Dr. Barocas received his medical degree in 2001 at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and went on to complete a residency in urology (2007) at the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center. He came to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2007, where he completed a 2-year fellowship in urologic oncology and a master of public health degree. He was awarded a training grant from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences to fund his masters program and masters thesis on prostate cancer risk factors.

Dr. Barocas' clinical interest is the surgical treatment of genitourinary (GU) cancers, including prostate, bladder, kidney, penile, testicular and urethral cancers. He is experienced in open and laparoscopic surgery and is a leader in robotic surgery for genitourinary cancers.

Dr. Barocas is a strong patient advocate who partners with patients and families to treat the cancer while preserving quality of life. His research interest is in measuring outcomes and improving the quality of surgical care for GU cancers. Dr. Barocas oversees the department of urologic surgery cancer research databases and guides research on a number of important topics, such as comparative studies on outcomes and measures of effectiveness for open versus robotic surgical procedures in the treatment of prostate and bladder cancers. Dr. Barocas also performs research in large national datasets, in an effort to identify and address variation in the quality of care for GU cancers and to assess the diffusion of new treatments (such as robotics) in the community.

Dr. Barocas' experience as a clinician and training as a researcher qualify him to serve in leadership positions in academic urology and inform his research program. He serves on several national committees, including the American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines panel for the development of standards for evaluating patients with suspected bladder cancer and the prostate cancer early detection guidelines panel for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN.) In 2007 and 2008, he was awarded the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Foundation Merit Award for his commitment and contributions to notable research in GU cancers. Dr. Barocas is a reviewer for AUA educational materials as well as professional publications, including Urology and British Journal of Urology International. In 2008, he was named Best Reviewer of Manuscripts in Bladder and Kidney Cancer by the Journal of Urology. He is a frequent invited speaker and lecturer on topics related to his work in urologic oncology. He has authored more than 100 abstracts, book chapters, letters, posters, videos and articles which were published in peer-reviewed journals, including Urologic Oncology and Cancer. He is a member of the AUA, the Society of Urologic Oncology, the Vanderbilt Urology Society, the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt's Center for Surgical Quality and Outcomes Research, and the Elliott Newman Society at VUMC.