Research Summary

Dr. Singer is an attending physician and Assistant Professor in Radiation Oncology at UCSF, where she specializes in the use of radiation to treat breast cancer, thoracic cancer, and ventricular tachycardia. She also serves as Clinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Director in Radiation Oncology and is board-certified in both radiation oncology and MRI safety. She received a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley and University of California, San Francisco in 2010, focusing on breast MRI, and then her MD from the University of California, San Francisco in 2012. She completed internship at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, residency at University of California, San Francisco and fellowship focusing on women's health at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. She then worked as an attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School for three years where she served as MR Medical Director and Assistant Professor in Radiation Oncology. Dr. Singer has worked on advancing the use of MRI for the care of patients with cancer for over 10 years and continues to develop this technology for the care of patients with breast cancer, lung cancer as well as other cancers.

Her research focuses on the use of imaging to improve our ability to 1) predict tumor response to treatment, and 2) to target tumors with radiotherapy. She has developed and led multiple clinical trials in this space. Prediction of tumor response earlier in a patient’s treatment course could allow for earlier changes in therapy, improving outcomes. Additionally, prediction of normal tissue toxicity at earlier timepoints could inform changes in radiation planning, reducing morbidity. She is also interested in developing novel methods to improve safety and education surrounding biomedical imaging and image-guided radiotherapy.

Together with her colleagues in medical oncology and surgery, she strives to provide exceptional, multidisciplinary care for all of her patients.

Education

- Internship, Lenox Hill Hospital, Northshore/LIJ
- Fellowship, MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Mass spectrometry, National Institutes of Health
- Synthetic chemistry, National Institutes of Health
BS, - Biological Sciences, Stanford University
PhD, - Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, with University of California, San Francisco
MD, - Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
- Residency, University of California, San Francisco

Honors & Awards

  • 2024
    UCSF Interprofessional Collaboration Award
  • 2024
    Exceptional Service Award, UCSF Radiation Oncology
  • 2023
    UCSF Long-Term Mentor Award
  • 2023
    ARRO Educator of the Year Award
  • 2020
    Partners in Excellence Award
  • 2019-2022
    AMA Physician Recognition Award with Commendation
  • 2018
    Brigham Research Institute Microgrant
  • 2018
    DFCI Women's Faculty Scholarship
  • 2018
    Clinical Quality Improvement Certificate, MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013
    UCSF Patient Care Fund Award

