Nola M. Hylton (born 1957) is an American oncologist who is Professor of

Radiology Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiat ...

and Director of the

Breast Imaging In medicine, breast imaging is a sub-speciality of diagnostic radiology that involves imaging of the breasts for screening or diagnostic purposes. There are various methods of breast imaging using a variety of technologies as described in detail b ...

Research Group at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It cond ...

. She pioneered the usage of

magnetic resonance imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio wave ...

for the detection, diagnosis, and staging of breast cancer by using MRIs to locate tumors and characterize the surrounding tissue.

Early life and education

Hylton was born in

Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of t ...

in 1957. Hylton also studied in Mount Vernon, where she was one of the only Black students in her physics class. Hylton studied

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1979. She was an undergraduate fellow at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

in 1975. She joined

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

for her PhD, earning a doctorate in

applied physics Applied physics is the application of physics to solve scientific or engineering problems. It is usually considered to be a bridge or a connection between physics and engineering. "Applied" is distinguished from "pure" by a subtle combination ...

in 1985, and becoming one of a handful of Black women with doctorates in that period. At Stanford, she worked on analytical techniques to evaluate

NMR imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio wa ...

contrast, which is used in assessing MRIs. She developed hierarchical processing algorithms to characterise the tissues. In her early career she was part of an international trial that compared two breast cancer screening methods, using MRI and mammographies. Hylton was appointed group leader of the working group on

Breast MRI One alternative to mammography, breast MRI or contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has shown substantial progress in the detection of breast cancer. Uses Some of the uses of MRI of the breasts are: screening for malignancy in women ...

systems.

Research and career

Nola Hylton played an integral role in the development of MRI technology for the detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. She was among the first group of scholars named the Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Scientific Advisory Council and co-leader for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Women’s Health International Group, where she identified and addressed barriers to clinical dissemination of breast MRI. Hylton designs MRI

biomarker In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, ...

s, which allow her to evaluate how breast cancer responds to treatment. In the 2013 ''Investigation of Serial studies to Predict Your Therapeutic Response with Imaging And molecular analysis'' (I-SPY TRIAL), Hylton developed workstations that allow physicians to perform analyses of breast MRI scans. Hylton worked with

Hologic Hologic, Inc. is a medical technology company primarily focused on women’s health; it sells medical devices for diagnostics, surgery, and medical imaging. History In late November 2013, activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed a 12.5% stake in ...

to develop software to measure the volume of tumours and analyse images automatically. She expanded the software to include

diffusion-weighted imaging Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI or DW-MRI) is the use of specific MRI sequences as well as software that generates images from the resulting data that uses the diffusion of water molecules to generate contrast in MR images. It ...

(DW-MRI), which helps assess the response of tumours in patients undergoing preoperative

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

. She was principal investigator for ACRIN 6657 and 6698 (I-SPY 2). She is particularly interested in

dynamic contrast The contrast ratio (CR) is a property of a display system, defined as the ratio of the luminance of the brightest shade (white) to that of the darkest shade (black) that the system is capable of producing. A high contrast ratio is a desired aspect ...

-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI). The hologic software DCE-MRI allowed Hylton to monitor breast cancer response in real time. The software was

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

IDE approved in 2010. Hylton demonstrated in 2010 that MRI could be used to predict how women will respond to

neoadjuvant therapy Neoadjuvant therapy is the administration of therapeutic agents before a main treatment. One example is neoadjuvant hormone therapy prior to radical radiotherapy for adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Neoadjuvant therapy aims to reduce the size or ...

. DCE-MRI and DW-MRI provide extra functional information as the MRI becomes sensitive to the vascularity of tumours. Additionally, her recent work has identified that

PET A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...

and MRI can be used to personalise the treatment of

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

. Hylton served as the

principal investigator In many countries, the term principal investigator (PI) refers to the holder of an independent grant and the lead researcher for the grant project, usually in the sciences, such as a laboratory study or a clinical trial. The phrase is also often us ...

for the National Cancer Institute's International Breast MRI Consortium. She serves on the

Diversity and Inclusion committee.

