Research Summary

I am an Associate Professor and Physician Scientist in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF), where I specialize in the treatment and investigation of adult and pediatric brain tumors. Eighty percent of my time is protected for laboratory research, and I am also therefore a Principle Investigator in the UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery Brain Tumor Center. My research examines how developmental signaling pathways function in cancer with the overall objectives of shedding light on the fundamental mechanisms of developmental biology, and identifying novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets to improve patient outcomes. To accomplish those goals, my laboratory makes use of biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, mouse genetics, genomics, bioinformatics and pharmacology. Our work has identified novel activators and effectors of oncogenic Hedgehog signaling in medulloblastoma, and revealed a FOXM1/WNT signaling axis that underlies meningioma proliferation. Each of these discoveries serves as the foundation for clinical trials of molecular therapy in medulloblastoma and meningioma patients that are currently under development.

Research Funding

  • August 1, 2021 - July 31, 2026 - Understanding druggable drivers of meningioma tumorigenesis , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA262311
  • July 1, 2021 - April 30, 2026 - Mechanisms of Hedgehog signaling in glioblastoma , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA251221
  • July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2022 - Understanding How Ciliary Hedgehog Signaling Causes Medulloblastoma , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K08CA212279

Education

University of California-Berkeley, B.A. (Honors), 08/00-05/04, Molecular Cell Biology
University of California-Berkeley B.A. (Honors) 08/00 05/04 Cognitive Science
University of Chicago-Chicago M.D. 05/05 06/12 Medicine
University of Chicago-Chicago Ph.D. 07/07 05/10 Pathology
Kaiser Permanente-Santa Clara, Intern, 07/12-06/13, Internal Medicine
University of California-San Francisco, Resident, 07/13-06/17, Radiation Oncology
University of California-San Francisco, Postdoctoral Fellow, 01/15-06/17, Cancer Biology

Honors & Awards

  • 2009
    FASEB Travel Award, FASEB Gastrointestinal Tract XIII Meeting
  • 2009
    DDW Poster of Distinction, Digestive Disease Week Annual Meeting
  • 2009
    Outstanding Graduate Student Oral Presentation, University of Chicago
  • 2010
    Takeda Travel Award, Experimental Biology Annual Meeting
  • 2011
    Naomi Ragins Goldsmith Career Development Award, University of Chicago
  • 2012
    Outstanding Performance in Radiation and Cellular Oncology, University of Chicago
  • 2013
    Teaching Award in Recognition of Excellent Medical Student Education, Kaiser Permanente
  • 2015
    Clinical & Translational Science Institute Resident Research Travel Program Award, UCSF
  • 2016
    Career Award for Medical Scientists Semifinalist, Burroughs Wellcome Fund
  • 2016
    Radiological Society of North America Roentgen Resident/Fellow Research Award, UCSF
  • 2016
    Biology Abstract Travel Award, American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting
  • 2016
    Poster Walk Award, Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology
  • 2016
    Top Young Investigator Awardee, ASCO Scientific Career Development Retreat
  • 2017
    Young Oncologist Travel Grant Recipient, American Radium Society Annual Meeting
  • 2017
    Poster of Distinction, American Radium Society Annual Meeting
  • 2017
    Biology Abstract Travel Award, American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting

