Julie R. Palmer, ScD, MPH
Karin Grunebaum Cancer Research Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Medicine
Hematology & Medical Oncology

ScD, Harvard University
MPH, Boston University
BS, Boston University
BA, Brown University

Pronouns: she/her/hers



Dr. Palmer is a cancer epidemiologist based at the Slone Epidemiology Center, with research projects spanning cancer early detection, etiology, and survivorship. Her primary focus is on elucidating reasons for the disproportionately high incidence of hormone receptor negative breast cancer in U.S. Black women and on understanding and reducing racial disparities in breast cancer mortality. She is a founding leader of the Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS), a prospective cohort study of 59,000 self-identified Black women who enrolled in 1995 and have been followed by biennial questionnaire since that time. Her breast cancer research within the BWHS includes work on risk prediction models for breast cancer in U.S. Black women, identifying differences in childbearing patterns as a contributing cause to the excess incidence of estrogen receptor negative breast cancer in Black women, and investigating the interrelationships of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and inflammation on breast cancer risk. Her current grants support work on somatic mutations, epigenetics, and gene expressions profiles in breast cancer tumors from African American women, setting the stage for a better understanding of the role of epidemiologic and genetic factors in etiology and prognosis. Dr. Palmer has served on many NIH and external advisory committees, including as Chair of the NIH Cancer, Cardiovascular, and Sleep Epidemiology Study Section, 2015-2017, and Co-Chair of a Working Group for the National Cancer Advisory Board, NCI, 2018-2019. Dr. Palmer was awarded the AACR Distinguished Lectureship on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in 2017. She has served as a Komen Scholar since 2018 and as a Breast Cancer Research Foundation Investigator since 2023.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice have been a high priority for me throughout my career. I came of age during the early years of the Black Power movement, the second wave of the Women's Liberation movement, and the Gay Liberation movement. The terms "white privilege", "male privilege", "heterosexual privilege", and "class privilege" have been part of my lexicon since before I even began my graduate education. My choice of research topics as an epidemiologist has been informed by my desire to 1) conduct research in populations that have traditionally been ignored - specifically for my research, women and Black Americans, and 2) to address research questions that may lead to prevention of disease by considering social and political conditions rather individual behaviors only. To this end, I have devoted most of my research time since the early 1990's to creating and co-leading the Black Women's Health Study, a prospective cohort study of 59,000 U.S. Black women who enrolled in 1995 and have been followed by biennial questionnaires. In addition to prioritizing research questions as described above, I am committed to assisting in creating opportunities for Black investigators, and in particular Black women scientists, to develop successful careers. I do this first by recruiting and mentoring graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty, and second by providing opportunities for Black investigators from other institutions to strengthen their careers by using Black Women's Health Study data to address their own hypotheses. It is not just that no one has all the answers; no one has all the questions. One of the most important things I have learned through years of working with a diverse group of investigators is to listen, to do my part in allowing there to be a space for all ideas to be heard. I am dedicated to welcoming and celebrating individuals of all races, ethnicities, social backgrounds, sexual orientation, gender, sex, age, ability, religion, and national origin.

Professor
Boston University School of Public Health
Epidemiology


Director
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Slone Epidemiology Center


Co-Director
Boston University
BU-BMC Cancer Center


Member
Boston University
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research


Member
Boston University
Genome Science Institute




A Follow-up Study for Causes of Cancer in Black Women
09/01/2022 - 08/31/2027 (Multi-PI)
PI: Julie R. Palmer, ScD, MPH
NIH/National Cancer Institute
5U01CA164974-14

Evaluating the Feasibility of Lung Cancer Screening in High-risk Black Women
08/01/2023 - 07/31/2026 (Subcontract PI)
Massachusetts General Hospital HHS AHRQ
5R18HS029430-02

American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant
01/01/2023 - 12/31/2025 (PI)
American Cancer Society, Inc.


