Biography

Dr. Hocker was born and raised in San Jose California and was a track athlete throughout high school. He was a four-year varsity track athlete at Yale University where he competed in the 400 m intermediate hurdles. He graduated with honors in biology and was awarded the Churchill Fellowship to attend the University of Cambridge (England) after graduation.

Upon returning to the United States, Dr. Hocker attended Harvard University medical school where he graduated with honors for his research in skin cancer, which was performed alongside the world-renowned melanoma expert, Dr. Hensin Tsao at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Hocker completed a transitional internship at Santa Clara Valley Hospital (a Stanford University-affiliated hospital). He then received his dermatology training at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota), where he published numerous studies on skin cancer and spoke at national dermatology and dermatopathology conferences.

After completing his Derm residency, Dr. Hocker attended the University of Michigan, where he completed his dermatopathology fellowship and worked alongside experts in soft tissue pathology, melanoma, and other rare forms of skin cancer.

Dr. Hocker returned to Mayo clinic in Rochester Minnesota for his fellowship and Mohs micrographic and advanced reconstructive surgery. There, he worked under the tutelage of some of the foremost experts in skin cancer surgery and published countless academic research articles on skin cancer and dermatologic surgery.

Dr. Hocker came to Kansas City in 2014 and joined one of the foremost experts in Mohs surgery, Dr. Timothy Parker at Advanced Dermatologic Surgery in Leawood Kansas. Dr. Hocker was faculty at The University of Kansas where he enjoyed teaching residents and future dermatologists.

In 2023, Dr. Hocker joined Dr. Rajpara at the exciting, new dermatology department at University Health/UMKC Medical School. Dr. Hocker was drawn to University Health because of its focus on serving the underserved and the mission of providing world-class healthcare to all patients, regardless of ability to pay.