Dr. Allison Magnuson is Associate Professor of Medicine and a board-certified medical oncologist and geriatrician at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Dr. Magnuson’s clinical focus is in geriatric oncology and the care of older adults with breast cancer. She is the Director of the Specialized Oncology Care and Research for our Elders (SOCARE) Clinic at the University of Rochester, which is one of the largest outpatient geriatric oncology clinical programs in the country.  

Dr. Magnuson completed her undergraduate education at the University of Rochester, received her medical degree from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, and completed Internal Medicine residency at the University of Connecticut. She then returned to the University of Rochester where she completed fellowship training in both Medical Oncology and Geriatric Medicine, as well as completing a Masters in Clinical Investigation.  

Dr. Magnuson’s research focuses on the intersection of cancer, cognition, and aging and has received funding through multiple mechanisms to support her research. In 2018, she was awarded the Beeson Career Development Award for Emerging Leaders in Aging Research from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). The goal of this 5-year award is to develop and test a behavioral intervention to mitigate cancer related cognitive dysfunction in older adults receiving systemic therapy for breast cancer. Through additional funding from the NIA, she is also evaluating the feasibility of this cognitive intervention in older cancer survivors with mild cognitive impairment. Subsequently in 2022, Dr. Magnuson was awarded an award to adapt and test an intervention to enhance triadic communication about cognition in the context of cancer for older adults with concurrent cognitive impairment. Dr. Magnuson is an expert in geriatric oncology with over 70 publications in this area. Additionally, Dr. Magnuson is the  current Co-Chair for the ASCO Research Committee and also serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Geriatric Oncology.