Emory University School of Medicine
Department of Urology

Sanda Lab

Dr. Martin Sanda’s research has advanced prostate cancer care by developing accurate, non-invasive diagnostic tools and cancer vaccines, while also setting national standards for post-treatment quality of life. This ongoing research continues to led to more personalized, effective, and less stressful care for patients.

Principal Investigator

Martin Sanda, MD, is a internationally recognized prostate cancer surgeon and scientist. In 2013, he was appointed urology service chief for Emory Healthcare and director of the Prostate Cancer Center of Emory's Winship Cancer Institute.

Dr. Sanda's clinical expertise focuses on prostate cancer multidisciplinary care, active surveillance, and robotic prostatectomy, while his academic specialties include prostate cancer immunology, biomarker, and patient-reported outcomes research. He has held continuous NIH funding for over 20 years as Principal Investigator of studies evaluating prostate cancer detection, immunotherapy, and quality of life.

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Principal Investigator

Research

Dr. Martin Sanda’s research at Emory University has produced several key findings that have significantly advanced prostate cancer detection, treatment, and survivorship care. Sanda led the development of non-invasive urine tests that detect high-grade prostate cancer more accurately than traditional PSA screening.

These tests include biomarkers like PCA3 and TMPRSS2:ERG fusion, which improve diagnostic specificity. He has also pioneered work on therapeutic cancer vaccines, including GM-CSF-secreting tumor vaccines, which show promise in enhancing immune responses against prostate cancer. Through large-scale studies involving over 4,400 patients, Sanda established benchmarks for long-term quality of life outcomes post-treatment, helping guide patient-centered care decisions. His team has integrated advanced imaging (MRI) and genomic profiling to better stratify prostate cancer risk and guide treatment, particularly in active surveillance and metastatic settings.

Sanda has led multiple national trials, including studies on systemic therapy combined with definitive treatment for metastatic prostate cancer, and biomarker-based upgrading of Gleason scores. 

Publications

Dr. Sanda is an internationally recognized prostate cancer surgeon and scientist. In 2013, he was appointed chair of the Department of Urology at Emory University School of Medicine, urology service chief for Emory Healthcare, and director of the Prostate Cancer Center of Emory's Winship Cancer Institute.  

He has established a prostate cancer immunology laboratory as PI in 1996 and has held continuous NIH funding since then. The scope his prostate cancer research expanded to evaluating prostate cancer antigens as markers for early detection and to investigating patient-reported outcomes among prostate cancer survivors.

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Lab Team

  • Adriana Boyanton, Lead Research Specialist

  • Declan Keating-Broyles, Clinical Research Coordinator I