I would like to put out a call to all the brothers to chime in if they Absolutely trust and respect their oncologist / urologists, and to please list them here and the Center they are out of as a resource for all of us
I understand there are some rockstar researchers out there, but I am more focused on the rare combination of excellent patient care / follow-up and outside-the-box thinking. Who emails back? Who is aggressive? Who would you recommend? Who do you think has helped extensively with your treatment?
It may also be helpful to distinguish main oncologists, radiation oncologists, and surgical oncologists.
I’m happy to get the ball rolling-
Ken Pienta at Johns Hopkins. Research Oncologist and department head. Kind, compassionate, very outside-the-box. Focused on Oligometastatic disease among others.
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AlooGobi
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Dr. Chad Tang - MD Anderson - Radiation Oncologist - he is very smart and has an incredible way with patients. He is an excellent listener, speaks in plain language you can understand, answers any and all questions, and his follow up is great!
Evan Yu, Medical Oncologist at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. His focus is on prostate, testicular, and bladder cancers. Participant in clinical research through the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Carries complex treatment matrices in his head to guide patients’ treatment trajectories. Personable, great staff, includes family members in treatment discussions. Often included on Best Of doctor lists.
His SCCA profile:
Dr. Yu, a medical oncologist, treats prostate, bladder and testicular cancer, and is passionate about providing a personalized medicinal approach to a selection of novel therapies as well as understanding biologic mechanisms of drug sensitivity and resistance.
Philosophy
My goal is to provide my patients with medical care built on a foundation of science and education, with an artistic flare.
Clinical Expertise
Medical Oncology, Translational Research, Novel
molecular targeted agents, Biomarkers, Imaging (PET scans, MRI), Bone health
Title
Professor, Department of Medical Oncology, University of Washington School of Medicine
Member, Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Assistant Fellowship Director, Hematology and Oncology Fellowship Training Program, University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Clinical Trials Core Director, Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Education and Training
MD: University of Washington School of Medicine, 1998
Residency: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Internal Medicine, 2000-2001
Fellowships: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Hematology-Oncology, 2001-2004
More Information
For more information about Dr. Evan Ya-Wen Yu's clinical and research expertise, visit his UW Medicine profile.
Awards/Honors
Alpha Omega Alpha, School of Medicine, University of Washington 1997
Graduation with Honors, School of Medicine, University of Washington 1998
Chief Resident, Faulkner Hospital (Subsidiary of Brigham and Women’s Hospital) 2001
Seattle Magazine’s “Top Doctor” 2010
Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare 2011-2012
Seattle Met Magazine’s “Top Doctor” 2011
U.S. News and World Report “Top Doctor” 2011-present
Castle Connolly America’s Top Doctors 2011-present
Provider's Story
Evan Ya-Wen Yu, MD is a medical oncologist who treats prostate, bladder, and testicular cancer. He’s passionate about searching for the next wave of cancer treatments—targeted agents with greater cancer specificity and fewer side effects.
His respect and compassion for people undergoing cancer treatment were already in place but deepened when his father developed bladder cancer. Now he’s dedicated to strengthening the links between clinical care and laboratory research so the prognosis for patients gets better and better.
Early Inspiration
“I always wanted to be a physician,” says Dr. Yu, a Washington native who completed medical school at the University of Washington in 1998. During the summer after his first year of medical school, Dr. Yu worked with a urologist and met men being treated for prostate cancer. The patients, grappling with their diagnosis and considering their options, inspired him to specialize in oncology.
“The patients were figuring out the really important things in life at that point,” he explains, re-evaluating their priorities in light of their disease and treatment. “Even though there was so much trauma going on in their life, they had so much calmness and tranquility,” he recalls.
After medical school, Dr. Yu spent about seven years in the Boston area doing both clinical and research work. In October 2004, Yu returned to Seattle to join SCCA where he gained a unique opportunity to take part in innovative cancer research.
Family Matters
Before his father’s illness, Dr. Yu was very much a molecular scientist, he says. But having someone close to him get cancer made him think about the disease more holistically, rather than only as a ball of abnormal cells or a sample in a tissue culture dish. “Scientific understanding and science-based treatments are important, of course,”says Dr. Yu, who still has a strong scientific bent. “But there’s so much more to treating cancer than that.”
“At the end of the day,” he says, “it’s really about the patient as a whole.”
Even before his experience with his own father’s disease, Dr. Yu recognized the importance of a patient’s circle of loved ones.
“It wasn’t just the patients themselves that I connected with but the families too,” he says.
Oncology gives doctors a rare opportunity to connect deeply with families—from the outset of treatment, through the course of the disease, sometimes over several years. He values the chance to get to know people and work intensively with them over time. Even after the death of a patient, Dr. Yu still keeps in touch with some families, he says.
For some researchers, translational research means laboring in a laboratory, sometimes for years, investigating the mechanisms of cancer growth or developing a particular drug that shows promise. For Dr. Yu, it means planting himself directly on the line between the laboratory and the clinic and engaging both sides in the search.
