Xinhua Zhu, MD, PhD, is a medical oncologist and hematologist at R.J. Zuckerberg Cancer Center, where he specializes in treating genitourinary cancer, including cancer of the prostate, kidney, bladder and testicles. He focuses on compassionate, evidence-based care, rooted in his research background. "My research helps me think outside the box when creating treatment plans," says Dr. Zhu, "and enables me to explain to patients the mechanisms behind the treatments I'm using." His research interests include finding new treatment targets for generating hormone resistance in prostate cancer and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, exploring biomarkers in bladder cancer to guide decisions about chemotherapy, exploring the mechanisms for kidney cancer metastasis, and investigating the effectiveness of immunotherapy for genitourinary cancers.Dr. Zhu earned his medical degree at Suzhou Medical College and practiced internal medicine in China. He obtained his PhD in cancer study at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, then moved to the United States for postdoctoral research training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, an internal medicine residency at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He attended NYU School of Medicine for fellowship training in hematology and medical oncology. In 2013, he joined Northwell Health, where he regularly meets with a multidisciplinary group of pathologists, radiologists, radiation oncologists, surgical oncologists, geneticists and the Molecular Tumor Board to create treatment plans.As an associate professor at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, he twice received the Medical Oncology/Hematology Fellowship Program Teacher of the Year Award. Dr. Zhu is also a phase 1 cancer research program director at R.J. Zuckerberg Cancer Center. He is assistant investigator at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, and a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Association of Cancer Research, and the Principal Investigator for the Northwell Health NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) For Dr. Zhu, being able to pursue both scientific investigation and patient care is the best part of his work. "I can take research from the bench to the bedside, providing people with the best possible treatments," he says.