Her research focuses on translating laboratory findings to the clinic and vice versa in head and neck cancer (HNC), specifically in tumor hypoxia, radiation resistance, Galectin-1, and salivary gland stem cells.
Clinically, she has led multicenter phase II and III clinical trials, testing the addition of novel drugs as radiosensitizer or radioprotector with chemoradiotherapy in HNC. She has received grant support from ASCO, ASTRO as well as P01, R01 and R21 grants from the NIH. She was inducted into the Fellowship of the American College of Radiology (FACR), the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (FASTRO) and the Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Medicine (IOM/NAM). She was also honored with the Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015.