Selected Publications

  1. Raleigh DR. Genomic features underlying meningioma sex-specificity. Neuro Oncol. 2025 May 15; 27(4):1029-1030.  View on PubMed
  2. Barrios J, Porter E, Capaldi DPI, Upadhaya T, Chen WC, Perks JR, Apte A, Aristophanous M, LoCastro E, Hsu D, Stone PH, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Valdes G, Jiang F, Maddalena M, Ballangrud A, Prezelski K, Lin H, Sun JY, Aldin MAK, Chau OW, Ziemer B, Seaberg M, Sneed PK, Nakamura JL, Boreta LC, Fogh SE, Raleigh DR, Chew J, Vasudevan H, Cha S, Hess C, Fragoso R, Shultz DB, Pike L, Hervey-Jumper SL, Tsang DS, Theodosopoulos P, Cooke D, Benedict SH, Sheng K, Seuntjens J, Coolens C, Deasy J, Braunstein S, Morin O. Multi-institutional atlas of brain metastases informs spatial modeling for precision imaging and personalized therapy. Nat Commun. 2025 May 15; 16(1):4536.  View on PubMed
  3. Raleigh D, Mirchia K, Oten S, Picart T, Nguyen M, Ambati V, Vasudevan H, Young J, Taylor J, Krishna S, Brang D, Phillips J, Perry A, Berger M, Chang S, de Groot J, Hervey-Jumper S. Spatial synaptic connectivity underlies oligodendroglioma evolution and recurrence. Res Sq. 2025 Apr 04.  View on PubMed
  4. Young JS, Cho NW, Lucas CG, Najem H, Mirchia K, Chen WC, Seo K, Zakimi N, Daggubati V, Casey-Clyde T, Nguyen MP, Chen A, Phillips JJ, Ozawa T, Aghi MK, Taylor JW, DeRisi JL, Bhaduri A, Berger MS, Heimberger AB, Butowski N, Spitzer MH, Raleigh DR. IL-6 underlies microenvironment immunosuppression and resistance to therapy in glioblastoma. bioRxiv. 2025 Mar 14.  View on PubMed
  5. Lin K, Zou C, Hubbard A, Sengelmann S, Goudy L, Wang IC, Sharma R, Pak J, Foster K, Ozawa T, de Groot JF, Phillips J, Vasudevan HN, Raleigh DR, Marson A, Murthy N, Gilbert LA, Berger MS, Liu SJ. Multiplexed epigenetic memory editing using CRISPRoff sensitizes glioblastoma to chemotherapy. Neuro Oncol. 2025 Feb 25.  View on PubMed
  6. Nguyen MP, Morshed RA, Youngblood MW, Perlow HK, Lucas CG, Patel AJ, Palmer JD, Horbinski CM, Magill ST, Chen WC, Raleigh DR. A targeted gene expression biomarker predicts clinic low-risk meningioma recurrence. Neuro Oncol. 2025 Feb 10; 27(2):445-454.  View on PubMed
  7. Sahm F, Aldape KD, Brastianos PK, Brat DJ, Dahiya S, von Deimling A, Giannini C, Gilbert MR, Louis DN, Raleigh DR, Reifenberger G, Santagata S, Sarkar C, Zadeh G, Wesseling P, Perry A. cIMPACT-NOW update 8: Clarifications on molecular risk parameters and recommendations for WHO grading of meningiomas. Neuro Oncol. 2025 Feb 10; 27(2):319-330.  View on PubMed
  8. Walsh KM, Price M, Raleigh DR, Calabrese E, Kruchko C, Barnholtz-Sloan JS, Ostrom QT. Grade-stratified meningioma risk among individuals who are non-Hispanic Black and interactions with male sex. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2025 Feb 01; 117(2):366-374.  View on PubMed
  9. Lucas CG, Al-Adli NN, Young JS, Gupta R, Morshed RA, Wu J, Ravindranathan A, Shai A, Oberheim Bush NA, Taylor JW, de Groot J, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Pekmezci M, Perry A, Bollen AW, Theodosopoulos PV, Aghi MK, Chang EF, Hervey-Jumper SL, Raleigh DR, Molinaro AM, Costello JF, Diaz AA, Clarke JL, Butowski NA, Phillips JJ, Chang SM, Berger MS, Solomon DA. Longitudinal multimodal profiling of IDH-wildtype glioblastoma reveals the molecular evolution and cellular phenotypes underlying prognostically different treatment responses. Neuro Oncol. 2025 Jan 12; 27(1):89-105.  View on PubMed
  10. Mirchia K, Choudhury A, Joseph T, Birrueta JO, Phillips JJ, Bhaduri A, Crouch EE, Perry A, Raleigh DR. Meningeal solitary fibrous tumor cell states phenocopy cerebral vascular development and homeostasis. Neuro Oncol. 2025 Jan 12; 27(1):155-166.  View on PubMed
  11. Morshed RA, Nguyen MP, Choudhury A, Al-Adli NN, Magill ST, Haddad AF, Mirchia K, Lucas CG, Theodosopoulos PV, McDermott MW, Chen WC, Raleigh DR. The Impact of MRI-Defined Extent of Resection Across Meningioma DNA Methylation Groups: Re-Evaluating Surgery in the Era of Meningioma Molecular Classification. Neurosurgery. 2025 Jan 07.  View on PubMed
