Julie R. Palmer, ScD, MPH

Karin Grunebaum Cancer Research Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

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.

Publications

  • Published 9/16/2025

    Watling CZ, Petrick JL, Graubard BI, Zhang X, Barnett MJ, Buring JE, Chen Y, Eliassen AH, Gaziano JM, Hofmann JN, Huang WY, Kang JH, Koshiol J, Loftfield E, Lee IM, Moore SC, Mucci LA, Neuhouser ML, Newton CC, Palmer JR, Purdue MP, Rosenberg L, Sesso HD, Shrubsole M, Tinker L, Triplette M, Um CY, Visvanathan K, Watts EL, Wactawski-Wende J, Willett W, Wu F, Zheng W, Campbell PT, Barupal D, Mcglynn KA. Pre-diagnostic circulating bile acid concentrations and liver cancer risk: a nested case-control analysis of 12 cohorts. JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2025 Sep 16. PMID: 40972035.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/2/2025

    Nair NM, Mendicino L, Fiorica PN, Omilian AR, Khoury T, Bshara W, Bandera EV, Hong CC, Abdou Y, Freudenheim JL, Hennis AJM, O'Brien KM, Zirpoli GR, Butler EN, Obafunwa JO, Weinberg CR, Huo D, Li B, Guo X, Palmer JR, Haiman CA, Zheng W, Yao S, Ambrosone CB. The African-Specific Variant in the Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines Gene, CD8+ T-Cell Density, and Aggressive Breast Cancer Subtypes in Black Women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2025 Sep 02; 34(9):1509-1515. PMID: 40627176.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/2/2025

    Peoples AR, Obón-Santacana M, Kim AE, Kawaguchi ES, Fu Y, Qu C, Moratalla-Navarro F, Morrison J, Lin Y, Arndt V, Berndt SI, Bien SA, Bishop DT, Bouras E, Brenner H, Buchanan DD, Campbell PT, Chan AT, Chang-Claude J, Conti DV, Corley DA, Devall MA, Dimou N, Drew DA, Gruber SB, Gunter MJ, Harlid S, Harrison TA, Hoffmeister M, Hsu L, Huyghe JR, Keku TO, Kundaje A, Lewinger JP, Li L, Lynch BM, Marchand LL, Martín V, Murphy N, Newton CC, Ogino S, Hardikar S, Ose J, Pai RK, Palmer JR, Papadimitriou N, Pardamean B, Pellatt AJ, Pinchev M, Platz EA, Potter JD, Rennert G, Ruiz-Narvaez EA, Sakoda LC, Schoen RE, Shcherbina A, Stern MC, Su YR, Thomas CE, Tian Y, Tsilidis KK, Um CY, van Duijnhoven FJB, van Guelpen B, Visvanathan K, Wang J, White E, Wolk A, Woods MO, Wu AH, Ulrich CM, Peters U, Gauderman WJ, Moreno V. Genetic risk factors modulate the association between physical activity and colorectal cancer. Res Sq. 2025 Sep 02. PMID: 40951278.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/26/2025

    Yao S, Wei L, Hu Q, Liu S, Manojlovic Z, Fiorica PN, Long M, Zirpoli GR, Cai Q, Long J, Ping J, Barnard ME, Jin Y, Murakami M, Wang J, Zhu Q, Davis W, Chen J, Ondracek RP, Khoury T, Gandhi S, Takabe K, Ko N, Sanderson M, Hong CC, Bandera EV, Craig DW, Ambrosone CB, Palmer JR, Zheng W, Carpten JD. Mutational landscape of triple-negative breast cancer in African American women. Nat Genet. 2025 Sep; 57(9):2166-2176. PMID: 40858906.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/26/2025

    Rothbard SM, Palmer JR, Chiu LS, Rosenberg L, Petrick JL. Fish Intake and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Relation to Colorectal Cancer Risk in the Black Women's Health Study. J Nutr. 2025 Aug 26. PMID: 40865871.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 501 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Professor, Epidemiology
    Boston University School of Public Health
  • Director, Slone Epidemiology Center
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Co-Director, BU-BMC Cancer Center
    Boston University
  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
    Boston University
  • Member, Genome Science Institute
    Boston University

Websites

Education

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

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