Research Summary

Dr. Rita Mukhtar specializes in breast surgery and general surgery for urgent conditions. For her patients with breast cancer, she offers expertise in total skin-sparing mastectomies, breast conservation, wire localization surgery (used to show the location of tissue requiring biopsy) and sentinel lymph node biopsy (used to see if cancer has spread).

Dr. Mukhtar's research program focuses on invasive lobular carcinoma, the second most common type of breast cancer. This work is funded by the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute. She teaches medical students and residents, and serves as an Associate Program Director for the UCSF General Surgery Residency.

Education

UC Berkeley, AB, 12/2000, Molecular and Cell Biology
UC San Francisco, MD, 05/2006
UC San Francisco, Postdoctoral Fellow, 06/2011, Advanced Training in Clinical Research
UC San Francisco, Resident, 06/2013, General Surgery
UC San Francisco, Fellow, 06/2014, Breast Surgical Oncology

Honors & Awards

  • 2003
    Storer Scholarship, UCSF School of Medicine
  • 2005
    Student Research Award, Association for Academic Surgery
  • 2006
    Steinhart Scholarship, UCSF School of Medicine
  • 2007
    Dr Galante Scholarship Award, UCSF Department of Surgery
  • 2009
    Resident Research Scholarship, UCSF CTSI
  • 2013
    Teaching Award for Cherished Housestaff, UCSF School of Medicine
  • 2013
    Lawrence Way Critical Thinking Award, UCSF Department of Surgery

