Research Summary

Dr. Molinaro's research interest and expertise are focused on developing and implementing statistical and machine learning methods in cancer research, spanning basic research, translational, and clinical studies. In her current roles as the Director of Biomedical Statistics and Informatics for the UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery and Biostatistics Core Director for both the Brain SPORE and Program Project, Dr. Molinaro advises study design and modeling, and analyzes data from all UCSF Brain Tumor Center projects in imaging, genetics, genomics, epidemiology and immunology. She is the co-PI of the Brain SPORE Project to develop immune profile markers for risk prediction in glioblastoma patients and the co-PI of the Program Project Project to use machine learning and AI to develop spatial maps of risk from anatomical, physiological, and metabolic images.

Dr. Molinaro has over one-hundred and fifty publications in addition to authoring three book chapters and several freely available software packages for the analysis of high-dimensional data. Dr. Molinaro is an elected member of the National Cancer Institute’s Brain Malignancies Steering Committee and the International Statistical Institute. She serves as a member of the Society for Neuro-Oncology’s Committee for Women and Diversity and is an organizer for SNO’s Biostatistics Education Efforts for Online Learning. Dr. Molinaro is the Editor for the “Series on Biostatistics for the Practicing Clinician" for Neuro-Oncology Practice, and serves on the Editorial Board for Neuro-Oncology Practice, Neuro-Oncology, and Neuro-Oncology Advances.

Research Funding

  • September 20, 2002 - August 31, 2023 - Brain Tumor SPORE Grant , Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: P50CA097257
  • July 10, 2012 - April 30, 2018 - Novel Tree-based Statistical Methods for Cancer Risk Prediction , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA163687
  • June 1, 2006 - August 31, 2017 - Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer , Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: P50CA121974
  • July 6, 2006 - June 30, 2009 - Statistical Methods for Predicting Survival Outcomes from Genomic Data , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K22CA123146

Education

Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL BS, 05/92, Statistics
University of California, Berkeley, CA, MA, 05/00, Biostatistics
University of California, Berkeley, CA, PhD, 01/04, Biostatistics
National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD, 06/04-06/05, Cancer Prevention / Biostatistics

Honors & Awards

  • 2004
    Evelyn Fix Prize, University of California, Berkeley
  • 2004
    Chin Long Chiang Biostatistics Student of the Year, University of California, Berkeley
  • 2006
    Elected as a Member of the International Statistical Institute.
  • 2008
    Teacher of the Year Award, Yale University School of Public Health
  • 2009
    Selected as a Yale Center for Clinical Investigation Scholar, Yale University School of Medicine
  • 2013
    Diane D. Ralston Clinical and Basic Neuroscience Teaching Award, UCSF
  • 2017
    Selected for the Teaching Scholars Program, UCSF

