Xiao Zhao, MD

Gina Badalato, M.D., Associate Professor of Urology, joined our faculty in December 2014 as part of the clinical team serving general urology patients. A graduate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and one of the Department’s former residents and clinical fellows, Dr. Badalato specializes in voiding dysfunction, female urology, and stone disease. In addition to seeing patients, Dr. Badalato plays an important role in the Department’s education mission by serving as Director of Medical Education and advisor to Columbia P&S students. Dr. Badalato has research interest stone disease, voiding dysfunction and medical education outcomes. She has co-authored numerous articles on these and other topics in urology.

James McKiernan, MD, is the John K. Lattimer Professor of Urology and CEO of ColumbiaDoctors. He is also Senior Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs for Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. McKiernan graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a BA in biology and received his MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. 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's clinical practice is focused on urologic oncology and particularly on surgical therapy in high-risk patients with bladder and kidney cancers. Dr. McKiernan evaluates and treats over 1,000 patients with bladder cancer every year. His research, funded by NIH and biotechnology industry grants, focuses on developing novel therapeutics for bladder cancer treatment as well as comparative effectiveness research 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, JAMA Oncology, Journal of Urology, Urologic Oncology, and Urology. He has authored and co-authored more than 220 scientific articles and book chapters on urologic cancer and related issues. 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, Co-Chair of the AUA Guidelines Panel on non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, 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 University/NYPH, 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.

Luona Sun, MD is a board-certified breast surgeon trained in minimal invasive nipple sparing mastectomy, skin sparing mastectomy, intraoperative radiation therapy and various frontline localization skills. She is also an active researcher, focusing on rare diagnoses like small cell carcinoma in breast cancer and high risk lesion management in patients with coexisting cancer. One of her major research interests is in Asian American breast cancer disparities. Dr. Sun received her undergraduate degree from SUNY Stony Brook University, her medical degree from SUNY Buffalo, and completed her general surgery residency at New York Presbyterian Queens/Weill Cornell Medical Center before coming to Columbia for her fellowship training. Over the course of that time, she earned several honors for her research work, including winning the Theresa and Eugene Lang Research Award and presenting her international collaboration with China’s 301 General Hospital at the American Society of Breast Surgeons 2019. Dr. Sun can conduct surgical consultations in Chinese as well as English.