About Our Group
Meet the Members of the Singer Group
Observational Research
Observational research studying lung transplantation is a main focus of the Singer Group
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Clinical Trials
We engage in several clinical trials studying advanced lung diseases, including cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis
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Publications
Click here to view recent Singer Group publications
Surveys & Frailty Measures
Click here to view our surveys and frailty measures
Participants & Families
Research would not be possible without the contributions of volunteer participants
Click here to learn more about the impact of you or your loved one's participation

The Singer Group applies aging-related principles to study patient-centered outcomes in advanced lung disease and lung transplant along three themes:

1) Improving transplant candidate risk stratification by investigating frailty and body composition;

2) Patient centered outcomes, including functioning, disability, health-related quality of life (HRQL), and survival; and

3) Developing novel instruments for use in advanced lung disease and lung transplantation.

Broadly, our goal is to understand how lung transplant does or does not help patients get back to doing the things in life that they find meaningful. We accomplish this through single-center and multicenter collaborations. To support these broad efforts, Dr. Singer founded and now co-directs the UCSF Advanced Lung Disease and Transplant research program, a cross-departmental research cooperative that includes clinical, translational, and basic science investigators. 

In addition, our group leads industry sponsored clinical trials of novel therapeutics for adults living with cystic fibrosis as well as bronchiectasis.

Our Work in Advanced Lung Disease and Lung Transplant

Frailty and Body Composition

Our group and others have shown that frailty, sarcopenia, and adiposity are associated with disability, poorer quality of life, complications in transplant surgery, and death before and after lung transplantation. We are actively investigating new ways of measuring frailty, its mechanistic underpinning(s), and developing interventions to prevent or treat it.

See here for example papers highlighting this work

HRQL and other Patient Centered Outcomes

Our group is focused on advancing the study of the outcomes that patients undergoing lung transplantation consider to be most important. In addition to survival, these include improvements in functioning, disability, and health-related quality of life.

See here for example papers highlighting this work

 

Survey and Frailty Measure Development

A major focus of our group has been to develop and validate new measures to improve the measurement and reporting of patient-reported outcomes and frailty in advanced lung disease and lung transplant. These include:

Click here for more information on these measures including how to download Word and PDF versions of the surveys.

 

The UCSF Advanced Lung Disease and Lung Transplant Research Program

Founded in 2010 by Dr. Jonathan Singer and now directed by Drs. Singer and John Greenland, our Program includes a cross-disciplinary group of investigators and clinicians focused on tackling the field of lung transplants’ most pressing needs. Overall, our aim at UCSF is to partner with our patients to advance every aspect of lung transplant practice through supporting a detailed clinical database and biorepository of over 25,000 samples and establishing collaborations with investigators at UCSF and beyond. See here for more information on this Program, its members, and ongoing studies. Click here for more information.

Our Work in Clinical Trials

We lead the UCSF Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutic Development Network (CFF TDN) Adult Clinical Trials Program. We work closely with our cystic fibrosis clinical program and partner with industry sponsors on novel therapeutics to improve the lives of adults living with cystic fibrosis. See here for our ongoing and upcoming trials in cystic fibrosis.

Along with Dr. Shoshana Zha, we work with industry sponsors on novel therapeutics for adults with bronchiectasis. See here for our ongoing and upcoming trials in bronchiectasis.

News from the Singer Group