not only obtained a Masters in Public Health from Loyola University of Chicago, but also was actively involved in research including being awarded the Society of Women in Urology Elizabeth Pickett Research Grant in 2011 for research exploring the relationship between overactive bladder and the genitourinary microbiota. Her clinical and research interests continue to explore pelvic floor dysfunction with interests in pelvic organ prolapse, overactive bladder, urinary incontinence, genitourinary fistulas, urethral stricture disease, and genitourinary microbiota.

Meet Dr. Fok

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Administrator Information:

Lee Ann Knight
Email: ltveit@umn.edu
Phone: 612-626-7099

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Clinical Summary

Specialties:

• Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery
• Pelvic Organ Prolapse
• Overactive Bladder
• Genitourinary Fistulas
• Urinary Incontinence
• Urethral Strictures
• Minimally Invasive Surgery

Bio

Dr. Paul Gleich has been involved in medical education since he began his practice in urology in 1982. Initially, Dr. Gleich was a faculty member of the Frederic Foley urology training program, and he later become chairman and director of the program. Dr. Gleich merged his program with the University of Minnesota urology training program and went into private practice. Though continuing his educational activities in private practice, he rejoined the Medical School faculty in 2009 with an emphasis in medical student education.

Clinical Summary

Specialties:

• Urinary tract infections
• Hematuria (blood in urine)
• Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)
• Kidney stones
• Neurogenic bladder
• Bladder cancer
• Urinary incontinence