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 African American 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 African American 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 African American women, identifying differences in childbearing patterns as a contributing cause to the excess incidence of estrogen receptor negative breast cancer in African American 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.

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
2U01CA164974-12

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


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


Testing scalable communication modalities for returning breast cancer genetic research results to African American women
06/12/2020 - 01/31/2024 (Multi-PI)
PI: Julie R. Palmer, ScD, MPH
NIH/National Inst on Minority Health and Health Disparities
5R01MD014312-03

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
5R01CA228357-04

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 (Subcontract PI)
Health Research, Inc. NIH NCI
5R01CA225947-03

Somatic Mutations and Their Etiological Determinants for Breast Cancer in African American Women
02/01/2019 - 01/31/2023 (Subcontract PI)
Health Research, Inc. NIH NCI
5R01CA228156-04

A Follow-up Study for Causes of Cancer in Black Women
09/30/2017 - 08/31/2022 (Multi-PI)
PI: Julie R. Palmer, ScD, MPH
NIH/National Cancer Institute
5U01CA164974-11

Breast Cancer genetic study in African-ancestry populations
07/01/2016 - 06/30/2022 (Subcontract PI)
Vanderbilt University Medical Center NIH NCI
5R01CA202981-05

Psychosocial Stress and Molecular Profiles of Breast Tumors from African American Women
06/19/2018 - 06/18/2022 (PI)
Susan G. Komen for the Cure


Showing 10 of 26 results. Show All Results


Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
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
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
2022 Improving Breast Cancer Risk Prediction for African American Women: Consideration of Estrogen Receptor Subtype-Specific Risk Factors 5R01CA228357-04
2022 Relationships between parity, breastfeeding and ER- breast cancer in African American women: Elucidating the biologic underpinnings at the molecular and cellular level. 5R01CA225947-04
2021 Testing scalable communication modalities for returning breast cancer genetic research results to African American women 5R01MD014312-02
2021 Somatic Mutations and Their Etiological Determinants for Breast Cancer in African American Women 5R01CA228156-03
2021 Improving Breast Cancer Risk Prediction for African American Women: Consideration of Estrogen Receptor Subtype-Specific Risk Factors 5R01CA228357-03
Showing 10 of 79 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.

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  1. Ilozumba MN, Yaghjyan L, Datta S, Zhao J, Gong Z, Hong CC, Lunetta KL, Zirpoli G, Bandera EV, Palmer JR, Yao S, Ambrosone CB, Cheng TD. mTOR pathway candidate genes and physical activity interaction on breast cancer risk in black women from the women's circle of health study. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2023 Mar 08.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36882608
     
  2. Carreras-Torres R, Kim AE, Lin Y, Díez-Obrero V, Bien SA, Qu C, Wang J, Dimou N, Aglago EK, Albanes D, Arndt V, Baurley JW, Berndt SI, Bézieau S, Bishop DT, Bouras E, Brenner H, Budiarto A, Campbell PT, Casey G, Chan AT, Chang-Claude J, Chen X, Conti DV, Dampier CH, Devall MAM, Drew DA, Figueiredo JC, Gallinger S, Giles GG, Gruber SB, Gsur A, Gunter MJ, Harrison TA, Hidaka A, Hoffmeister M, Huyghe JR, Jenkins MA, Jordahl KM, Kawaguchi E, Keku TO, Kundaje A, Le Marchand L, Lewinger JP, Li L, Mahesworo B, Morrison JL, Murphy N, Nan H, Nassir R, Newcomb PA, Obón-Santacana M, Ogino S, Ose J, Pai RK, Palmer JR, Papadimitriou N, Pardamean B, Peoples AR, Pharoah PDP, Platz EA, Rennert G, Ruiz-Narvaez E, Sakoda LC, Scacheri PC, Schmit SL, Schoen RE, Shcherbina A, Slattery ML, Stern MC, Su YR, Tangen CM, Thomas DC, Tian Y, Tsilidis KK, Ulrich CM, van Duijnhoven FJB, Van Guelpen B, Visvanathan K, Vodicka P, Cenggoro TW, Weinstein SJ, White E, Wolk A, Woods MO, Hsu L, Peters U, Moreno V, Gauderman WJ. Genome-wide Interaction Study with Smoking for Colorectal Cancer Risk Identifies Novel Genetic Loci Related to Tumor Suppression, Inflammation, and Immune Response. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2023 Mar 06; 32(3):315-328. PMID: 36576985
     
  3. Ilozumba MN, Yaghjyan L, Datta S, Zhao J, Hong CC, Lunetta KL, Zirpoli G, Bandera EV, Palmer JR, Yao S, Ambrosone CB, Cheng TD. mTOR pathway candidate genes and obesity interaction on breast cancer risk in black women from the Women's Circle of Health Study. Cancer Causes Control. 2023 Feb 15.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36790512
     
  4. Schonberg MA, Wolfson EA, Eliassen AH, Bertrand KA, Shvetsov YB, Rosner BA, Palmer JR, Ngo LH. A model for predicting both breast cancer risk and non-breast cancer death among women?>?55 years old. Breast Cancer Res. 2023 Jan 24; 25(1):8.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36694222; PMCID: PMC9872276; DOI: 10.1186/s13058-023-01605-8;
     
