Dr. Michael S. Cookson Elected Trustee of The American Board of Urology

Dr. Michael S. Cookson, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Urology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, as well as the holder of the Donald D. Albers Endowed Chair in Urology, the University of Oklahoma David Ross Boyd Professorship, and the inaugural Associate Chief Physician Executive for OU Health’s Stephenson Cancer Center, has been elected as a Trustee of the American Board of Urology (ABU). His six-year term began on March 20, 2025. Dr. Cookson was nominated to the ABU by the American Urological Association (AUA).

Founded in 1935, the American Board of Urology acts for the benefit of the public by establishing and maintaining standards of certification for urologists, working with certified urologists to achieve lifelong learning to ensure the delivery of high quality, safe and ethical urologic care. Six urologic societies nominate to the ABU and sponsor its activities, including the American Urological Association, the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons, the American Association of Clinical Urologists, the American College of Surgeons, the Society of Academic Urologists, and the Societies for Pediatric Urology.

Dr. Cookson is a 1984 graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a BA in Journalism with honors and attended medical school at the OU College of Medicine and graduated in 1988. He completed his residency at University of Texas San Antonio in Urology and a Fellowship in Urologic Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. After 15 years on Faculty at Vanderbilt University, he returned to his alma mater in 2013 to Chair the Department of Urology and develop Prostate and Urologic Cancer Team at the Stephenson Cancer Center.

Focusing on urologic cancer education and research, he has helped at establish the prostate and urologic cancer service line as one of the best in the nation. He has led efforts in integration of screening and early detection for prostate cancer, clinical pathways, enhanced guidelines, and minimally invasive surgical treatments for patients with these cancers. Nationally, he has been a member of the AUA/ABU Exam Committee and the Society for Urologic Oncology, developing a national benchmark in testing known as the Oncology Knowledge Assessment Examination (OKAT). He is currently on the Editorial Board of the AUA Update Series and was the 2021-2022 Co-Editor of the Urology Times. He has served as Chair of the AUA’s CPRC Guidelines Panel and Vice Chair of the AUA-SUO Advanced Prostate Cancer Guidelines Panel. He is past President of the Society of Urologic Oncology, and past President of the South-Central Section of the AUA.

He has been internationally recognized for his outstanding contributions to the field of urologic oncology. He is one of 70 academic urologists nationally to be an awarded membership in the prestigious American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons and was recently elected as a member of the Clinical Society of Genitourinary Surgeons. An accomplished researcher and lecturer, he is the author of over 270 peer-reviewed journal publications and 34 textbook chapters. He has been nationally and internationally recognized for his outstanding contributions to the field of urologic oncology.