“Science is actually very different from medicine,” explains Dr. Yu, who conducted basic laboratory research during his years in Boston. “I’m trying to really meld the biology and the clinical care.”
Clinical Trials
Study of Pembrolizumab With or Without Platinum-based Combination Chemotherapy Versus Chemotherapy Alone in Urothelial Carcinoma (MK-3475-361/KEYNOTE-361)
Study of Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) Combination Therapies in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (MK-3475-365/KEYNOTE-365)
A Study of Enfortumab Vedotin for Patients With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Urothelial Bladder Cancer (EV-201)
I want to take a stand here. first, the majority of caregivers in the treatment of cancer, including PC, are good honest and hardworking people. They do their best in assisting us fight this war. The fact is that most of us on this site, will die of PC or from side effects etc. There is nothing, not god himself, who will change that outcome. It is long overdue that people stop doctor shopping!!!!! It is costing our system huge dollars, gives patients false hopes and has families and the inflicted running around the country/world in the hope that some magic cure is to be found.
I say, do your research, get to know PC. Then, make life plan around what the facts are. Make up a bucket list and live large, love those close, make amends, and spend your days enjoying the time you have.
Quality of life is so important and so many miss those final days because of this insane pursuit of that which does not exist-not right now but a cure, or making it a treatable disease will come one day, but probably not in our lifetime.
So, god bless you all and I hope this response helps to reset and think about your life.
I agree with your sentiments about maintaining a good quality of life and not going nuts following quests for the impossible. I also agree with the positive things you say about the vast majority of doctors. But, maybe you're overlooking the point that there ARE diagnostic tools and treatments out there that work well for many people who have not or would not be well served by the "standard of care." Many hospitals simply don't have the equipment. Many doctors are prevented by their medical groups and HMOs from offering hope and treatments to patients, even when the doctors are on top of the literature and latest tests and trials. This thread is very helpful to patients who are looking for a certain expertise or treatment philosophy. In many cases what you can "doctor shopping" will provide hope and answers and longevity to prostate cancer patients. To each his own.
Dr. Ravi Madan is one of the Principal Investigators for CaP clinical trials at the NIH. While that means I am just one of the "lab rats" in a very large institution, he has personally shepherded me through 4 ½ years of my current clinical trial. While the only way to consult with him is to enroll in one of the clinical trials he is shepherding, I mention his name here because he fits the description asked and has honored me as a patient and as a person so much more than all other medical oncologists I have seen (except 1) in my 12 years of dealing with CaP, 9 years of mCRPC.
Two things: Would highly recommend Dr Luke Nordquist at the Urology Cancer Center in Omaha NE. Medical oncologist that specializes in and only treats urological/prostate cancers. One of the few community-based practices in the US that does this. Trained at Memorial Sloan Kettering. has a huge PCA research program with more than 50+ trials, more than any other program in the coutry. Has hundreds of positive pt feedback messages on Vitals.com and a 5 star rating.
And I disagree with the post above re: "all PCA physicians are the same". That is simply not true and there can be a big difference in outcomes by seeking and getting the best treatment for your situation. A general oncologist cannot possibly keep up with all of the research on all cancer types. There is way too much to do that. PCA alone has more than 750 trials in the US.
Proper treatment and management can add years of life. Yes, some on this list will die from PCA. Many more will die with PCA and not from it. Personally, I would rather be in the latter group. People seeking second opinions are not driving up the health costs in this country.....greedy health ins plans and pharma companies are doing that. Take a look at the net profit numbers from the pharma and ins companies if you doubt that. Almost one third of the money spent in the US on health care per year ($4+ trillion) goes to profit for these companies. We need a single-payer health plan in the US to solve this.
Eugene Kwon at Mayo has been zapping mets on oligo patients for upwards of a decade using SBRT. Results from ESMO and Astro JUST this year made his “theory” an “evidence based” standard of care. I’m sure the, literally, thousands of metastatic patients this guy put into long term remission, added years to, or literally put into No Evidence of Disease, would have something to say about the above screed re “doctor shopping.”
Same for the guys in Pretoria getting NED status from AC-225-PSMA, or the Checkmate 650 trial people in Chicago; or those early guys in the first human trial using Evans Blue as the PSMa tracer.
I’ve had no less than 4 top oncs refer to advanced PCa as a condition we’re on the cusp of chronically managing. The evidence that people will use to substantiate that claim is being trialed RIght Now. There are bros lucky enough or tenacious enough to have found the doctors who do practice the cutting edge - that’s why there are 10, 15, 20 year survivors right here, on this board, who know in their gut that the treatment they received from the onc or team they found, made all the difference.
I was going to say something regarding the above posts... but I decided not to, because it doesn't matter anyway, since I don't know shit from shinola.
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Elgie New Doctor Referral
Do male urologists and oncologists avoid referring patients to female doctors? What do you think?
Focused radiation on the met lymph node
Excellent Article
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