Qualifications
- MBBS (Hons) - University of Sydney, 1986
- FRACS (Urology) - Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
Postgraduate training
- General Surgery training - completed 1994
- Urological Surgical Fellowship - completed 1996, across teaching hospitals in Sydney
- Clinical Research Fellow and Temporary Urology Consultant - Charing Cross and Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals, London, UK, 1997-1998
- Research Fellowship in the Surgical and Oncological Treatment of Prostate Cancer - London, UK, 1997
- Single Port Robotic Surgery - advanced one-on-one laboratory training, Intuitive Surgical Headquarters, Sunnyvale, California, USA
Current appointments
- Principal, Urology NSW
- Head of Urology, Mater Hospital, North Sydney
- Urological and Robotic Surgeon, St Vincent's Private Hospital - Department of Urology
- Visiting Medical Officer (VMO), St Vincent's Hospital Sydney - Department of Urology
- Academic appointments - University of New South Wales; University of Notre Dame Australia
- Multidisciplinary team member - The Kinghorn Cancer Centre Urological Cancer MDT
Consulting locations
- Main rooms - Suite 1303, Level 13, St Vincent's Private Hospital, 406 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
- St Vincent's Clinic - Suites 905 & 902, 438 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst
- Mater Clinic, North Sydney - Suite 1.12, Level 1, 3-9 Gillies Street
- Bowral Office - Suite 9, 70 Bowral Street, Bowral (Southern Highlands Private Hospital admitting)
- East Sydney Private Hospital - 75 Crown Street, Woolloomooloo
Clinical interests and expertise
Prostate cancer
- Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (multi-port and single port)
- Open and laparoscopic radical prostatectomy
- Focal therapy - NanoKnife (irreversible electroporation)
- Transperineal MRI / ultrasound-fusion guided biopsy
- PSMA PET-directed staging and management
Benign prostatic enlargement (BPH)
- UroLift
- Rezum water-vapour therapy
- iTind (Temporary Implantable Nitinol Device)
- Holmium (HoLEP) and Moses laser enucleation
- GreenLight laser prostatectomy
Kidney, upper tract and adrenal surgery
- Robotic and laparoscopic nephrectomy and partial nephrectomy
- Complex kidney stone surgery
- Adrenalectomy
General urology
- Bladder cancer
- Testicular cancer
- Erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence
- Urological infections
Awards and academic recognition
- Sir John Loewenthal Prize - Surgery and Clinical Surgery, University of Sydney.
- Clinical Demonstrator, Master Classes in Advanced Endourology - World Congress of Endourology, Edinburgh 1997; Australasian Urological Society Annual Scientific Meeting, Sydney 2000.
Pioneering firsts and leadership
- Performed the first robot-assisted radical prostatectomy in NSW and completed over 75% of NSW cases in the first year of the programme.
- Performed the first robot-assisted nephrectomy for kidney cancer in Australia.
- Performed the first robot-assisted pyeloplasty for PUJ obstruction in NSW.
- Performed the first robot-assisted adrenal gland removal in Australia.
- Pioneered the Robotic Prostate Cancer Surgical Programme in NSW.
- Completed over 3,000 robotic urological procedures to date, formally recognised by Intuitive Surgical / Device Technologies in November 2025 - in over 3,000 radical robot-assisted prostatectomies, no patient has required a blood transfusion.
- One of the first surgeons in Australia to perform transperineal ultrasound / MRI-fusion guided prostate biopsy.
- First pure Single Port robotic prostate procedure in NSW - 15 January 2026, supported by Dr Ryan Nelson (USA).
- Routinely uses intraoperative frozen-section pathology during robotic prostatectomy - a technique very few surgeons in Australia employ.
- Implanting iTind since September 2022 - has performed more than 50 iTind procedures, the largest series in the Asia-Pacific region, formally recognised by Olympus Australia & New Zealand in August 2025.
