Research Summary

Dr. Braunstein is a radiation oncologist with a clinical interest in the treatment of pediatric, central nervous system, and soft tissue malignancies. He has expertise in modern radiation therapy techniques including stereotactic radiotherapy (Gamma Knife, Cyberknife, Linac-based SBRT), intraoperative radiotherapy, and intensity modulated radiation therapy.

Dr. Braunstein earned his M.D. at New York University School of Medicine where he also obtained a Ph.D. studying molecular pathways by which cancer cells mediate response to radiation. He currently serves as Vice Chair and Clinical Director of Radiation Oncology. His research focus includes mitigation of early and late toxicity in treatment of pediatric malignancies as well as optimizing combination of immuno- and targeted-therapies in the management of primary and metastatic central nervous system malignancies.

Education

University of California, San Francisco, 06/14, Radiation Oncology
Brighman and Women's Hospital, 06/10, Internal Medicine
New York University School of Medicine, M.D., Ph.D., 06/09

Honors & Awards

  • 2020
    UCSF Rap Award
  • 2019
    ARRO Teacher of the Year Award
  • 2018
    UCSF Rap Award
  • 2017
    UCSF Radiation Oncology-Radiology Award
  • 2016
    ARRO Teacher of the Year Award
  • 2015
    UCSF Patient Care Fund Award
  • 2014
    RSNA Roetgen Research Award
  • 2013
    UCSF Exceptional Physician Award

