Naomi Y. Ko, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Medicine
Biography
Breast Cancer
Cancer Disparities
Health Equity
Dr. Ko is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine (BUSM) and a medical oncologist at Boston Medical Center (BMC) who has a lifelong passion for social justice. After college, Dr. Ko participated in Teach For America followed by volunteer service at the Berkeley Free Clinic in the Bay Area. She went on to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and School of Public Health to complete her MD MPH with a focus on health outcomes research for vulnerable populations. After internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital she arrived for fellowship in hematology/oncology at BUSM/BMC, which allowed Dr. Ko to conduct research in the context of caring for an underserved population within a large safety net institution. She has sought out meaningful projects that are a culmination of her passion for oncology, service to the underserved, and academic research. Her research has a translational focus that has been directed to understanding the disconnect between scientific discoveries in cancer treatment and delivery of evidence-based treatment to vulnerable, racial/ethnic minority women with breast cancer. She is actively investigating how tumor biology, poverty, communication and treatment influence breast cancer outcomes in diverse breast cancer populations.
Other Positions
- Member, BU-BMC Cancer Center, Boston University
- Member, Center for Excellence in Women’s Health, Boston University
- Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Boston University
Education
- Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, MD
- Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, MPH
- Harvard University, AM
- Barnard College, BA
Publications
- Published on 3/11/2025
Bar Y, Fell G, Dedeoglu A, Moffett N, Vidula N, Spring L, Wander SA, Bardia A, Ko N, Moy B, Ellisen LW, Isakoff SJ. Dynamic HER2-low status among patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and the impact of repeat biopsies. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2025 Mar 11; 11(1):27. PMID: 40069204.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/6/2025
Qiu Y, Chen A, Yu R, Llevenes P, Seen M, Ko NY, Monti S, Denis GV. Insulin Resistance Increases TNBC Aggressiveness and Brain Metastasis via Adipocyte-derived Exosomes. Mol Cancer Res. 2025 Mar 06. PMID: 40047645.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/16/2025
Oshry LJ, Lederman RI, Gagnon H, Fikre T, Gundersen DA, Revette AC, Odai-Afotey A, Kantor O, Hershman DL, Crew KD, Keating NL, Freedman RA, Ko NY. Racial discrimination among women seeking breast cancer care. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2025 Jan 16; 11(1):4. PMID: 39819887.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/20/2024
Ko N, Oshry L, Lederman R, Gagnon H, Fikre T, Gundersen D, Revette A, Odai-Afotey A, Kantor O, Hershman D, Crew K, Keating N, Freedman R. See Me, Hear Me: Racial Discrimination Among Women Seeking Breast Cancer Care. Res Sq. 2024 Sep 20. PMID: 39372929.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/19/2024
Ennis CS, Seen M, Chen A, Kang H, Ilinski A, Mahdaviani K, Ko N, Monti S, Denis GV. Plasma exosomes from individuals with type 2 diabetes drive breast cancer aggression in patient-derived organoids. bioRxiv. 2024 Sep 19. PMID: 39345362.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 7/3/2024
Beaulieu-Jones BR, Ha EJ, Fefferman A, Wang J, Chung SH, Tseng JF, Merrill A, Sachs TE, Ko NY, Cassidy MR. ASO Visual Abstract: Association of Race, Ethnicity, Language and Insurance and Time to Treatment Initiation Among Women with Breast Cancer at an Urban, Academic, Safety-Net Hospital. Ann Surg Oncol. 2024 Jul 03. PMID: 38961042.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/2/2024
Qiu Y, Chen A, Yu R, Llevenes P, Seen M, Ko NY, Monti S, Denis GV. Insulin Resistance Increases TNBC Aggressiveness and Brain Metastasis via Adipocyte-derived Exosomes. bioRxiv. 2024 May 02. PMID: 38746141.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/21/2024
Mayer EL, Ren Y, Wagle N, Mahtani R, Ma C, DeMichele A, Cristofanilli M, Meisel J, Miller KD, Abdou Y, Riley EC, Qamar R, Sharma P, Reid S, Sinclair N, Faggen M, Block CC, Ko N, Partridge AH, Chen WY, DeMeo M, Attaya V, Okpoebo A, Alberti J, Liu Y, Gauthier E, Burstein HJ, Regan MM, Tolaney SM. PACE: A Randomized Phase II Study of Fulvestrant, Palbociclib, and Avelumab After Progression on Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 4/6 Inhibitor and Aromatase Inhibitor for Hormone Receptor-Positive/Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Negative Metastatic Breast Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2024 Jun 10; 42(17):2050-2060. PMID: 38513188.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/28/2023
Beaulieu-Jones BR, Ha EJ, Fefferman A, Wang J, Chung SH, Tseng JF, Merrill A, Sachs TE, Ko NY, Cassidy MR. Association of Race, Ethnicity, Language, and Insurance with Time to Treatment Initiation Among Women with Breast Cancer at an Urban, Academic, Safety-Net Hospital. Ann Surg Oncol. 2024 Mar; 31(3):1608-1614. PMID: 38017122.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/28/2023
Huang HC, Guadamuz JS, Hoskins KF, Ko NY, Calip GS. Risk of contralateral breast cancer among Asian/Pacific Islander women in the United States. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2024 Feb; 203(3):533-542. PMID: 37897647.
Read at: PubMed
View 70 more publications: View full profile at BUMC