Sarah Anne McAvoy, MD

2010-2011       Internship, Hennepin County Medical Center

2011-2015       Residency, Radiation Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

2014-2015       Co- Chief Resident, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Sarah McAvoy, MD is an Assistant Professor of radiation oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.  

Dr. McAvoy completed a bachelor’s degree at Carroll College.  She then spent several years conducting research in the area of genomic instability in cancer at Mayo Clinic.  She then went on to receive her medical degree from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. She completed an internship at Hennepin County Medical Center and a residency in radiation oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center where she served as a chief resident and received the Dr. Mary Fletcher Award for excellence in clinical care.  She is board certified by the American Board of Radiology.

Dr. McAvoy has several years of experience in practice and treats all sites of cancer. She has a special interest in women’s health and treating breast and gynecologic cancers. She specializes in various radiation advanced technologies, including stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), GammaPod (which is available at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center), and proton therapy (available at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center).  Dr. McAvoy also has a special interest in the treatment of brain and spine tumors as well as thoracic tumors. 

Dr. McAvoy’s research focus has been on glioblastomas, thoracic radiation, reirradiation, and normal tissue toxicity.  She has numerous peer-reviewed publications in these arenas and has given many national presentations of her work. 

Gynecologic radiation, Breast cancer, GammaPod, Proton therapy, Brachytherapy, Women’s Health

Peer-reviewed journal articles

1. Kim, J.E., et al., Human TopBP1 ensures genome integrity during normal S phase. Mol Cell Biol, 2005. 25(24): p. 10907-15.
2. Wang, F., et al., Transcriptional repression of WEE1 by Kruppel-like factor 2 is involved in DNA damage-induced apoptosis. Oncogene, 2005. 24(24): p. 3875-85.

1. Smith, D.I., et al., Common fragile sites, extremely large genes, neural development and cancer. Cancer Lett, 2006. 232(1): p. 48-57.
2. Zhu, Y., et al., RORA, a large common fragile site gene, is involved in cellular stress response. Oncogene, 2006. 25(20): p. 2901-8.

1. McAvoy, S., et al., DMD and IL1RAPL1: two large adjacent genes localized within a common fragile site (FRAXC) have reduced expression in cultured brain tumors. Cytogenet Genome Res, 2007. 119(3-4): p. 196-203.
2. McAvoy, S., et al., Non-random inactivation of large common fragile site genes in different cancers. Cytogenet Genome Res, 2007. 118(2-4): p. 260-9.

1. Smith, D.I., et al., Large common fragile site genes and cancer. Semin Cancer Biol, 2007. 17(1): p. 31-41.
2. Majhail, N.S., et al., Does the hematopoietic cell transplantation specific comorbidity index predict transplant outcomes? A validation study in a large cohort of umbilical cord blood and matched related donor transplants. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant, 2008. 14(9): p. 985-992.

1. McAvoy, S., et al., Disabled-1 is a large common fragile site gene, inactivated in multiple cancers. Genes Chromosomes Cancer, 2008. 47(2): p. 165-74.
2. DeFor, T.E., et al., A modified comorbidity index for hematopoietic cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant, 2010. 45(5): p. 933-8.

1. McAvoy, S., et al., Corticosteroid dose as a risk factor for avascular necrosis of the bone after hematopoietic cell transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant, 2010. 16(9): p. 1231-6.
2. Evans, J.D., et al., Aortic dose constraints when reirradiating thoracic tumors. Radiother Oncol, 2013. 106(3): p. 327-32.

1. McAvoy, S.A., et al., Feasibility of proton beam therapy for reirradiation of locoregionally recurrent non-small cell lung cancer. Radiother Oncol, 2013. 109(1): p. 38-44.
2. McAvoy, S., et al., Definitive reirradiation for locoregionally recurrent non-small cell lung cancer with proton beam therapy or intensity modulated radiation therapy: predictors of high-grade toxicity and survival outcomes. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, 2014. 90(4): p. 819-27.

1. Takiar, V., et al., MRI-based sector analysis enhances prostate palladium-103 brachytherapy quality assurance in a phase II prospective trial of men with intermediate-risk localized prostate cancer. Brachytherapy, 2014. 13(1): p. 68-74.
2. Holliday, E.B., et al., Development of a Comprehensive Clinical Radiation Oncology Resident Didactic Curriculum. J Am Coll Radiol, 2016. 13(12 Pt A): p. 1514-1516 e6.

1. Murray, T.A., et al., Robust treatment comparison based on utilities of semi-competing risks in non-small-cell lung cancer. J Am Stat Assoc, 2017. 112: p. 11-23.
2. Franko, J. and S. McAvoy, Timing of esophagectomy after neoadjuvant chemoradiation treatment in squamous cell carcinoma. Surgery, 2018. 164(3): p. 455-459.

Book Chapters

1. DI Smith, Y Zhu, S McAvoy, R Kuhn. Common fragile sites, extremely large genes, neural development and cancer. In: Fragilome: Chromosomal Instability, Fragile sites, and Cancer.  Cost European Cooperation in Science and Technology.  Editor M. Schwab.   Germany, 2005
2. DI Smith, S McAvoy, F Wang. Common fragile site genes. In: Fragile Sites, New Discoveries and Changing Perspectives. Nova Science Publishers, Inc.  Editors:  Arrieta, O. Penagarikano, M. Telez.  New York, pp193-222, 2007.
3. S McAvoy. High Grade Glioma, Hemangioblastoma, Arteriovenous malformation, Vestibular schwannoma/acoustic neuroma.  In: Radiation Oncology: A Question-Based Review, 2^nd edition, edited by Boris Hristov, Steven H. Lin, and John P. Christoudouleas.