David McConkey, Ph.D.

David J. McConkey, PhD, is Professor and Vice Chair of Research at the University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Urology and holds the Susan P. and Edward M. Messing, MD, Professorship in Urology. He also serves as co-lead of the Wilmot Cancer Institute’s Genetics, Epigenetics, and Metabo...

David J. McConkey, PhD, is Professor and Vice Chair of Research at the University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Urology and holds the Susan P. and Edward M. Messing, MD, Professorship in Urology. He also serves as co-lead of the Wilmot Cancer Institute’s Genetics, Epigenetics, and Metabolism Program.

Dr. McConkey is internationally recognized for his leadership in bladder cancer research, with a career focused on understanding the molecular drivers of disease progression and advancing new therapeutic strategies.

Dr. McConkey’s research program integrates clinically relevant laboratory models with patient-derived samples to identify biomarkers, uncover mechanisms of treatment response, and support the development of early-phase clinical trials. His work contributed to the development of nadofaragene firadenovec, the first FDA-approved gene therapy for BCG-unresponsive non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Prior to joining URMC, Dr. McConkey was the inaugural Director of the Johns Hopkins Greenberg Bladder Cancer Institute and a Professor of Urology at Johns Hopkins Medicine, where he helped establish a precision medicine program for bladder cancer. He has also held national leadership roles, including Chair for Translational Medicine in the Southwest Oncology Group’s Genitourinary Committee and membership in The Cancer Genome Atlas Bladder Cancer Analysis Working Group.

Dr. McConkey remains an active contributor to the bladder cancer research community and serves on the executive committees of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network and the Bladder Cancer Research Network. He is a member of the International Bladder Cancer Group, American Urological Association, Society for Urologic Oncology, and the Society for Basic Urological Research.