Testing scalable communication modalities for returning breast cancer genetic research results to African American women
06/12/2020 - 11/30/2025 (Multi-PI)
PI: Julie R. Palmer, ScD, MPH
NIH/National Inst on Minority Health and Health Disparities
5R01MD014312-04

Psychosocial stress and molecular profiles of breast tumors from U.S. Black women
10/26/2022 - 10/25/2025 (PI)
Susan G. Komen for the Cure


Breast Cancer Drivers in Black Women: Society to Cells
11/01/2023 - 09/30/2025 (PI)
Breast Cancer Research Foundation


Neighborhood Disadvantage, Tumor Characteristics, and Breast Cancer Survival in U.S. Black Women
09/14/2023 - 09/13/2025 (PI)
Susan G. Komen for the Cure


Somatic Mutations and Their Etiological Determinants for Breast Cancer in African American Women
02/01/2019 - 01/31/2025 (Multi-PI)
PI: Julie R. Palmer, ScD, MPH
Health Research, Inc. NIH NCI
5R01CA228156-05

Improving Breast Cancer Risk Prediction for African American Women: Consideration of Estrogen Receptor Subtype-Specific Risk Factors
01/08/2019 - 12/31/2023 (PI)
NIH/National Cancer Institute
5R01CA228357-05

Relationships between parity, breastfeeding and ER- breast cancer in African American women: elucidating the biologic underpinnings at the molecular and cellular level
12/04/2018 - 11/30/2023 (Multi-PI)
PI: Julie R. Palmer, ScD, MPH
Health Research, Inc. NIH NCI
5R01CA225947-03

Showing 10 of 29 results. Show All Results


Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
2024 Evaluating the Feasibility of Lung Cancer Screening in High-Risk Black Women 5R18HS029430-02
2024 Testing scalable communication modalities for returning breast cancer genetic research results to African American women 5R01MD014312-04
2024 A Follow-up Study for Causes of Cancer in Black Women 5U01CA164974-14
2023 Evaluating the Feasibility of Lung Cancer Screening in High-Risk Black Women 1R18HS029430-01
2023 Somatic Mutations and Their Etiological Determinants for Breast Cancer in African American Women 5R01CA228156-05
2023 Improving Breast Cancer Risk Prediction for African American Women: Consideration of Estrogen Receptor Subtype-Specific Risk Factors 5R01CA228357-05
2023 Relationships between parity, breastfeeding and ER- breast cancer in African American women: Elucidating the biologic underpinnings at the molecular and cellular level. 5R01CA225947-05
2023 A Follow-up Study for Causes of Cancer in Black Women 5U01CA164974-13
2022 Testing scalable communication modalities for returning breast cancer genetic research results to African American women 5R01MD014312-03
2022 Somatic Mutations and Their Etiological Determinants for Breast Cancer in African American Women 5R01CA228156-04
Showing 10 of 84 results. Show All Results

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. Schoemaker MJ, Ellington T, Nichols HB, Wright LB, Jones ME, O'Brien KM, Weinberg CR, Adami HO, Baglietto L, Bertrand KA, Chen Y, Clague DeHart J, Eliassen AH, Giles GG, Houghton SC, Kirsh VA, Milne RL, Palmer JR, Park HL, Rohan TE, Severi G, Shu XO, Tamimi RM, Vatten LJ, Weiderpass E, Willett WC, Zeleniuch-Jacquotte A, Zheng W, Sandler DP, Swerdlow AJ. Central and peripheral adiposity and premenopausal breast cancer risk: a pooled analysis of 440,179 women. Breast Cancer Res. 2025 Apr 15; 27(1):55.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40234955; PMCID: PMC12001638; DOI: 10.1186/s13058-025-01995-x;
     
  2. Bigham Z, Holder EX, Rodday AM, Breeze JL, Nelson KP, Palmer JR, Freund KM, Bertrand KA. Reproductive determinants of mammographic density in black women. Cancer Causes Control. 2025 Mar 27.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40146429
     
  3. Kim J, Williams A, Noh H, Jasper EA, Jones SH, Jaworski JA, Shuey MM, Ruiz-Narváez EA, Wise LA, Palmer JR, Connolly J, Keaton JM, Denny JC, Khan A, Abbass MA, Rasmussen-Torvik LJ, Kottyan LC, Madhivanan P, Krupp K, Wei WQ, Edwards TL, Velez Edwards DR, Hellwege JN. Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies novel risk loci for uterine fibroids within and across multiple ancestry groups. Nat Commun. 2025 Mar 06; 16(1):2273.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40050615
     
