Isaac Kim takes charge of urology

Isaac Y. Kim, MD, PhD, MBA, was appointed chair of the Department of Urology at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and chief of Urology at Yale New Haven Hospital. A surgeon-scientist with more than a decade of leadership experience, Kim was professor and chief of the Division of Urology in the Department of Surgery at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; chief of the Section of Urologic Oncology and executive director of the Prostate Cancer Center at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey; and medical director of robotic surgery at Monmouth Medical Center.

He received his doctorate from the Integrated Graduate Program in Tumor Cell Biology at Northwestern University Graduate School and his medical degree from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. He completed his residency in urology at Baylor College of Medicine, a research fellowship in urologic oncology at the National Cancer Institute, and a clinical fellowship in laparoscopy and endourology at the University of California, Irvine. He joined the faculty at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in 2005. In 2017, he received his MBA in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kim spearheaded the development of the robotic surgery program at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and is an expert in robot- assisted radical prostatectomy. He managed a basic science research pro- gram on the mechanism of prostate cancer treatment resistance and is investigating new therapeutic options for castration-resistant prostate cancer by developing Proteolysis Target- ing Chimera (PROTAC) molecules for commercial translation. He also has been active in clinical research, serving as the principal investigator of two clinical trials on advanced and metastatic prostate cancer. Kim helped establish a research consortium of more than 25 institutions from five countries to investigate the therapeutic role of cytoreductive radical prostatectomy in metastatic prostate cancer. He has received numerous awards for mentorship, research, leadership, and clinical care.

At YSM, Kim will focus on innovative patient care built on paradigm-challenging, investigator-initiated clinical trials and visionary basic research programs. Establishing a diverse culture of inclusion and collaboration is a priority, and he will encourage multidisciplinary teams that engage the wider Yale community. He will also increase the research exposure of residents, while supporting and fostering domestic and international collaborations.