Jessica Petrick PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Hematology & Medical Oncology
Center Faculty Member, Slone Epidemiology Center
72 E. Concord Street | (617) 206-6179jpetrick@bu.edu
Sections
Hematology & Medical Oncology
Centers
BU-BMC Cancer Center
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
Biography
Dr. Jessica Petrick’s research program focuses on the epidemiology of gastrointestinal cancers, including colorectal, liver, and esophageal. Dr. Petrick became a co-Investigator with the Black Women’s Health Study (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 Dr. 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 through mortality.
Education
Epidemiology, PhD, University of North Carolina
Epidemiology/Health Policy, MPH, Case Western Reserve University
Public Health/Medical Anthropology, BS, Case Western Reserve University
Publications
Watling CZ, Campbell PT, Graubard BI, Wang Y, Gewirtz AT, 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, Purdue MP, Sesso HD, Shrubsole M, Sinha R, Tinker L, Triplette M, Um CY, Visvanathan K, Watts EL, Wactawski-Wende J, Willett W, Wu F, Zheng W, Barupal D, Petrick JL, McGlynn KA. Pre-diagnostic immunological markers of bacterial translocation and liver cancer risk: A nested case-control analysis of 12 prospective cohorts. Int J Cancer. 2025 Oct 23. PMID: 41129365.
Published on 9/16/2025Watling 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.
Published on 9/16/2025Lima SM, Minlikeeva AN, Johnson CE, Guertin KA, Bandera EV, Zheng W, Bethea TN, Petrick JL, Joslin CE, Myers ER, Harris HR, Peres LC, Setiawan VW, Wu AH, Rosenberg L, Schildkraut JM, Ochs-Balcom HM. Regular physical inactivity and ovarian cancer risk in the Ovarian Cancer in Women of African Ancestry (OCWAA) Consortium. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2025 Sep 16. PMID: 40956289.
Published on 8/26/2025Rothbard 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.
Published on 6/16/2025Mendez JS, Queme B, Fu Y, Morrison J, Lewinger JP, Kawaguchi E, Mi H, Obón-Santacana M, Moratalla-Navarro F, Martín V, Moreno V, Lin Y, Bien SA, Qu C, Su YR, White E, Harrison TA, Huyghe JR, Tangen CM, Newcomb PA, Phipps AI, Thomas CE, Conti DV, Wang J, Platz EA, Keku TO, Newton CC, Um CY, Kundaje A, Shcherbina A, Murphy N, Gunter MJ, Dimou N, Papadimitriou N, Bézieau S, van Duijnhoven FJ, Männistö S, Rennert G, Wolk A, Hoffmeister M, Brenner H, Chang-Claude J, Tian Y, Le Marchand L, Cotterchio M, Tsilidis KK, Bishop DT, Melaku YA, Lynch BM, Buchanan DD, Ulrich CM, Ose J, Peoples AR, Pellatt AJ, Li L, Devall MA, Campbell PT, Albanes D, Weinstein SJ, Berndt SI, Gruber SB, Ruiz-Narvaez E, Song M, Joshi AD, Drew DA, Petrick JL, Chan AT, Giannakis M, Hsu L, Peters U, Gauderman WJ, Stern MC. Red meat intake interacts with a TGF-ß-pathway-based polygenic risk score to impact colorectal cancer risk: Application of a novel approach for polygenic risk score construction. medRxiv. 2025 Jun 16. PMID: 40568668.
Published on 5/21/2025Watling CZ, Petrick JL, Graubard BI, Zhang X, Barnett MJ, Buring JE, Chen Y, Eliassen AH, Gaziano M, Kang JH, Koshiol J, Huang WY, Lee IM, Moore SC, Mucci LA, Neuhouser ML, Newton CC, Palmer JR, Rosenberg L, Sesso HD, Shrubsole M, Tinker L, Triplette M, Um CY, Visvanathan K, Wactawski-Wende J, Willett W, Wu F, Zheng W, Hofmann J, Purdue MP, Campbell PT, Barupal D, McGlynn KA. Circulating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and liver cancer risk: a nested case-control analysis of individual participant data from 12 prospective cohorts. Environ Health Perspect. 2025 May 21. PMID: 40397817.
Published on 5/2/2025Omofuma OO, Rusiecki JA, Petrick JL, Falk RT, Wheeler W, Pfeiffer RM, Camargo MC, Cook MB. Circulating Inflammation Biomarkers and the Risk of Esophageal Adenocarcinoma: A Nested Case-Control Study in the Department of Defense Serum Repository. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2025 May 02; 34(5):649-657. PMID: 40079721.
Published on 4/28/2025Liu X, Zhang X, Zhao L, Petrick JL, Liao LM, Wang W, He N, Giovannucci E, Zhang ZF, McGlynn KA, Zhang X. The associations between dairy intake and chronic liver disease mortality and liver cancer incidence: a prospective cohort study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2025 Jul; 122(1):263-273. PMID: 40306387.
Published on 3/12/2025Watling CZ, Wojt A, Florio AA, Butera G, Albanes D, Weinstein SJ, Huang WY, Parisi D, Zhang X, Graubard BI, Petrick JL, McGlynn KA. Reply: Fiber and whole grain intakes in relation to liver cancer risk-An analysis in 2 prospective cohorts and systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. Hepatology. 2025 Aug 01; 82(2):E28-E29. PMID: 40073273.
Published on 2/14/2025Watling CZ, Hua X, Petrick JL, Zhang X, Do WL, Wang L, Maestri E, Yu K, Wang XW, McGlynn KA. Pan-serological antibodies and liver cancer risk: a nested case-control analysis. Sci Rep. 2025 Feb 14; 15(1):5450. PMID: 39953193.
Media Mentions
Published on 9/21/2020
Four BU Junior Faculty Named Career Development Professors
View full list of 1 media mentions.