Selected Publications

  1. Parkes JD, Esiashvili N, Tsang DS, Eaton BR, Bishop AJ, Hiniker SM, Braunstein SE, Qureshi BM, Njiraini PN, Salerno KE. Proton Beam Radiation Therapy for All Children and Adolescents Globally: Is This a Realistic and Cost-Effective Goal? Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2026 Jun 01; 125(2):359-365. View on PubMed
  2. Wagner B, Braunstein S, Brisson R, De Leo A, Garda A, Gunther J, Henson C, Hirsch AE, Holmes J, Katz L, Mattes M, Schuster JM, Price J, Shiue K, Thomas H, Golden DW. EQual Rubric Evaluation of the Radiation Oncology Education Collaborative Study Group Entrustable Professional Activities. J Cancer Educ. 2026 Apr 24. View on PubMed
  3. Mahoney MT, Dudzinski SO, Fredette JD, Choo S, Murphy J, Braunstein SE, Weiss SE, Gunther JR, Price JG, Radiation Oncology Education Collaborative Study Group (ROECSG) Undergraduate Medical Education Work. Cutting Through the Noise: Radiation Oncology Applicant and Program Director Response to Signaling During Match 2025. Adv Radiat Oncol. 2026 Jun; 11(6):102037. View on PubMed
  4. Kenny C, Elia M, Fang J, Friesner ID, Liu B, Sears C, Johnson J, Shwan B, Luan H, Ohri N, Braunstein S, Boreta L, Seyedin S, Yoshida E, Chen W, Feng M, Chan J, Hong J. TIP26-318: Protocol for Wearable AI Tracking to Curb Hospitalizations (WATCH). J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2026 Mar 31; 24(3.5). View on PubMed
  5. Kenny C, Elia M, Feng J, Friesner ID, Liu B, Sears C, Johnson J, Shwan B, Luan H, Ohri N, Braunstein S, Boreta L, Seyedin S, Yoshida E, Chen W, Feng M, Chan J, Hong J. TIP26-318: Protocol for Wearable AI Tracking to Curb Hospitalizations (WATCH). J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2026 Mar 31; 24(3.5). View on PubMed
  6. Huppert LA, Fisch S, Her L, Hodgdon C, Brain S, Simmons C, Lai AR, Malevanchik L, Balassanian R, Vasudevan HN, Morshed R, Braunstein S, Boreta L, Majure M, Chien AJ, Rugo HS, Magbanua MJM, Melisko ME. Detection of actionable mutations in the cerebrospinal fluid and concordance/discordance with extracranial mutations in patients with metastatic breast cancer and leptomeningeal disease. Ther Adv Med Oncol. 2026; 18:17588359261424678. View on PubMed
  7. Chen JJ, Feng J, Friesner ID, Chang C, Kenny C, Elia MV, Ni L, Feng FY, Rabow MW, Braunstein SE, Boreta LC, Hong JC. Natural language processing to identify documented pain preceding radiation therapy for bone metastases. JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2026 Mar 03; 10(2). View on PubMed
  8. Zhu I, Chien J, Rech GE, Mirchia K, Pan S, Miller K, Pak J, Wustrack R, Monga V, Braunstein SE, Adams MD, Jacques L, Pekmezci M, Liu SJ, Vasudevan HN. IFN signaling is associated with radiotherapy response in malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors. J Clin Invest. 2026 Mar 02; 136(5). View on PubMed
  9. Ganjouei AA, Zack T, Friesner I, Chen WC, Boreta L, Braunstein SE, Rabow MW, Garcia ME, Hong JC. Association of mental health disorders and all-cause mortality for patients with cancer: Large-scale analysis of University of California Health System Data. Cancer. 2026 Mar 01; 132(5):e70254. View on PubMed
  10. Gribble ML, Gunther JR, Braunstein SE. Radiation Oncology Education Across the Learning Continuum: Current Challenges and Future Directions. Semin Radiat Oncol. 2026 Apr; 37:150999. View on PubMed
  11. Lin M, Chen JJ, Bagatell R, Shaaban SG, Lerman BJ, Shusterman S, Ioakeim-Ioannidou M, Yock TI, Catalano PJ, Elhalawani H, Dusenbery KE, Vo KT, Huang MS, Friedmann AM, Diller LR, Marcus KJ, MacDonald SM, Terezakis SA, Braunstein SE, Hill-Kayser CE, Haas-Kogan DA, DuBois SG, Liu KX. Characterization of Clinical Outcomes for Patients with Relapsed High-Risk Neuroblastoma After Autologous Stem Cell Transplant and External Beam Radiotherapy. Cancers (Basel). 2026 Feb 05; 18(3). View on PubMed
  12. Nguyen MP, Al-Adli NN, Theodosopoulos PV, Hervey-Jumper SL, Braunstein SE, Vasudevan HN, Morshed RA, Aghi MK. Association of cystic features with more rapid recovery of neurological deficits following resection of brain metastases. J Neurosurg. 2026 Apr 01; 144(4):868-877. View on PubMed
  13. Capaldi DPI, Hirata E, Witztum A, Porter E, Yu AS, Skinner LB, Braunstein SE, Morin O, Prionas ND. A Smartphone-Based Motion Monitoring System for Surface Guided Radiation Therapy. Adv Radiat Oncol. 2026 Mar; 11(3):101970. View on PubMed
  14. Qian AS, Kotha NV, Porter E, Ni L, Phuong C, Mohebi F, Sabol RA, Chen JJ, Bagshaw HP, Hong JC, Braunstein S. The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Auto-Contouring on Resident Education. Pract Radiat Oncol. 2025 Nov 23. View on PubMed
  15. Krasnow NA, Jayaraj M, Salans M, Kuwahara K, Zhou MH, Fisch S, Boreta L, Braunstein SE, Aghi MK, Batra-Sharma H, Majure M, Chien J, Rugo HS, Morshed RA, Vasudevan HN, Melisko ME, Huppert LA. Evaluating survival trends over time in patients with metastatic breast cancer and brain metastases: a single center retrospective cohort study. Breast Cancer Res. 2025 Oct 28; 27(1):191. View on PubMed
  16. Chang JH, Ashraf-Ganjouei A, Friesner I, Benson R, Zack T, Sinha S, Chan J, Braunstein S, Lin A, Singer L, Hong JC. Unsupervised Large Language Models to Identify Topics in Cancer Center Patient Portal Messages. JCO Clin Cancer Inform. 2025 Oct; 9:e2500102. View on PubMed
  17. Pan S, Mirchia K, Payne E, Liu SJ, Al-Adli N, Peeran Z, Shukla P, Young JS, Gupta R, Wu J, Pak J, Ozawa T, Na B, Reddy AT, Braunstein SE, Phillips JJ, Chang S, Solomon DA, Perry A, Raleigh DR, Berger MS, Abate AR, Vasudevan HN. Tumor heterogeneity underlies clinical outcome and MEK inhibitor response in somatic NF1-mutant glioblastoma. JCI Insight. 2025 Sep 23; 10(18). View on PubMed
  18. Tran N, Luks TL, Li Y, Jakary A, Ellison J, Liu B, Adegbite O, Nair D, Kakhandiki P, Molinaro AM, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Butowski N, Clarke JL, Chang SM, Braunstein SE, Morin O, Lin H, Lupo JM. Novel radiotherapy target definition using AI-driven predictions of glioblastoma recurrence from metabolic and diffusion MRI. NPJ Digit Med. 2025 Aug 07; 8(1):508. View on PubMed
  19. Hiniker SM, Braunstein SE, Parkes JD, Tsang DS, Salerno KE. Consolidation of Metastatic Sites in Pediatric Sarcoma: Evidence and Opportunities. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2025 Aug 01; 122(5):1077-1081. View on PubMed
  20. Weyer-Jamora C, Brie MS, Bracci PM, Smith EM, Luks TL, Phan S, Braunstein SE, Oberheim-Bush NA, Butowski NA, Clarke JL, Gehring K, Aguilera A, de Groot J, Chang SM, Hervey-Jumper SL, Taylor JW. Tele-cognitive rehabilitation for adult lower-grade glioma: An interim prospective pilot feasibility study. Neurooncol Pract. 2026 Feb; 13(1):126-138. View on PubMed

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