Herbert Ballentine Carter

Biography

Dr. Herbert Ballantine Carter is a professor of urology and oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is an internationally recognized expert in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate disease, both cancerous and non-cancerous. Dr. Carter also serves as the director of adult urology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Carter earned his M.D. from Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine. He completed his residency in urology and surgery at The New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center and performed a fellowship in urology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Carter is the only surgeon at Johns Hopkins to have collected four years of quality of life information on consecutive patients undergoing radical prostatectomy using validated questionnaires. As a surgeon, this data allows him to know how he is doing and also allows patients to know what to expect. After performing more than 3,500 radical prostatectomies, he can help men and their partners navigate through a difficult time in their lives, and, in most cases, return to a life that was present before the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Dr. Carter led a panel of experts that wrote the American Urological Association guidelines in 2013 for prostate cancer detection. His book–The Whole Life Prostate Book–is the only comprehensive prostate book for laypeople that offers patients not only up to date information on management options for prostate disease (including cancer), but also approaches to prevention of male health disorders including prostate disease. Dr. Carter, in collaboration with investigators at the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, introduced the concept of PSA rate of change (PSA velocity) as a marker of prostate cancer presence and aggressiveness. He also first described the use of free PSA to predict the behavior of prostate cancer. Dr. Carter was first to publish data demonstrating that an individual’s personal prostate cancer screening program should be tailored to baseline PSA levels instead of using a “one size fits all” approach. Dr. Carter was nominated in 2012 to be a Trustee of the American Board of Urology by the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons. His election as a Trustee to the American Board of Urology is a recognition of his exemplary patient care and innovative research in the field of prostate cancer.

Research Interest

Urologic surgery; Urology; Carcinoma of the prostate; Urologic oncology; Benign prostatic hyperplasia; Active surveillance of prostate cancer; Prostate cancer; Benign prostatic hyperplasia