Emeritus Member | Michael Cookson, MD

Dr. Michael Cookson is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Urology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.  He holds the Donald D. Albers Endowed Chair in Urology.

A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Dr. Cookson holds a Bachelor of Arts with high honors degree in Journalism and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Doctor of Medicine with high honors degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Dr. Cookson completed his Urology Residency at UT Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. This was followed by a fellowship in Urologic Oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York. Dr. Cookson served on the faculty of the University of Kentucky School of Medicine for two years before joining the Vanderbilt School of Medicine in 1998, where he had a distinguished career that included serving as the Vice Chairman of Clinical Affairs in the Department of Urology and Director of the Urologic Oncology Fellowship. In 2009, Dr. Cookson earned his Master of Management in Health Care degree from the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management. In 2013, he joined the University of Oklahoma and the Stephenson Cancer Center as Professor and Chair of the Department of Urology.

Dr. Cookson maintains a busy clinical practice He is an expert in management of noninvasive bladder cancer including diagnostics, enhanced detection and intravesical therapies including BCG unresponsive bladder cancer. He has performed more than 800 radical cystectomies and is facile at both open and robotic techniques. He also has a special interest in quality of life and continent urinary diversion. He participates in numerous clinical trials for noninvasive and invasive bladder cancer.

An accomplished researcher and lecturer, Dr. Cookson is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed journal publications and 27 chapters of various textbooks in urologic surgery. He is an active member of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons, the Society of Pelvic Surgeons and numerous other national professional societies and committees. He has been recognized nationally for his outstanding contributions to urologic oncology, and has been consistently named as one of the Best Doctors in America, in Who’s Who in America, and as one of America’s Top Doctors for Cancer for the past several years. Additionally, Dr. Cookson is the recipient of teaching awards from his peers and from his students.