Selected publications

* Laura Esserman, Nola Hylton, Leila Yassa, John Barclay, Steven Frankel, Edward Sickles. (1999). " Utility of magnetic resonance imaging in the management of breast cancer: evidence for improved preoperative staging." ''Journal of Clinical Oncology'' 17 (1): 110-110. * David A Bluemke, Constantine A Gatsonis, Mei Hsiu Chen, Gia A DeAngelis, Nanette DeBruhl, Steven Harms, Sylvia H Heywang-Köbrunner, Nola Hylton, Christiane K Kuhl, Constance Lehman, Etta D Pisano, Petrina Causer, Stuart J Schnitt, Stanley F Smazal, Carol B Stelling, Paul T Weatherall, Mitchell D Schnall. (2004). " Magnetic resonance imaging of the breast prior to biopsy." ''Jama'' 292 (22): 2735-2742. * Constance D Lehman, Jeffrey D Blume, Paul Weatherall, David Thickman, Nola Hylton, Ellen Warner, Etta Pisano, Stuart J Schnitt, Constantine Gatsonis, Mitchell Schnall, International Breast MRI Consortium Working Group. (2005). " Screening women at high risk for breast cancer with mammography and magnetic resonance imaging." ''Cancer'' 103 (9): 1898-1905. * Mitchell D Schnall, Jeffrey Blume, David A Bluemke, Gia A DeAngelis, Nanette DeBruhl, Steven Harms, Sylvia H Heywang-Kobrunner, Nola Hylton, Christiane K Kuhl, Etta D Pisano, Petrina Causer, Stuart J Schnitt, David Thickman, Carol B Stelling, Paul T Weatherall, Constance Lehman, Constantine A Gatsonis. (2006). "Diagnostic Architectural and Dynamic Features at Breast MR Imaging: Multicenter Study." ''Radiology'' 238 (1): 42-53. * Nola Hylton. (2006). " Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging as an imaging biomarker." ''Journal of Clinical Oncology'' 24 (20): 3293-3298. * AD Barker, CC Sigman, GJ Kelloff, NM Hylton, DA Berry, LJ Esserman. (2009). " I‐SPY 2: an adaptive breast cancer trial design in the setting of neoadjuvant chemotherapy." ''Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics'' 86 (1): 97-100. * Laura J Esserman, Donald A Berry, Angela DeMichele, Lisa Carey, Sarah E Davis, Meredith Buxton, Cliff Hudis, Joe W Gray, Charles Perou, Christina Yau, Chad Livasy, Helen Krontiras, Leslie Montgomery, Debasish Tripathy, Constance Lehman, Minetta C Liu, Olufunmilayo I Olopade, Hope S Rugo, John T Carpenter, Lynn Dressler, David Chhieng, Baljit Singh, Carolyn Mies, Joseph Rabban, Yunn-Yi Chen, Dilip Giri, Laura Van't Veer, Nola Hylton. (2012). " Pathologic complete response predicts recurrence-free survival more effectively by cancer subset: results from the I-SPY 1 TRIAL—CALGB 150007/150012, ACRIN 6657." ''Journal of Clinical Oncology'' 30 (26): 3242. * Hope S Rugo, Olufunmilayo I Olopade, Angela DeMichele, Christina Yau, Laura J van’t Veer, Meredith B Buxton, Michael Hogarth, Nola M Hylton, Melissa Paoloni, Jane Perlmutter, W Fraser Symmans, Douglas Yee, A Jo Chien, Anne M Wallace, Henry G Kaplan, Judy C Boughey, Tufia C Haddad, Kathy S Albain, Minetta C Liu, Claudine Isaacs, Qamar J Khan, Julie E Lang, Rebecca K Viscusi, Lajos Pusztai, Stacy L Moulder, Stephen Y Chui, Kathleen A Kemmer, Anthony D Elias, Kirsten K Edmiston, David M Euhus, Barbara B Haley, Rita Nanda, Donald W Northfelt, Debasish Tripathy, William C Wood, Cheryl Ewing, Richard Schwab, Julia Lyandres, Sarah E Davis, Gillian L Hirst, Ashish Sanil, Donald A Berry, Laura J Esserman. (2016). " Adaptive randomization of veliparib–carboplatin treatment in breast cancer." ''New England Journal of Medicine'' 375 (1): 23-34.

Awards and honors

* 2003

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than ...

Research Scholar *2003

American College of Radiology The American College of Radiology (ACR), founded in 1923, is a professional medical society representing nearly 40,000 diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians and medical physicists. ...

Outstanding Contribution Award * 2010 Komen Cure Scholar Award *2010

Susan G. Komen for the Cure Susan G. Komen (formerly known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure; originally as The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; often simply as Komen) is a breast cancer organization in the United States. Komen focuses on patient navigation and advo ...

Scientific Advisory Council *2013 Academy of Radiology Research Distinguished Investigator *2017

International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine The International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine is a "multi-disciplinary nonprofit association that promotes innovation, development, and application of magnetic resonance techniques in medicine and biology throughout the world". The ...

Fellow *2018

National Society of Black Physicists The National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), established in the United States in 1977, is a non-profit professional organization with the goal to promote the professional well-being of African Diaspora physicists and physics students within the ...

Honoree *2019 Society of Breast Imaging Honorary Fellow

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hylton, Nola American oncologists Women oncologists People from Mount Vernon, New York MIT School of Engineering alumni Stanford University alumni American radiologists 1957 births Living people Women radiologists