- Under his leadership, the Mater Hospital, North Sydney, has performed the largest number of iTind procedures in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Performed over 200 Rezum water-vapour therapy procedures, formally recognised by Boston Scientific in June 2023.
- Performed over 150 UroLift System procedures, formally recognised by the Teleflex Academy in April 2025.
Teaching, mentoring and international training
Personally mentored by, and regularly visits, leading international pioneers in robotic and laparoscopic urological surgery, including:
- Dr Vip Patel - Orlando, FL, USA
- Dr Mani Menon - Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit
- Dr Thomas Ahlering - UCLA, Los Angeles
- Dr Bertrand Guillonneau - Memorial Sloan Kettering, New York
- Dr Claude Abbou - Créteil Hospital, Paris
- Dr Chris Eden - Basingstoke, UK
Mentors and proctors surgeons in robotic urological surgery in Australia and internationally. Actively involved in prostate cancer research; regularly reviews his own operative data and outcomes, and presents results at national and international meetings.
Invited presentations and conference activity
- World Urology Conference (SIU), 2004 - presentation of open radical prostatectomy outcome data.
- Laparoscopic Prostatectomy Conference, Sydney, 2004 - organised by Dr Kooner with international expert Dr Bertrand Guillonneau.
- NSW Urology Conference, 2006 - laparoscopic prostatectomy outcomes.
- Australasian Urological Society Annual Scientific Meeting, February 2007.
- Society of International Urology (SIU) Congress, Paris, September 2007 - "Successful Implementation of a Robotic Prostatectomy Program: A No-Complication Learning Curve" (Kooner R, et al.).
- Australasian Urological Society Meetings, 2008 and 2009 - robot-assisted prostatectomy outcomes.
- European Association of Urology Annual Congress, 2009 - robot-assisted prostatectomy outcomes.
- 1st Asia Pacific Prostate MRI Conference, Melbourne, August 2014 - invited speaker.
- EAU Robotic Urology Section (ERUS) Annual Meeting, 2019 - Dr Kooner's educational video used as the main teaching video.
School achievements
- Graduated with honours from Gymea High School - Higher School Certificate 453/500 (Top 1%).
- School Prefect - Gymea High School.
Sporting achievements
- NSW Combined High Schools Blue Award for outstanding performance in sport.
- Sportsman of the Year - Gymea High School.
- Hockey - NSW Combined High Schools Hockey Team (three years, Vice Captain 1979); NSW Junior Hockey Team (under-15) 1976; NSW Men's Indoor Hockey Squad 1978; Captain, School Hockey Team (State Semi Finalists) 1979; Sutherland Shire Men's First Grade 1977-1986 (Player of the Year 1980); St George Men's First Grade 1993-1996.
- Cricket - Captain, School Cricket Team 1979; Sutherland Shire Representative Cricket Team (under-16, under-21, under-23).
- Table Tennis - School Table Tennis Team, State Finalists 1979.
- Other sporting interests include golf, tennis, squash and snow skiing.
Professional memberships and affiliations
- Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS - Urology)
- Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand (USANZ)
- Australian Medical Association (AMA)
- Visiting Medical Officer, St Vincent's Hospital Sydney
- Urological and Robotic Surgeon, St Vincent's Private Hospital
- Active member, Kinghorn Cancer Centre Urological Cancer MDT
- Clinical affiliations: St Vincent's Private Hospital; St Vincent's Clinic; Mater Hospital North Sydney; Southern Highlands Private Hospital; St Luke's Private Hospital; East Sydney Private Hospital
Certificates of achievement
Procedural volume milestones above have been formally recognised by the device manufacturers. The certificates below are reproduced in full.
Publications summary
Dr Kooner has co-authored peer-reviewed studies in prostate cancer imaging, radical prostatectomy outcomes, prostate cancer biology, brachytherapy and urological oncology surgery. The full list with authors, citations and PubMed links is on the dedicated publications page.
View the full publications list
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A printable PDF version of this curriculum vitae is also available.