  4. Shan Y, Bertrand KA, Petrick JL, Sheehy S, Palmer JR. Planetary Health Diet Index in relation to mortality in a prospective cohort study of United States Black females. Am J Clin Nutr. 2025 Mar; 121(3):589-596.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39863116; PMCID: PMC11923421; DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2025.01.023;
     
  5. Griswold MK, Crawford SL, Person SD, Rosenberg L, Palmer JR, Cozier YC. Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status and Breastfeeding Initiation and Duration Among Primiparous Black Women. Breastfeed Med. 2025 May; 20(5):310-319.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39835974
     
  6. Sheehy S, Friedman D, Liu C, Lunetta KL, Zirpoli G, Palmer JR. Association between Apolipoprotein L1 genetic variants and risk of preeclampsia and preterm birth among U.S. Black women. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol X. 2025 Mar; 25:100365.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39895997; PMCID: PMC11783058; DOI: 10.1016/j.eurox.2025.100365;
     
  7. Huang H, Couch RE, Karam R, Hu C, Boddicker N, Polley EC, Na J, Ambrosone CB, Yao S, Trentham-Dietz A, Eliassen AH, Penney K, Brantley K, Bodelon C, Teras LR, Hodge J, Patel A, Haiman CA, John EM, Neuhausen SL, Martinez E, Lacey JV, O'Brien KM, Sandler DP, Weinberg CR, Palmer JR, Bertrand KA, Vachon CM, Olson JE, Ruddy KE, Anton-Culver H, Ziogas A, Goldgar DE, Nathanson KL, Domchek SM, Weitzel JN, Kraft P, Dolinsky JS, Pesaran T, Richardson ME, Yadav S, Couch FJ. Pathogenic Variants in Cancer Susceptibility Genes Predispose to Ductal Carcinoma In Situ of the Breast. Clin Cancer Res. 2025 Jan 06; 31(1):130-138.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39513960; PMCID: PMC11701432; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-24-1884;
     
  8. Jia G, Chen Z, Ping J, Cai Q, Tao R, Li C, Bauer JA, Xie Y, Ambs S, Barnard ME, Chen Y, Choi JY, Gao YT, Garcia-Closas M, Gu J, Hu JJ, Iwasaki M, John EM, Kweon SS, Li CI, Matsuda K, Matsuo K, Nathanson KL, Nemesure B, Olopade OI, Pal T, Park SK, Park B, Press MF, Sanderson M, Sandler DP, Shen CY, Troester MA, Yao S, Zheng Y, Ahearn T, Brewster AM, Falusi A, Hennis AJM, Ito H, Kubo M, Lee ES, Makumbi T, Ndom P, Noh DY, O'Brien KM, Ojengbede O, Olshan AF, Park MH, Reid S, Yamaji T, Zirpoli G, Butler EN, Huang M, Low SK, Obafunwa J, Weinberg CR, Zhang H, Zhao H, Cote ML, Ambrosone CB, Huo D, Li B, Kang D, Palmer JR, Shu XO, Haiman CA, Guo X, Long J, Zheng W. Refining breast cancer genetic risk and biology through multi-ancestry fine-mapping analyses of 192 risk regions. Nat Genet. 2025 Jan; 57(1):80-87.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39753771
     
  9. Peeri NC, Bertrand KA, Na R, De Vivo I, Setiawan VW, Seshan VE, Alemany L, Chen Y, Clarke MA, Clendenen T, Cook LS, Costas L, Dal Maso L, Freudenheim JL, Friedenreich CM, Gierach GL, Goodman MT, La Vecchia C, Levi F, Lopez-Querol M, Lu L, Moysich KB, Mutter G, Naduparambil J, Negri E, O'Connell K, O'Mara T, Palmer JR, Parazzini F, Penney KL, Petruzella S, Reynolds P, Ricceri F, Risch H, Rohan TE, Sacerdote C, Sandin S, Shu XO, Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ, Webb PM, Wentzensen N, Wilkens LR, Xu W, Yu H, Zeleniuch-Jacquotte A, Zheng W, Guo X, Lipworth L, Du M. Understanding risk factors for endometrial cancer in young women. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2025 Jan 01; 117(1):76-88.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39235934; PMCID: PMC11717423; DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djae210;
     
