 Dr. Konety received his MD at the MS Ramaiah Medical College of Bangalore University, India. He was then a research fellow with the UCSF Department of Urology at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center following which he completed his Urology residency at University of Pittsburgh. Following his residency training he was an AFUD Research Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Urology and Cancer Institute, and concurrently received an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business. He then completed a year at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as Chief Clinical Fellow.
He was previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urology, University of Iowa and Chief of Urology at the VAMC Iowa City. He currently holds a joint appointment in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at UCSF. He also holds an appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Dept. of Epidemiology, University of Iowa College of Public Health. He has authored or co-authored over 60 original publications and numerous book chapters. He has been Principal or Co-investigator on grants funded through The Department of Defense, The National Institutes of Health, The American Geriatrics Society and The Center for Disease Control. He is currently a Dennis Jahnigen Career Development Scholar of the American Geriatrics Society. He is an active member of numerous professional medical societies including the American Urological Association, the American College of Surgeons, International College of Surgeons and the Society for Basic Urological Research.
His main research interests in prostate cancer have focused on screening and management strategies for prostate cancer in special populations, mainly the elderly. As part of this interest, he is currently the PI on a project funded through the CDC and the Iowa Dept. of Public Health that aims to develop and disseminate consensus guidelines for diagnosis and management of prostate cancer in elderly men in Iowa.
He has also been involved in the gene therapy program for prostate cancer at the University of Iowa. He participated in a recently completed phase I clinical trial of Adenovirus type 5 vector (Ad5) with PSA cDNA used as a vaccine to stimulate immunologic destruction of prostate cancer cells in patients with metastatic prostate cancer. A second protocol to test Ad5-TNF apoptosis inducing ligand (AD5-TRAIL) in a phase I setting is being developed. As the principal investigator, he coordinated the FDA IND submission, and the development of the study design and protocol. He also received funding from the Dept. of Defense and the NCI to conduct this trial which is just underway.
He has also been previously involved in testing and development of markers for prostate cancer and the investigation of the role of vitamin D in prostate growth and neoplastic transformation. He currently also has a grant from the DOD to study the use of synthetic nerve grafts in animal models to restore cavernous nerve function following damage during prostatectomy. |
