Researcher Receives American Cancer Society Grant to Study Colorectal Cancer in Black Women

Jessica L. Petrick, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, has been awarded a four-year, $792,000 grant from the American Cancer Society (ACS) for her research “Dietary Carbohydrate Quality and Circulating Bile Acids in Relation to Colorectal Carcinogenesis in Black Women.”

Black Americans have the highest colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality rates of any racial/ethnic group in the U.S. In her study, Petrick aims to address a critical gap in CRC research: the identification of modifiable causes that may contribute to racial disparities. This may lead to the development of individual approaches, such as modifications in diet, to stop this cancer from occurring.

“Our study will focus on diet to determine if there is an association between carbohydrate quality and circulating biomarkers with CRC incidence in Black women,” explains Petrick. “Understanding causes that contribute to CRC occurrence in Black women will pave the way to develop precision-based approaches for stopping cancer development and progression.”

Petrick will use the unique resources of the Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS), which enrolled 59,000 Black women in 1995 and has followed them biennially for over 25 years, collecting information on CRC occurrence as well as a wealth of data on diet and other factors potentially related to CRC. She will partner with the Preventive Food Pantry and Teaching Kitchen at Boston Medical Center to translate these findings to the community.

Petrick became a co-investigator with BWHS in 2019, but she has been collaborating with BWHS since she began her post-doctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 2014. BWHS is a member of the NCI Cancer Cohort Consortium and participated in the Liver Cancer Pooling Project, within which Petrick led numerous studies. The emphasis of her current research portfolio is on nutritional and molecular factors, including the metabolome and microbiome, which may contribute to racial disparities along the cancer continuum, from precursor lesions, to invasive cancer and mortality.

“Funding the most innovative cancer research helps save lives,” said William Dahut, MD, ACS chief scientific officer. “Dr. Petrick is one of our recent grantees who is on track to advance cancer prevention, detection and treatment, and we are excited she is a part of moving our collective mission forward.”

The ACS is a leading cancer-fighting organization with a vision to end cancer for everyone. For more than 100 years, ACS has been improving the lives of people with cancer and their families as the only organization combating cancer through advocacy, research, and patient support.