Selected Publications

  1. Scholey J, Nano T, Singhrao K, Mohammad O, Singer L, Larson PEZ, Descovich M. Linac- and CyberKnife-based MRI-only treatment planning of prostate SBRT using an optimized synthetic CT calibration curve. J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2024 Jun 04; e14411.  View on PubMed
  2. Chen JJ, Zhu I, Patel A, Krings G, Chen YY, Yuen F, Mukhtar RA, Melisko M, Singer L, Park CC, Prionas ND. Management of Concurrent Malignant Phyllodes Tumor and Invasive Breast Carcinoma. Adv Radiat Oncol. 2024 May; 9(5):101448.  View on PubMed
  3. Massachi J, Singer L, Glastonbury C, Scholey J, Singhrao K, Calvin C, Yom SS, Chan JW. Incidental findings and safety events from magnetic resonance imaging simulation for head and neck radiation treatment planning: A single institution experience. Tech Innov Patient Support Radiat Oncol. 2024 Mar; 29:100228.  View on PubMed
  4. Singer L, Scholey J. Finding Resonance: Using MRI to Improve the Care of Oligometastatic Disease. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2022 12 01; 114(5):936-940.  View on PubMed
  5. Singer L, Rugo HS. Little Downside. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2022 Nov 15; 114(4):573.  View on PubMed
  6. Rugo HS, Singer L. First, do no harm: risk of secondary cancer after breast cancer treatment. Lancet Oncol. 2022 11; 23(11):1350-1352.  View on PubMed
  7. Lichter KE, Anderson J, Sim AJ, Baniel CC, Thiel CL, Chuter R, Collins A, Carollo E, Berg CD, Coleman CN, Abdel-Wahab M, Grover S, Singer L, Mohamad O. Transitioning to Environmentally Sustainable, Climate-Smart Radiation Oncology Care. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2022 08 01; 113(5):915-924.  View on PubMed
  8. Lichter KE, Baniel CC, Anderson J, Bhatia R, Frick MA, Thiel CL, Gandhi S, Sarria GR, Bagshaw HP, Petereit D, Chino J, Grover S, Singer L, Hsu IC, Mohamad O. Environmentally sustainable brachytherapy care. Brachytherapy. 2022 Sep-Oct; 21(5):712-717.  View on PubMed
  9. Singer L, Weiss A, Bellon JR, King TA. Regional Nodal Management After Preoperative Systemic Therapy. Semin Radiat Oncol. 2022 07; 32(3):228-236.  View on PubMed
  10. Fields EC, Kahn JM, Singer L. Education in gynecological brachytherapy. Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2022 03; 32(3):407-413.  View on PubMed
  11. Dezube AR, Mazzola E, Cooper L, Deeb AL, De-Leon LE, Singer L, Jacobson FL, Jaklitsch MT, Wiener D. Geographic differences in therapy for stage I non-small-cell lung cancer in older adults. J Surg Oncol. 2022 May; 125(6):1053-1060.  View on PubMed
  12. Lee LJ, Alban GM, Cheng T, Buzurovic I, Pretz J, Singer L, King MT. Clinical outcomes and dosimetric predictors of toxicity for re-irradiation of vaginal recurrence of endometrial cancer. Brachytherapy. 2022 May-Jun; 21(3):263-272.  View on PubMed
  13. Liu KX, Sierra-Davidson K, Tyan K, Orlina LT, Marcoux JP, Kann BH, Kozono DE, Mak RH, White A, Singer L. Surgical complications and clinical outcomes after dose-escalated trimodality therapy for non-small cell lung cancer in the era of intensity-modulated radiotherapy. Radiother Oncol. 2021 12; 165:44-51.  View on PubMed
  14. Singer L, Kann BH, Cagney DN, Leeman JE, Yom SS, Kozono D. Actualizing Risk-Adapted Thoracic Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy with MR Guidance. Applied Radiation Oncology. 2021; 3(10):6-14.  View on PubMed
  15. Talcott WJ, Miccio JA, Park HS, White AA, Kozono DE, Singer L, Sands JM, Sholl LM, Detterbeck FC, Mak RH, Decker RH, Kann BH. Rates of invasive disease and outcomes in NSCLC patients with biopsy suggestive of carcinoma in situ. Lung Cancer. 2021 07; 157:17-20.  View on PubMed
  16. Alban G, Cheng T, Adleman J, Buzurovic I, Pretz J, Singer L, King M, Lee L. Definitive radiotherapy for vaginal recurrence of early-stage endometrial cancer: survival outcomes and effect of mismatch repair status. Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2021 07; 31(7):1007-1013.  View on PubMed
  17. Shi DD, Liu KX, Hacker F, Hanna GJ, Kwong RY, Cagney DN, Mak RH, Singer L. Development and Implementation of an Online Adaptive Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Workflow for Treatment of Intracardiac Metastasis. Pract Radiat Oncol. 2021 Jul-Aug; 11(4):e395-e401.  View on PubMed
  18. Boyle PJ, Huynh E, Boyle S, Campbell J, Penney J, Usta I, Neubauer Sugar E, Hacker F, Williams C, Cagney D, Mak R, Singer L. Use of a healthy volunteer imaging program to optimize clinical implementation of stereotactic MR-guided adaptive radiotherapy. Tech Innov Patient Support Radiat Oncol. 2020 Dec; 16:70-76.  View on PubMed
  19. Damast S, Felder S, Fields E, Singer L. Feasibility of deploying a U.S. simulation-based gynecological brachytherapy educational workshop to an international setting. Brachytherapy. 2020 Nov - Dec; 19(6):777-782.  View on PubMed
  20. Singer L, Lee LJ. 50 Gray is Not Enough. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2020 11 15; 108(4):848-849.  View on PubMed

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