Welcome to Understanding Prostate Cancer. My name is Ken Pienta, Professor of Urology and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. I have been studying prostate cancer and treating patients with prostate cancer for over 25 years.
Over 1,000,000 men worldwide and 230,000 men in the United States are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. Three hundred thousand men worldwide and 30,000 men in the US are dying from prostate cancer every year. As people live longer, the incidence of prostate cancer is rising worldwide and prostate cancer continues to be a major health problem. Thanks to years of dedication and commitment to research we’ve made enormous advances in the treatment of prostate cancer, But there is still a lot of work to be done. In this Understanding Prostate Cancer course, I will provide an introduction to the biology of prostate cancer as well as how it is identified and treated at various stages of the disease.
I've put together this course in order to introduce you to the essentials of prostate cancer.
By the time you finish this course you'll be able to
Define risk factors for prostate cancer
Understand current prostate cancer screening guidelines
Understand prostate cancer staging
Understand treatments for localized prostate cancer
Understand treatments for advanced prostate cancer
Understand treatments to alleviate the symptoms caused by prostate cancer
This Understanding Prostate Cancer Course should be helpful to anyone who wants to develop a deeper understanding of prostate cancer biology and treatment. It should be useful to students who are interested in a deeper understanding of the science of cancer. It should also be helpful to health care providers, data managers, and educators who wish to develop a better understanding of prostate cancer and how it affects individuals. The course is not designed for patients seeking treatment guidance. For those of you who might be thinking about a career in cancer research or patient care, I hope this course will inspire you to pursue that path! The course is divided into five modules organized to facilitate learning.
I'm glad that you decided to join this course. I hope that you will develop a basic understanding of prostate cancer. I hope that it will help you in whatever field you work. If you are a student, I hope that what you learn here will help you begin a career in cancer biology research and contribute to the worldwide effort to save lives.
Status: Patient Evaluation
Patient Evaluation
Status: Preventative Care
Preventative Care
Beginner·Course·5 hours
Featured reviews
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 7, 2017
Great Work, I recommend it for anyone who is non-physician that will study or research on the prostate cancer. it is simplifying many clinical facts about prostate cancer.
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 2, 2020
Complete and well organized course. In just three weeks it develops various topics related to prostate cancer in a clear and simple way. I consider myself satisfied.
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 24, 2022
I loved this course!!!!well produced, easy to understand and with ton of information about cancer. I highly reccomend it to anyone wanting to learn about cancer.
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 3, 2020
Now ,, I have a clear concept on prostate cancer .As a Pharmacy student,, this course will gonna highly help me in future ....I would like to thank,, Mentor ....Best of luck ....
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 28, 2021
It's an amazing helpful concept-clearing course. I highly recommended for biology related fields. Enjoy the learning with a brilliant team.
4.0
·Reviewed Feb 9, 2020
I must say that the course is awesome. Participants of the course get a spectacular understanding of prostrate cancer. However, i do not like the note at the bottom of the personalized certificates!!!
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 26, 2022
Foundational course for anyone wanting to increase their understanding of Prostate Cancer. Very clearly articulated, at a good pace for students with English as second language.
5.0
·Reviewed May 26, 2023
It was a fantastic course. I would like to thank Dr. Pienta and Coursera for these amazing educational materials.Best regards,Pooya Farhangnia
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 25, 2018
Great course, It help us to get a better understanding of prostate cancer. He gave simple yet good explanation about the treatment options and advantages or disadvantages of each treatment
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 25, 2019
This is a comprehensive course that covers risk factors, diagnosis, treatment, and management of prostate cancer. It covers advanced treatments for Metastatic cancer as well.
5.0
·Reviewed Mar 12, 2024
Hello, I participated in this course, I applied for a full scholarship, but unfortunately I have to pay a fee, I am not able to pay, I wanted you to help me.
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 11, 2025
I do not have a medical background but this course has helped me gain a better understanding of what prostate cancer is and how it can be treated. Thank you!!
All reviews
Showing: 20 of 179
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A
Ario
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 26, 2018
Great course, It help us to get a better understanding of prostate cancer. He gave simple yet good explanation about the treatment options and advantages or disadvantages of each treatment
E
Eryka
5.0
·Reviewed May 26, 2020
Really great overview of prostate cancer. The lecture videos were just long enough for you to learn the materials and be able to take the quiz. I thought the pace of the course was perfect. My only suggestion would be to make the review quizzes at the end of each section include questions not found in the smaller lecture quizzes. They were often the same questions and memory helped me answer them more than knowledge!
M
Manarul
5.0
·Reviewed Jan 18, 2021
This course is very helpful to better understand about prostate cancer. The lectures are delivered smoothly and the duration of the lectures are perfect, not too long and not too short.
K
Karishma
5.0
·Reviewed Feb 18, 2018
An amazing course. It is very informative, interesting and the videos are short enough that you can split up the information easily and don't lose focus. A very well structured course.
