Ganesh S. Palapattu, MD, FACS
Photo: Ganesh S Palapattu

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Elected 2021

Dr. Palapattu is the George F. and Sandy G. Valassis Professor and Chair of Urology at the University of Michigan. Prior to this appointment in February 2019, he had served as Chief of the Division of Urologic Oncology in the Department of Urology at U-M since 2012.

After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities with a concentration in South Asian studies at the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Palapattu earned his medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine where he spent an additional year devoted to laboratory research as a fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He then completed an internship in surgery, urologic training and chief residency in urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA followed by a postdoctoral research fellowship in Urologic Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine/Brady Urological Institute. He has held faculty appointments at the University of Rochester and Houston Methodist Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College prior to his appointment at U-M. Dr. Palapattu also holds an adjunct appointment as Professor in the Department of Urology at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria.

Dr. Palapattu’s clinical interest is in the evaluation and management of prostate and kidney cancer. As a physician-scientist, he currently maintains a translational lab that is focused on understanding, profiling and targeting molecular drivers of aggressive disease. Specifically, his research program is anchored in the following domains: i) understanding the role of altered cancer metabolism on disease progression, ii) examining the interplay between cancer and non-cancer cells in the tumor microenvironment and iii) uncovering genomic alterations that may lead to improved diagnostic tests and more effective therapies. Additionaly, Dr. Palapattu is commited to increasing the number of successful physician-scientists in Urology.