Amar U. Kishan, MD

Amar U. Kishan, MD, is a professor with tenure and executive vice chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr Kishan joined the faculty at UCLA in 2017 as an assistant professor of radiation oncology and urology. He was promoted to the rank of professor in 2023, and he has served as vice chair of clinical and translational research and chief of the Genitourinary Service since 2019.

Dr Kishan graduated from UC Berkeley with dual bachelor of arts degrees in molecular and cell biology and public health. He earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, where he graduated magna cum laude from the joint Harvard–Massachusetts Institute of Technology Health Sciences and Technology Program. During medical school, he was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowship to study tumor metabolism in the laboratory. Dr Kishan subsequently completed his internship training at Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego, where he was recognized as the H.H. Jones Intern of the Year. In 2017, he completed his residency training in radiation oncology at UCLA.

He specializes in the use of radiation to treat genitourinary malignancies (particularly cancers of the prostate and bladder). He has received numerous accolades for his clinical service, including the 2021 Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award and the 2024 UCLA Exceptional Physician Award.

Dr Kishan also has an extensive research background and runs an active clinical and translational research program. He has spearheaded multiple innovative clinical trials in radiation oncology and has published more than 310 manuscripts, including lead authorship publications in JAMA, The Lancet Oncology, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, JAMA Oncology, European Urology, Cancer Cell, and the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. He has received extensive grant support, including funding from the National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Defense, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the American Society for Radiation Oncology, the Radiological Society of North America, the Radiation Oncology Institute, and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.