  10. Bigham Z, Holder EX, Rodday AM, Breeze JL, Nelson KP, Palmer JR, Freund KM, Bertrand KA. Lifecourse Growth and Development Determinants of Mammographic Density in Black Women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2024 Dec 02; 33(12):1640-1650.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39093038; PMCID: PMC11611676; DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-24-0494;
     
Showing 10 of 488 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 487 publications over 40 distinct years, with a maximum of 34 publications in 2016

YearPublications
19861
19872
19882
19895
19907
19916
19925
19934
19943
19955
19962
19973
19985
19996
20008
20019
20025
20039
20045
200510
200616
200714
20089
200911
201018
201115
201220
201325
201417
201522
201634
201725
201821
201910
202023
202127
202218
202331
202420
20259


Breast cancer month panel with Drs. Julie Palmer and Ann Partridge

WGBH 10/22/2024

Heightened Cancer Risks For Black Women Under 50: Here Is What To Know And Do About It

Rickey Smiley Morning Show 6/14/2024

The Longest Running Study of Black Women's Health Just Shared Some Major Results

The Root 11/27/2023

For nearly 30 years, Boston University has led the largest and longest-running study of Black women’s health, shining a light on tragic disparities and showing women their lives matter

BU Today 10/31/2023

Black women face deadly racial disparities in breast cancer

The Hill 10/25/2023

Boston doctor pioneers new breast cancer screening test focused on Black community

WCVB 11/8/2022

Navigating the Black-White Divide in Breast Cancer Deaths

U.S. News & World Report 10/13/2022

Neighborhood Adversity Associated With Increased Risk of ER- Breast Cancer, TNBC for Black Women in the United States

Pharmacy Times 9/21/2022

Changes to lung cancer screening increase eligibility for Black women by 50 percent, study says

The Hill 1/7/2022

Relaxed Hair Has Made a Comeback on Social Media, Reigniting a Debate on the Straight Style

PopSugar 11/23/2021

Tool could close gap in breast cancer prediction for Black women

Futurity 11/2/2021

BU researchers develop a risk prediction model for breast cancer in Black women

News Medical 10/29/2021

Vitamin D Deficiency Could Raise Colon Cancer Risk in Black Women

Black Doctor 10/28/2021

Too Little Vitamin D Could Raise Colon Cancer Risk in Black Women

HealthDay 10/27/2021

For Black Women, New Online Prediction Tool Could Reduce Breast Cancer Deaths

BU Today 10/26/2021

Breast Cancer Prediction Tool for US Black Women Eases Risk Stratification

Medscape 10/20/2021

Boston University researchers develop breast cancer prediction tool for Black women

WCVB 10/8/2021

‘We can’t ever go to the doctor with our guard down’: Why Black women are 40% more likely to die of breast cancer

Fortune 6/30/2020

African-American, White Women Share Genetic Mutations Linked to Breast Cancer

UPI 5/19/2020

Tooth Loss Linked To Greater Risk of Pancreatic Cancer Among African American Women

MedicalResearch.com 3/28/2019

2023-2025 Breast Cancer Research Foundation: Breast Cancer Research Foundation Investigator
2019 Boston University School of Medicine: Karin Grunebaum Professor in Cancer Research
2018-2027 Susan G. Komen Foundation: Komen Scholar
2017 American Association for Cancer Research: AACR Distinguished Lectureship on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities
2011 National Cancer Institute: Outstanding Service Award
2011 Boston University School of Public Health: Distinguished Alumni Award
In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

cancer epidemiology
health disparities
breast cancer subtypes
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72 E. Concord St.
Boston MA 02118
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