Selected Publications

  1. Nissen E, Reiner A, Liu S, Wallace RB, Molinaro AM, Salas LA, Christensen BC, Wiencke JK, Koestler DC, Kelsey KT. Assessment of immune cell profiles among post-menopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative using DNA methylation-based methods. Clin Epigenetics. 2023 Apr 28; 15(1):69.  View on PubMed
  2. Kondapavulur S, Silva AB, Molinaro AM, Wang DD. A Systematic Review Comparing Focused Ultrasound Surgery With Radiosurgery for Essential Tremor. Neurosurgery. 2023 Apr 03.  View on PubMed
  3. Morshed RA, Saggi S, Cummins DD, Molinaro AM, Young JS, Viner JA, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Goldschmidt E, Boreta L, Braunstein SE, Chang EF, McDermott MW, Berger MS, Theodosopoulos PV, Hervey-Jumper SL, Aghi MK, Daras M. Identification of risk factors associated with leptomeningeal disease after resection of brain metastases. J Neurosurg. 2023 Jan 13; 1-12.  View on PubMed
  4. Guerra G, McCoy L, Hansen HM, Rice T, Molinaro AM, Wiemels JL, Wiencke JK, Wrensch M, Francis SS. Antibodies to varicella-zoster virus and three other herpesviruses and survival in adults with glioma. Neuro Oncol. 2023 Jan 04.  View on PubMed
  5. Hervey-Jumper SL, Zhang Y, Phillips JJ, Morshed RA, Young JS, McCoy L, Lafontaine M, Luks T, Ammanuel S, Kakaizada S, Egladyous A, Gogos A, Villanueva-Meyer J, Shai A, Warrier G, Rice T, Crane J, Wrensch M, Wiencke JK, Daras M, Oberheim Bush NA, Taylor JW, Butowski N, Clarke J, Chang S, Chang E, Aghi M, Theodosopoulos P, McDermott M, Jakola AS, Kavouridis VK, Nawabi N, Solheim O, Smith T, Berger MS, Molinaro AM. Interactive Effects of Molecular, Therapeutic, and Patient Factors on Outcome of Diffuse Low-Grade Glioma. J Clin Oncol. 2023 Apr 10; 41(11):2029-2042.  View on PubMed
  6. Zhang Z, Butler R, Koestler DC, Bell-Glenn S, Warrier G, Molinaro AM, Christensen BC, Wiencke JK, Kelsey KT, Salas LA. Comparative analysis of the DNA methylation landscape in CD4, CD8, and B memory lineages. Clin Epigenetics. 2022 12 15; 14(1):173.  View on PubMed
  7. Tang E, Wiencke JK, Warrier G, Hansen H, McCoy L, Rice T, Bracci PM, Wrensch M, Taylor JW, Clarke JL, Koestler DC, Salas LA, Christensen BC, Kelsey KT, Molinaro AM. Evaluation of cross-platform compatibility of a DNA methylation-based glucocorticoid response biomarker. Clin Epigenetics. 2022 10 28; 14(1):136.  View on PubMed
  8. Zhang Y, Lucas CG, Young JS, Morshed RA, McCoy L, Oberheim Bush NA, Taylor JW, Daras M, Butowski NA, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Cha S, Wrensch M, Wiencke JK, Lee JC, Pekmezci M, Phillips JJ, Perry A, Bollen AW, Aghi MK, Theodosopoulos P, Chang EF, Hervey-Jumper SL, Berger MS, Clarke JL, Chang SM, Molinaro AM, Solomon DA. Prospective genomically guided identification of "early/evolving" and "undersampled" IDH-wildtype glioblastoma leads to improved clinical outcomes. Neuro Oncol. 2022 10 03; 24(10):1749-1762.  View on PubMed
  9. Karschnia P, Young JS, Dono A, Häni L, Juenger ST, Sciortino T, Bruno F, Teske N, Morshed RA, Haddad AF, Zhang Y, Stoecklein S, Vogelbaum MA, Beck J, Tandon N, Hervey-Jumper S, Molinaro AM, Rudà R, Bello L, Schnell O, Esquenazi Y, Ruge MI, Grau SJ, van den Bent M, Weller M, Berger MS, Chang SM, Tonn JC. TERT promotor status does not add prognostic information in IDH-wildtype glioblastomas fulfilling other diagnostic WHO criteria: A report of the RANO resect group. Neurooncol Adv. 2022 Jan-Dec; 4(1):vdac158.  View on PubMed
  10. Wiencke JK, Molinaro AM, Warrier G, Rice T, Clarke J, Taylor JW, Wrensch M, Hansen H, McCoy L, Tang E, Tamaki SJ, Tamaki CM, Nissen E, Bracci P, Salas LA, Koestler DC, Christensen BC, Zhang Z, Kelsey KT. DNA methylation as a pharmacodynamic marker of glucocorticoid response and glioma survival. Nat Commun. 2022 09 20; 13(1):5505.  View on PubMed