Selected Publications

  1. Anna Vertido, Tesia McKenzie, Alisha Othieno, Astrid Quirarte, Mandeep Kaur, Mary Kathryn Abel, Maggie Chung, Amie Y. Lee, Rita A. Mukhtar ASO Visual Abstract: Accuracy of Breast MRI for Surgical Planning After Neoadjuvant Therapy for Patients with Invasive Lobular Carcinoma.  View on PubMed
  2. Flanagan MR, van den Bruele AMB, Downs-Canner SM, Thomas SM, Gallagher KK, Jakub JW, Tevis SEA, Verdial FC, Zhang JQ, Elmore LC, Mukhtar RA, Brennan M, Lillie M, Gibson TC, Verosky A, Plichta JK, Rosenberger LH ASO Visual Abstract: A Multi-institutional Analysis of Contralateral Axillary Metastases-Advanced Local-Regional Disease Divergent from Stage IV Breast Cancer.  View on PubMed
  3. Chandler Scott Cortina, Ruta Brazauskas, Meghan Rose Flanagan, Kathie-Ann P. Joseph, Rita Mukhtar, Olga Kantor, Kristen M. Rezak, Laura Horst Rosenberger, Sumanas Jordan, Rachel Jimenez, Katherine A. Kopkash, Tasha Hughes, Meeghan A. Lautner, Emily L. Siegel, Zahraa Alhilli, Michael Ryan Cassidy, Rachel L. McCaffrey, Marie Catherine Lee, Anna Weiss, Melinda Stolley Breast cancer diagnosis, management, and outcomes in transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse individuals: A multicenter cohort.  View on PubMed
  4. Silver Alkhafaji, Mark Jesus M Magbanua, Laura van t Veer, Karthik Giridhar, Matthew P. Goetz, Rita Mukhtar, Christos Vaklavas, Anthony D. Elias, Mei Wei, Gillian L. Hirst, Hope S. Rugo, Laura Ann Huppert, W. Fraser Fraser Symmans, Alexander D. Borowsky, Lamorna Brown Swigart, Natsuko Onishi, Douglas Yee, Nola Hylton, Laura Esserman, Jo Chien Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in patients with stage 2/3 HR+HER2-negative breast cancer (BC) treated with neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) in the I-SPY2 endocrine optimization pilot (EOP) trial.  View on PubMed
  5. Mei Wei, Anthony D. Elias, Karthik Giridhar, Matthew P. Goetz, Rita Mukhtar, Christos Vaklavas, Laura van t Veer, Silver Alkhafaji, Gillian L. Hirst, Hope S. Rugo, Nan Chen, W. Fraser Fraser Symmans, Alexander D. Borowsky, Lamorna Brown Swigart, Natsuko Onishi, Douglas Yee, Nola Hylton, Laura Esserman, Jo Chien I-SPY2 endocrine optimization pilot (EOP): Neoadjuvant lasofoxifene (Laso) in molecularly selected patients with hormone receptor positive (HR+)/HER2 negative (HER2-) stage 2/3 breast cancer (BC).  View on PubMed
  6. Astrid Quirarte, Anna Lannhi Vertido, Sophia Zamudio-Haas, Jo Chien, Rita Mukhtar Patient experiences of diagnosis and treatment of invasive lobular carcinoma: A qualitative study from a prospective registry.  View on PubMed
  7. Thomas O'Keefe, Christina Yau, Sophie Lin, Nicolas Prionas, Gillian L. Hirst, Rita Mukhtar, Anne M. Wallace, Michael Alvarado, Laura Esserman Reframing hormone-positive DCIS management: Effects of adjuvant therapies and surgical extent on any invasive recurrence.  View on PubMed
  8. Jo Chien, Peter Norwood, Rita Mukhtar, Karthik Giridhar, Matthew P. Goetz, Christos Vaklavas, Anthony D. Elias, Mei Wei, Hope S. Rugo, Nan Chen, Alexander D. Borowsky, Lamorna Brown Swigart, Rebecca Arielle Shatsky, Laura Ann Huppert, Michelle E. Melisko, Laura Esserman Serum estradiol (sE2) levels in premenopausal (PreM) women receiving neoadjuvant ovarian function suppression (OFS) with the oral SERD amcenestrant, alone, or in combination with letrozole or abemaciclib in the I-SPY2 Endocrine Optimization Pilot (EOP).  View on PubMed
  9. Rita Mukhtar, Katrina Dimitroff, Christina Yau, Laura van t Veer, Jo Chien, Gillian L. Hirst, Lamorna Brown Swigart, Angela DeMichele, Douglas Yee, Hope S. Rugo, Rebecca Arielle Shatsky, Claudine Isaacs, Kamran A. Ahmed, Julia C. Tchou, Henry Mark Kuerer, Chantal Reyna, Candice A. Sauder, Laura Esserman, Judy Caroline Boughey, Mark Jesus M. Magbanua Predicting nodal burden after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) with circulating tumor (ct)DNA for surgical planning: Results from the I-SPY2 trial.  View on PubMed
  10. Switalla KM, Falade IO, Quirarte A, Baxter M, Kaur M, Sakr RA, Corso G, Mukhtar RA ASO Visual Abstract: Positive Margin Rates After Breast-Conserving Surgery by Histologic Subtype: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Evaluating the Impact of Oncoplastic Surgery.  View on PubMed
