People

Dr. Ronald Balassanian is a pathologist (a specialist in examining tissue samples for signs of disease) in the UCSF Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) Biopsy Clinic at Mission Bay. He performs fine needle aspiration biopsies – removing sample cells with a needle and syringe – primarily on lumps in areas such as the breasts, thyroid or lymph nodes. This procedure can yield a quick assessment of whether a lump is benign or malignant, usually in a day or two. In some cases, ultrasound is used to guide the needle when obtaining a biopsy.

Development of computational models for early detection of cancer lesions and progression to metastatic disease can help discriminate between high and low cancer risk profiles. Therefore, we seek to exploit diverse, high-throughput genomic and clinical data to understand the molecular networks underlying fundamental cellular processes that can eventually stratify patients by non-traditional underpinnings, including transcriptional regulation, epigenetic signaling, and chemosensitivity.

Dr. Chien specializes in the management and treatment of patients with breast cancer. She is Professor of Medicine at UCSF and the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Chien received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and medical degree from Harvard Medical School. She subsequently completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and her fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at UCSF. She joined the UCSF faculty after completing her fellowship and serves as the Medical Director of Breast Medical Oncology at UCSF.

Nola Hylton, PhD, is a Professor in Residence in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, and Director of the Breast Imaging Research Group at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Hylton received her BS in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1979, and she obtained her PhD in Applied Physics from Stanford University, California in 1985.