  11. McKinney AM, Mathur R, Stevers NO, Molinaro AM, Chang SM, Phillips JJ, Costello JF. GABP couples oncogene signaling to telomere regulation in TERT promoter mutant cancer. Cell Rep. 2022 09 20; 40(12):111344.  View on PubMed
  12. Kline C, Jain P, Kilburn L, Bonner ER, Gupta N, Crawford JR, Banerjee A, Packer RJ, Villanueva-Meyer J, Luks T, Zhang Y, Kambhampati M, Zhang J, Yadavilli S, Zhang B, Gaonkar KS, Rokita JL, Kraya A, Kuhn J, Liang W, Byron S, Berens M, Molinaro A, Prados M, Resnick A, Waszak SM, Nazarian J, Mueller S. Upfront Biology-Guided Therapy in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma: Therapeutic, Molecular, and Biomarker Outcomes from PNOC003. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 09 15; 28(18):3965-3978.  View on PubMed
  13. Morrison MA, Walter S, Mueller S, Felton E, Jakary A, Stoller S, Molinaro AM, Braunstein SE, Hess CP, Lupo JM. Functional network alterations in young brain tumor patients with radiotherapy-induced memory impairments and vascular injury. Front Neurol. 2022; 13:921984.  View on PubMed
  14. Mohamed E, Kumar A, Zhang Y, Wang AS, Chen K, Lim Y, Shai A, Taylor JW, Clarke J, Hilz S, Berger MS, Solomon DA, Costello JF, Molinaro AM, Phillips JJ. PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway activity in IDH-mutant diffuse glioma and clinical implications. Neuro Oncol. 2022 09 01; 24(9):1471-1481.  View on PubMed
  15. Karschnia P, Young JS, Dono A, Häni L, Sciortino T, Bruno F, Juenger ST, Teske N, Morshed RA, Haddad AF, Zhang Y, Stoecklein S, Weller M, Vogelbaum MA, Beck J, Tandon N, Hervey-Jumper S, Molinaro AM, Rudà R, Bello L, Schnell O, Esquenazi Y, Ruge MI, Grau SJ, Berger MS, Chang SM, van den Bent M, Tonn JC. Prognostic validation of a new classification system for extent of resection in glioblastoma: a report of the RANO resect group. Neuro Oncol. 2022 Aug 12.  View on PubMed
  16. Chunduru P, Phillips JJ, Molinaro AM. Prognostic risk stratification of gliomas using deep learning in digital pathology images. Neurooncol Adv. 2022 Jan-Dec; 4(1):vdac111.  View on PubMed
  17. Kumar A, Mohamed E, Tong S, Chen K, Mukherjee J, Lim Y, Wong CM, Boosalis Z, Shai A, Pieper RO, Gupta N, Perry A, Bollen AW, Molinaro AM, Solomon DA, Shieh JTC, Phillips JJ. CXCL14 Promotes a Robust Brain Tumor-Associated Immune Response in Glioma. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 07 01; 28(13):2898-2910.  View on PubMed
  18. Bracci PM, Rice T, Hansen HM, Francis SS, Lee S, McCoy LS, Shrestha PP, Warrier G, Clarke JL, Molinaro AM, Taylor JW, Wiencke JK, Wrensch MR. Pre-surgery immune profiles of adult glioma patients. J Neurooncol. 2022 Aug; 159(1):103-115.  View on PubMed
  19. Mueller S, Taitt JM, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Bonner ER, Nejo T, Lulla RR, Goldman S, Banerjee A, Chi SN, Whipple NS, Crawford JR, Gauvain K, Nazemi KJ, Watchmaker PB, Almeida ND, Okada K, Salazar AM, Gilbert RD, Nazarian J, Molinaro AM, Butterfield LH, Prados MD, Okada H. Mass cytometry detects H3.3K27M-specific vaccine responses in diffuse midline glioma. J Clin Invest. 2022 06 15; 132(12).  View on PubMed
  20. Guerra G, Kachuri L, Wendt G, Hansen HM, Mack SJ, Molinaro AM, Rice T, Bracci P, Wiencke JK, Kasahara N, Eckel-Passow JE, Jenkins RB, Wrensch M, Francis SS. The immunogenetics of viral antigen response is associated with subtype-specific glioma risk and survival. Am J Hum Genet. 2022 06 02; 109(6):1105-1116.  View on PubMed

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