F
Farabi
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 4, 2020
Now ,, I have a clear concept on prostate cancer .
As a Pharmacy student,, this course will gonna highly help me in future ....
I would like to thank,, Mentor ....
Best of luck ....
D
DIA
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 20, 2020
very interesting course
can be more better if updated with new guidelines
M
Monica
4.0
·Reviewed Dec 8, 2020
Need to be updated
K
Ken
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 27, 2021
Based solely on the Week 3 content (treatment of metastatic prostate cancer), I highly recommend this course. After viewing many other videos on cancer generally and prostate cancer specifically, it was great to find a source that, in about 45 minutes, tells what treatments are appropriate and when, gives information on how long each option buys the patient, clearly and frankly describes side effects, and describes which side effects can be treated and how. All of the information was presented exactly on the level I was looking for. I am not a medical professional, just someone who has completed freshman biology (MIT 7.00x). I especially enjoyed the part about mutations in the tumor guiding treatment ("precision medicine"), and wish there had been more on that subject.
C
Carolina
5.0
·Reviewed May 20, 2024
This course helps you learn more about prostate cancer biology, incidence, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. It is important to take first the other two courses that are part of the Cancer Biology Specialization (i.e., Introduction to Cancer Biology, and Understanding Cancer Metastasis). The explanations are very clear. In some cases, diagrams are used to provide a visual representation of what it's being explained. Prior knowledge of biology is not necessary but makes it easier to understand the topics of this course.
G
Gregory
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 1, 2018
Excellent overview. Pace was perfect. All terms/acronyms/abbreviations were spelled out. Dr. Pienta seemed to speak from a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience and was still able to distill the fundamentals down into concepts that were easy to understand. I work in Regulatory Affairs for a pharmaceutical company. This course gave me an excellent base understanding for an important disease in my company's drug portfolio. Thank you.
A
Aedrian
5.0
·Reviewed Jan 25, 2021
This course is highly recommended for medical students (and perhaps residents-in-training) who wish to have a structured understanding of prostate cancer. As the course creators are among the leading scientists working in the frontiers of this field, you can expect to get a reasonably state-of-the-art picture of prostate cancer in terms of biology, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring.
M
Momodou
5.0
·Reviewed Oct 25, 2025
This was a wonderful course. The instructors were very comprehensible and eloquent. However, I think it is time some of the content was updated. Likewise, in a future course, I will suggest using a pointer or highlighter when explaining objects or diagrams. And finally, it will be great to include some downloadable resources for learners to refer to later or after watching a lecture.
H
Hamid
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 16, 2022
First of all, I have to say thank you for preparing this great course. It was very helpful for a better understanding of prostate cancer. Today cancer is getting turning into a significant problem all over the world, Therefore, understanding its various aspects will help us better understand cancer as well as provide ways to treat and reduce the spread of cancer.
J
Jagatheesa
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 27, 2023
Considering that this is part of a Specialization combination certification, I look forward to possibly a Master Tract on Cancer Biology understanding that the Cancer Incident rate is currently skyrocketing and education is part of the arsenal for proactive prevention. In addition I see JHU having the pedigree to dispense such a course of this type.
R
Roshan
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 31, 2017
Extremely detailed and complete course on Prostate Cancer. Lucid in understanding - though being from non-English speaking country. Detailed introduction to very technical management of Prostate cancer aided with various important treatment types and options. I'd love to learn more from the University and same group of professors and his team.
B
Brad
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 30, 2017
I love this professor. He is informative, succinct, and sincere; he seems to convey empathy in a professional manner while discussing such serious conditions. I am guessing that his bedside manner would be excellent in a clinical setting. The important thing here, though, is that he teaches the necessary information with exemplary care.
T
Tris
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 1, 2021
I consider this coarse to be vary informative for men who are 40 to 50 years of age and more. Understanding the condition of prostate cancer and its issues is very important to every man. The one thing I would like to see from this coarse is the ability to download some of the diagrams presented in the lectures.
Thank you for the coarse...
P
punnajee
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 3, 2023
Thank You All the members of Academic Staff of this course and Coursera Staff for giving this opportunity to me under the Financial Aid category. I gained good sound of knowledge in various topics related to Biology of Cancer as well as Prostate Cancer. I wished to carry on and to complete this Specialization Course on Cancer Biology.
D
David
5.0
·Reviewed Jan 23, 2021
This may be the best-presented course on Coursera that I have taken thus far The instructor presented content in a way that was easy to understand and follow. Having prostate cancer myself this course has enlightened me sadly much more so them my Urologist, I truly wish that the instructor was my urologist.
D
Dr
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 9, 2025
I am a refugee doctor. I would love to become an oncologist. This course help me to increase my knowledge . Thank you so much 🥰
I request for a masters degree program in oncology or cancer research. Once a again thank you so much for all the team who works wonderfully and gives us this oppertunity.