Joel B. Nelson, MD, is co-director of the Prostate and Urologic Cancer Program and the Frederic N. Schwentker professor and chair of the Department of Urology at the University of Pittsburgh.
He received his medical training at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, Illinois and completed his general surgery and urology residency at Northwestern University/McGaw Medical Center. Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute in 2000, he was the director of urology/oncology at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
Clinically, Dr. Nelson is a skilled and compassionate urologic surgeon. He has delineated the role of endothelin in the progression of prostate cancer and is conducting definitive clinical trials of a new endothelin antagonist.
Gurkamal S. Chatta, MD, is a visiting associate professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and interim co-director of the Prostate and Urologic Cancer Program.
Dr. Chatta earned his medical degree from Delhi University, Delhi, India and completed his residency training in internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, Milwaukee, WI. He undertook fellowship training at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Dr. Chatta is a board-certified gerontologist and medical oncologist with a research background in hematopoiesis and tumor immunology. Before joining UPMC in 2001, he was associate professor, Divisions of Aging and Oncology, at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, AR.
Dr. Chatta is currently developing Phase I/II trials of biological therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer, in close collaboration with the Institute of Molecular Medicine. This clinical effort is closely meshed with the focus of his laboratory group: immunotherapy of prostate cancer in preclinical models. In collaboration with Dr. Merrill Egorin (Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology), Dr. Chatta is also working on Phase I/II clinical trials of combinations of cytotoxics and biologics in genitourinary malignancies.
Dr. Chatta is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and is certified in geriatrics and oncology. He is a member of the American Association of Cancer Research and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. His special interests include prostate cancer and cancer in the older population.
