Hi Mark,
Did you choose him because his first name is also Mark? Just kidding. ;) His last name is spelled Kawachi.
I have a fond and grateful recollection of Dr. Kawachi as he was the first doctor who spent some in depth time with me so that I could understand more about my challenging case. I saw him on Dec. 27, 1999 for a second opinion while my wife and I were visiting our older son in the LA area over Christmas, following my diagnosis a couple of weeks earlier. He was so compassionate and spent more than two hours with me, and later with my wife and son. :angel:
A urologist performing surgery, he also was the director of brachytherapy for prostate cancer at the time at the City of Hope. I had started Lupron a week earlier without a protective antiandrogen, and I could tell he was upset by that, considering it unwise practice. From what I have learned later, that's one of the clues that makes me think he is a doctor that works to keep up with the field. Knowing that I lived on the East Coast, he also gave me a lead to one of the leading urologists on the East Coast, and he did a little research that indicated the surgeon I first had seen, who had done my biopsy, was not then board certified; he thought that for my challenging case I should probably also consider other options.
A few years ago I learned that he was featured on a video about robotic prostate cancer surgery, and he was initially slated as a presenter on that, before withdrawing, for one of the National Conferences on Prostate Cancer.
I just did a search on a site we can mention on this board because it is sponsored by the US Government, www.pubmed.gov, searching for " kawachi mark [au] AND prostate cancer ". I got five hits showing medical research papers that he co-authored. He is involved with some of the heavy hitters in prostate cancer in some of those studies, suggesting that he is well respected as an active medical scientist as well as clinical physician. The search results are consistent with my impression that he is a thoughtful, intelligent, capable physician.
Those indicators suggest to me that he is well thought of, but I don't have more direct knowlege about him and have not communicated with any of the patients he has treated. I am a fellow survivor with no enrolled medical education, so I'm not in a position to give a more authoritative opinion.
Take care and hope this helps,
Jim