  12. Kahr J, Stein KP, John P, Walles T, Roepke M, Neyazi B, Sandalcioglu IE, Raleigh DR, Mawrin C. Molecular evolution of metastatic meningioma: A case report. Clin Neuropathol. 2025 Jan-Feb; 44(1):9-15.  View on PubMed
  13. Khoroshkin M, Zinkevich A, Aristova E, Yousefi H, Lee SB, Mittmann T, Manegold K, Penzar D, Raleigh DR, Kulakovskiy IV, Goodarzi H. A generative framework for enhanced cell-type specificity in rationally designed mRNAs. bioRxiv. 2024 Dec 31.  View on PubMed
  14. Perlow HK, Raleigh DR, Wang TJC, Pollom EL, Milano MT, Breen WG, Detsky J, Chang EL, Tom MC, Shiue KR, Lehrer EJ, Saeed H, Pike LRG, Lo SS, Mishra MV, Knisely JPS, Chao ST, Sahgal A, Palmer JD. Consensus Radiation Treatment Planning Guidelines Using (68)Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT For Resected Meningiomas. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2025 May 01; 122(1):150-158.  View on PubMed
  15. Leclair NK, Choudury A, Chen WC, Magill ST, McCortney K, Horbinski CM, Chen Z, Goldschmidt E, Eaton CD, Bulsara KR, Bi WL, Patel AJ, Sahm F, Raleigh D, Anczukow O. RNA splicing as a biomarker and phenotypic driver of meningioma DNA-methylation groups. Neuro Oncol. 2024 Dec 05; 26(12):2222-2236.  View on PubMed
  16. Sahm F, Bertero L, Brandner S, Capper D, Goldbrunner R, Jenkinson MD, Kalamarides M, Lamszus K, Albert NL, Mair MJ, Berghoff AS, Mawrin C, Wirsching HG, Maas SL, Raleigh DR, Reifenberger G, Schweizer L, Suwala AK, Tabatabai G, Tabouret E, Short S, Wen PY, Weller M, Le Rhun E, Wesseling P, van den Bent M, Preusser M. EANO guideline on molecular testing of meningiomas for targeted therapy selection. Neuro Oncol. 2024 Nov 22.  View on PubMed
  17. Terry M, Nguyen MP, Tang V, Guney E, Bharani KL, Dahiya S, Choutka O, Borys E, Reis G, Blevins L, Aghi MK, Kunwar S, DeGroot J, Raleigh DR, Pekmezci M, Bollen AW, Cha S, Joseph NM, Perry A. High-Grade Progression, Sarcomatous Transformation, and/or Metastasis of Pituitary Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (PitNENs): The UCSF Experience. Endocr Pathol. 2024 Dec; 35(4):338-348.  View on PubMed
  18. Liu SJ, Zou C, Pak J, Morse A, Pang D, Casey-Clyde T, Borah AA, Wu D, Seo K, O'Loughlin T, Lim DA, Ozawa T, Berger MS, Kamber RA, Weiss WA, Raleigh DR, Gilbert LA. In vivo perturb-seq of cancer and microenvironment cells dissects oncologic drivers and radiotherapy responses in glioblastoma. Genome Biol. 2024 Oct 07; 25(1):256.  View on PubMed
  19. Choudhury A, Cady MA, Lucas CG, Najem H, Phillips JJ, Palikuqi B, Zakimi N, Joseph T, Birrueta JO, Chen WC, Oberheim Bush NA, Hervey-Jumper SL, Klein OD, Toedebusch CM, Horbinski CM, Magill ST, Bhaduri A, Perry A, Dickinson PJ, Heimberger AB, Ashworth A, Crouch EE, Raleigh DR. Perivascular NOTCH3+ Stem Cells Drive Meningioma Tumorigenesis and Resistance to Radiotherapy. Cancer Discov. 2024 Oct 04; 14(10):1823-1837.  View on PubMed
  20. Wang JZ, Landry AP, Raleigh DR, Sahm F, Walsh KM, Goldbrunner R, Yefet LS, Tonn JC, Gui C, Ostrom QT, Barnholtz-Sloan J, Perry A, Ellenbogen Y, Hanemann CO, Jungwirth G, Jenkinson MD, Tabatabai G, Mathiesen TI, McDermott MW, Tatagiba M, la Fougère C, Maas SLN, Galldiks N, Albert NL, Brastianos PK, Ehret F, Minniti G, Lamszus K, Ricklefs FL, Schittenhelm J, Drummond KJ, Dunn IF, Pathmanaban ON, Cohen-Gadol AA, Sulman EP, Tabouret E, Le Rhun E, Mawrin C, Moliterno J, Weller M, Bi WL, Gao A, Yip S, Niyazi M, International Consortium on Meningiomas (ICOM), Aldape K, Wen PY, Short S, Preusser M, Nassiri F, Zadeh G. Meningioma: International Consortium on Meningiomas consensus review on scientific advances and treatment paradigms for clinicians, researchers, and patients. Neuro Oncol. 2024 Oct 03; 26(10):1742-1780.  View on PubMed

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