Gregory M. Palmer

Gregory M. Palmer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Duke University Medical Center and a member of the Duke Cancer Institute. His research focuses on developing optical imaging techniques to study cancer progression and therapeutic response, with emphasis on diffuse reflectance and fluorescence spectroscopy for tissue characterization during radiation therapy.

Education:

• B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Marquette University, 2000
• Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2005

Dr. Palmer's research program centers on quantitative optical imaging methodologies to characterize tumor functional and molecular responses to radiation and chemotherapy. He pioneered model-based approaches for extracting absorber and scatterer properties from tissue measurements and has advanced intravital microscopy techniques to monitor therapy-induced changes in tumor metabolism, hypoxia, and vascular function. His engineering-driven oncology work bridges fundamental biophysics with clinical translation for improved cancer treatment monitoring.

Analysis of his recent publications reveals dominant themes in radiation oncology and cancer biology, with strong emphasis on tumor hypoxia imaging, metabolic reprogramming during therapy, and novel combination approaches involving spatially fractionated radiation with immunotherapy. His work increasingly incorporates nanotechnology platforms and computational modeling to address metastasis mechanisms in inflammatory breast cancer and optimize therapeutic combinations.

Awards:

• Jack Fowler Award from the Radiation Research Society

Dr. Palmer directs substantial grant funding from NIH (NIBIB, NHLBI), DoD, American Cancer Society, and industry partners including SonoVol and Midatech Pharma. Current projects span metabolic imaging of tissue heterogeneity (2019-2028), preventing inflammatory breast cancer metastases through stress signaling interruption (DoD 2020-2025), plasmonic nanoparticle immunotherapies (NIH 2022-2024), and developing small animal radiation systems (NC Biotech 2022-2023). He teaches Medical Physics courses including Advanced Radiation Biology and Independent Study.

The Palmer Lab (https://radonc.duke.edu/research-education/research-labs/radiation-and-cancer-biology/palmer-lab) operates within Duke's Radiation and Cancer Biology program, utilizing advanced optical imaging platforms to investigate tumor microenvironment responses to therapy. The lab maintains strong collaborations across the Duke Cancer Institute for translating preclinical findings into clinical applications, particularly in breast cancer and radiation response biomarkers.