  5. Thomas M, Su YR, Rosenthal EA, Sakoda LC, Schmit SL, Timofeeva MN, Chen Z, Fernandez-Rozadilla C, Law PJ, Murphy N, Carreras-Torres R, Diez-Obrero V, van Duijnhoven FJ, Jiang S, Shin A, Wolk A, Phipps AI, Burnett-Hartman A, Gsur A, Chan AT, Zauber AG, Wu AH, Lindblom A, Um CY, Tangen CM, Gignoux C, Newton C, Haiman CA, Qu C, Bishop DT, Buchanan DD, Crosslin DR, Conti DV, Kim DH, Hauser E, White E, Siegel E, Schumacher FR, Rennert G, Giles GG, Hampel H, Brenner H, Oze I, Oh JH, Lee JK, Schneider JL, Chang-Claude J, Kim J, Huyghe JR, Zheng J, Hampe J, Greenson J, Hopper JL, Palmer JR, Visvanathan K, Matsuo K, Matsuda K, Jung KJ, Li L, Marchand LL, Vodickova L, Bujanda L, Gunter MJ, Matejcic M, Jenkins MA, Slattery ML, D'Amato M, Wang M, Hoffmeister M, Woods MO, Kim M, Song M, Iwasaki M, Du M, Udaltsova N, Sawada N, Vodicka P, Campbell PT, Newcomb PA, Cai Q, Pearlman R, Pai RK, Schoen RE, Steinfelder RS, Haile RW, Vandenputtelaar R, Prentice RL, Küry S, Castellví-Bel S, Tsugane S, Berndt SI, Lee SC, Brezina S, Weinstein SJ, Chanock SJ, Jee SH, Kweon SS, Vadaparampil S, Harrison TA, Yamaji T, Keku TO, Vymetalkova V, Arndt V, Jia WH, Shu XO, Lin Y, Ahn YO, Stadler ZK, Van Guelpen B, Ulrich CM, Platz EA, Potter JD, Li CI, Meester R, Moreno V, Figueiredo JC, Casey G, Vogelaar IL, Dunlop MG, Gruber SB, Hayes RB, Pharoah PDP, Houlston RS, Jarvik GP, Tomlinson IP, Zheng W, Corley DA, Peters U, Hsu L. Combining Asian-European Genome-Wide Association Studies of Colorectal Cancer Improves Risk Prediction Across Race and Ethnicity. medRxiv. 2023 Jan 19. PMID: 36789420; PMCID: PMC9928144; DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.19.23284737;
     
  6. Yadav S, Boddicker NJ, Na J, Polley EC, Hu C, Hart SN, Gnanaolivu RD, Larson N, Holtegaard S, Huang H, Dunn CA, Teras LR, Patel AV, Lacey JV, Neuhausen SL, Martinez E, Haiman C, Chen F, Ruddy KJ, Olson JE, John EM, Kurian AW, Sandler DP, O'Brien KM, Taylor JA, Weinberg CR, Anton-Culver H, Ziogas A, Zirpoli G, Goldgar DE, Palmer JR, Domchek SM, Weitzel JN, Nathanson KL, Kraft P, Couch FJ. Contralateral Breast Cancer Risk Among Carriers of Germline Pathogenic Variants in ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, CHEK2, and PALB2. J Clin Oncol. 2023 Mar 20; 41(9):1703-1713.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36623243
     
  7. Sheehy S, Palmer JR, Cozier Y, Bertrand KA, Rosenberg L. Vitamin D and risk of hypertension among Black women. J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich). 2023 Feb; 25(2):168-174.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36606491; PMCID: PMC9903189; DOI: 10.1111/jch.14615;
     
  8. Schedin P, Palmer JR. Can Breast Cancer Prevention Strategies Be Tailored to Biologic Subtype and Unique Reproductive Windows? J Natl Cancer Inst. 2022 Dec 08; 114(12):1575-1576. PMID: 35723566; PMCID: PMC9745422; DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djac114;
     
  9. Davis Lynn BC, Lord BD, Cora R, Pfeiffer RM, Lawrence S, Zirpoli G, Bethea TN, Palmer JR, Gierach GL. Associations between quantitative measures of TDLU involution and breast tumor molecular subtypes among breast cancer cases in the Black Women's Health Study: a case-case analysis. Breast Cancer Res. 2022 Dec 05; 24(1):86.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36471360; PMCID: PMC9720909; DOI: 10.1186/s13058-022-01577-1;
     
  10. Sponholtz TR, Palmer JR, Rosenberg L, Chen C, Chen Y, Clarke MA, Clendenen T, Du M, Johnson L, Liao LM, Michels KA, O'Connell K, Olson SH, Petruzella S, Rebbeck TR, Setiawan VW, Trabert B, Weiss NS, Wentzensen N, Wilkens L, Wise LA. Risk factors for endometrial cancer in Black women. Cancer Causes Control. 2022 Nov 23.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36418803
     
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