Dr. Liudmila Schafer is a fellowship-trained, board-certified medical oncologist at MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, and Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, with a focus on bone and soft-tissue sarcoma. Her research interests focus on precision medicine, novel cancer therapeutics, and clinical trials for sarcoma and rare cancers.
Before her current position, she served as Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Dr. Schafer earned her medical degree at Grodno State Medical University and completed her residency, chief residency, and fellowship training in medical oncology at East Tennessee State University College of Medicine, with additional specialized training at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. She holds specialized training in Clinical and Translational Science, Drug Development, and Regulatory Sciences, as well as executive education in artificial intelligence for business. She completed the Chief Medical Officer Program at Emory’s Goizueta Business School and is currently a physician-executive MBA candidate at the University of Tennessee, Haslam College of Business.
Dr. Schafer has authored peer-reviewed publications, abstracts, and scientific presentations at national, international, regional, and institutional meetings, and has presented on ctDNA and antibody-drug conjugates in cancer treatment. She served on an Institutional Review Board and an Academic Conflict of Interest Committee and as Co-Chair of a Precision Oncology / Molecular Tumor Board, Executive Council of the American Association for Cancer Education. She is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, an active member and mentor in the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Clinical and Translational Science and was named a Teaching Scholar.
- Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP); Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine.
- American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American College of Physicians (ACP), Executive Council, American Association for Cancer Education.
- America’s Top Medical Oncologists, Circle of Excellence / Dean’s Outpatient All Stars patient-satisfaction recognition
Research Interests:
- Sarcoma, bone, and soft tissue tumors
- rare cancers
- precision medicine and molecular profiling
- novel cancer therapeutics
- early-phase and cooperative-group clinical trials
- molecular residual disease
- patient-centered outcomes
Selected Research:
Dr. Schafer is a site principal investigator on SARC048, a multi-site sarcoma clinical trial supported by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), advancing patient access to innovative therapies and patient-centered outcomes in sarcoma.
She has also contributed to early-phase global oncology drug development, including work on an antibody-drug conjugate, and to research on circulating tumor DNA for molecular residual disease in gastrointestinal and appendiceal cancers.
Research Areas
- Oncology