Dr. Hylton is a Professor of Radiology and Director of the Breast MRI Research Program at University of California, San Francisco. She is an internationally recognized scientist whose research focuses on the development and clinical optimization of MRI for breast cancer detection, diagnosis and staging. Dr. Hylton has been a key participant in several significant national and international efforts to define the role of MRI in breast cancer management, including serving as co-leader of the dHHS Office on Women's Health International Working Group on Breast MRI, institutional PI for the first large multi-center clinical trial evaluating breast MRI for breast cancer diagnosis and staging (NCI International Breast MRI Consortium), and co-chair of the American College of Radiology (ACR) Breast MRI Lexicon Committee, which developed the ACR Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BIRADS) for breast MRI, first published in 2003.

Dr. Hylton receives funding from the NIH to develop quantitative MRI techniques for assessing breast cancer response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and for the assessment of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). She also serves as national PI for the AMerican College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) trial 6657, "Contrast-enhanced Breast MRI for Evaluation of Patients Undergoing Neoadjuvant Treatment for Locally-advanced Breast Cancer." She is a member of the ACRIN Breast Committee, CALGB Imaging Committee, ACR Accreditation Committee for Breast MRI, and serves on numerous grant review committees, including as chair of the NIH MEDI Study Section from 2004-2006.