Dr. McKiernan graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a BA in biology and received his MD from Columbia University P&S. He completed his training in urology and general surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, followed by a urologic surgical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. McKiernan specializes in urologic oncology, particularly surgery therapy in high-risk patients with bladder and kidney cancers. His research, funded by NIH and the Prostate Cancer Foundation, focuses on novel drug and biomarker development, as well as comparative effectiveness, in urologic oncology. In the management of kidney and bladder cancer, he has special expertise in organ preservation and reconstructive surgery to maximize quality of life.

Dr. McKiernan’s research has been published in Cancer, Cancer Research, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the Journal of Urology, Urologic Oncology, and Urology.  He has authored and co-authored more than 160 scientific articles and book chapters on urologic oncology. For the past 10 years, he has directed a research team at Columbia University Medical Center investigating quality outcomes and effectiveness in urologic cancer surgery. He has served as the Vice Chairman for the AJCC TNM Staging Task Force, as well as on the American Board of Urology and Society of Urologic Oncology Examination Committees.

In addition, Dr. McKiernan is the principal investigator of the NIH-funded clinical trials program of experimental therapeutics in bladder cancer at Columbia, which is investigating new agents for bladder preservation in patients whose cancer has recurred after standard therapy. In collaboration with researchers at Columbia’s Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, his team continues to develop new therapeutic strategies for managing bladder cancer.