  11. Flanagan MR, van den Bruele AMB, Downs-Canner SM, Thomas SM, Gallagher KK, Jakub JW, Tevis SEA, Verdial FC, Zhang JQ, Elmore LC, Mukhtar RA, Brennan M, Lillie M, Gibson TC, Verosky A, Plichta JK, Rosenberger LH A Multi-Institutional Analysis of Contralateral Axillary Metastases: Advanced Local-Regional Disease Divergent from Stage IV Breast Cancer.  View on PubMed
  12. Switalla KM, Falade IO, Quirarte A, Baxter M, Kaur M, Sakr RA, Corso G, Mukhtar RA Positive Margin Rates After Breast-Conserving Surgery by Histologic Subtype: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Evaluating the Impact of Oncoplastic Surgery.  View on PubMed
  13. Nadine Goldhammer, Marin Bont, Michael Choi, Shruti Warhadpande, Heather Greenwood, Soumi Gottipati, Tam Binh Bui, Michael Bruck, Shoko Emily Abe, Michael Alvarado, Cheryl Ewing, Karen Goodwin, Rita Mukhtar, Jasmine Wong, Laura van't Veer, Nola Hylton, Laura J. Esserman, Jennifer M. Rosenbluth Abstract 2367: Changes in breast hormone signaling and inflammation underlie radiologic features of cancer risk.  View on PubMed
  14. Julia Ye, Nadine Goldhammer, Poonam Vohra, Chaelee Park, Cristian Maldonado Rodas, Mark Moasser, Shoko Abe, Michael Alvarado, Cheryl Ewing, Karen Goodwin, Rita Mukhtar, Jasmine Wong, Laura Esserman, Ron Balassanian, Jennifer Rosenbluth. 410 Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy of Breast Specimens Effectively Harvests Cells for Patient-Derived Organoids Modeling Breast Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. Laboratory Investigation. 2025 Mar 1; 105(3):102637.  View on PubMed
  15. Mukhtar RA, Gottipati S, Yau C, López-Tarruella S, Earl H, Hayward L, Hiller L, Osdoit M, van der Noordaa M, de Croze D, Hamy AS, Laé M, Reyal F, Sonke GS, Steenbruggen TG, van Seijen M, Wesseling J, Martín M, Del Monte-Millán M, Boughey JC, Goetz MP, Hoskin T, Valero V, Edge SB, Abraham JE, Bartlett JMS, Caldas C, Dunn J, Provenzano E, Sammut SJ, Thomas JS, Graham A, Hall P, Mackintosh L, Fan F, Godwin AK, Schwensen K, Sharma P, DeMichele AM, Cole K, Pusztai L, Kim MO, J van 't Veer L, Cameron D, Esserman LJ, Fraser Symmans W. A pooled analysis evaluating prognostic significance of Residual Cancer Burden in invasive lobular breast cancer. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2025 Feb 13; 11(1):14.  View on PubMed
  16. Boughey JC, Yu H, Switalla K, Velle L, Lopes A, Wallace AM, Lancaster RB, Reyna CR, Tuttle TM, Jaskowiak N, Tchou J, Rao R, Lee MC, Naik AM, Golshan M, Arciero CA, Sauder CAM, Matsen CB, Yau C, Esserman L, Mukhtar RA, I-SPY2 Locoregional Working Group. Oncologic Outcomes with De-Escalation of Axillary Surgery After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer: Results from > 1500 Patients on the I-SPY2 Clinical Trial. Ann Surg Oncol. 2025 Feb 13.  View on PubMed
  17. Li W, Le NN, Nadkarni R, Onishi N, Wilmes LJ, Gibbs JE, Price ER, Joe BN, Mukhtar RA, Gennatas ED, Kornak J, Magbanua MJM, Van't Veer LJ, LeStage B, Esserman LJ, Hylton NM. Tumor Morphology for Prediction of Poor Responses Early in Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer: A Multicenter Retrospective Study. Tomography. 2024 Nov 20; 10(11):1832-1845.  View on PubMed
  18. Falade I, Switalla K, Quirarte A, Baxter M, Soroudi D, Rothschild H, Abe SE, Goodwin K, Piper M, Alvarado M, Julian BQ, Ewing C, Wong J, Rose J, Esserman L, Foster R, Mukhtar RA. Balancing risks of surgical complications and positive margins for patients with invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast and elevated BMI: An institutional cohort study. Am J Surg. 2025 Mar; 241:116073.  View on PubMed
  19. Jacob S, Christofferson A, Fisch S, Norwood P, Castillo P, Yu H, Hirst G, Soliman H, Nanda R, Mukhtar RA, Ewing C, Majure M, Melisko M, Rugo HS, Esserman L, Price E, Chien AJ. Regional lymph node changes on breast MRI in patients with early-stage breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2025 Jan; 209(1):147-159.  View on PubMed
  20. Kaur M, Rothschild HT, Mukhtar RA. Reply to: "Surgery of the primary tumor in patients with de novo metastatic breast cancer: a nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study in Belgium and the National Cancer Database (NCDB)". Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2024 Oct; 207(3):669-670.  View on PubMed

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