Gregory M. Palmer

Professor of Radiation Oncology

Greg Palmer obtained his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Marquette University in 2000, after which he obtained his Ph.D. in BME from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Biology Division at Duke University Medical Center. His primary research focus has been identifying and exploiting the changes in absorption, scattering, and fluorescence properties of tissue associated with cancer progression and therapeutic response. To this end he has implemented a model-based approach for extracting absorber and scatterer properties from diffuse reflectance and fluorescence measurements. More recently he has developed quantitative imaging methodologies for intravital microscopy to characterize tumor functional and molecular response to radiation and chemotherapy. His awards have included the Jack Fowler Award from the Radiation Research Society.

Laboratory Website:
https://radonc.duke.edu/research-education/research-labs/radiation-and-…

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Professor of Radiation Oncology
  • Member of the Duke Cancer Institute

Contact Information

Education

  • Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2005

Courses Taught

  • MEDPHY 791K: Independent Study in Medical Physics
  • MEDPHY 791: Independent Study in Medical Physics
  • MEDPHY 763: Advanced Radiation Biology in Medical Physics
  • MEDPHY 507: Radiation Biology

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Juhas, Mark, George C. Engelmayr, Andrew N. Fontanella, Gregory M. Palmer, and Nenad Bursac. “Biomimetic engineered muscle with capacity for vascular integration and functional maturation in vivo.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111, no. 15 (April 15, 2014): 5508–13. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1402723111.
  • Palmer, Gregory M., Andrew N. Fontanella, Siqing Shan, Gabi Hanna, Guoqing Zhang, Cassandra L. Fraser, and Mark W. Dewhirst. “In vivo optical molecular imaging and analysis in mice using dorsal window chamber models applied to hypoxia, vasculature and fluorescent reporters.” Nat Protoc 6, no. 9 (August 18, 2011): 1355–66. https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2011.349.
  • Chitneni, Satish K., Gregory M. Palmer, Michael R. Zalutsky, and Mark W. Dewhirst. “Molecular imaging of hypoxia.” J Nucl Med 52, no. 2 (February 2011): 165–68. https://doi.org/10.2967/jnumed.110.075663.
  • Palmer, Gregory M., Richard J. Boruta, Benjamin L. Viglianti, Lan Lan, Ivan Spasojevic, and Mark W. Dewhirst. “Non-invasive monitoring of intra-tumor drug concentration and therapeutic response using optical spectroscopy.” J Control Release 142, no. 3 (March 19, 2010): 457–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2009.10.034.
  • Palmer, Gregory M., Andrew N. Fontanella, Guoqing Zhang, Gabi Hanna, Cassandra L. Fraser, and Mark W. Dewhirst. “Optical imaging of tumor hypoxia dynamics.” J Biomed Opt 15, no. 6 (2010): 066021. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3523363.
  • Zhang, Guoqing, Gregory M. Palmer, Mark W. Dewhirst, and Cassandra L. Fraser. “A dual-emissive-materials design concept enables tumour hypoxia imaging.” Nat Mater 8, no. 9 (September 2009): 747–51. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2509.
  • Palmer, Gregory M., Ronald J. Viola, Thies Schroeder, Pavel S. Yarmolenko, Mark W. Dewhirst, and Nirmala Ramanujam. “Quantitative diffuse reflectance and fluorescence spectroscopy: tool to monitor tumor physiology in vivo.” J Biomed Opt 14, no. 2 (2009): 024010. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3103586.
  • Palmer, Gregory M., and Nirmala Ramanujam. “Monte-Carlo-based model for the extraction of intrinsic fluorescence from turbid media.” J Biomed Opt 13, no. 2 (2008): 024017. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.2907161.
  • Palmer, Gregory M., and Nirmala Ramanujam. “Use of genetic algorithms to optimize fiber optic probe design for the extraction of tissue optical properties.” IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 54, no. 8 (August 2007): 1533–35. https://doi.org/10.1109/TBME.2006.889779.
  • Palmer, Gregory M., Changfang Zhu, Tara M. Breslin, Fushen Xu, Kennedy W. Gilchrist, and Nirmala Ramanujam. “Monte Carlo-based inverse model for calculating tissue optical properties. Part II: Application to breast cancer diagnosis.” Appl Opt 45, no. 5 (February 10, 2006): 1072–78. https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.45.001072.
  • Palmer, Gregory M., and Nirmala Ramanujam. “Monte Carlo-based inverse model for calculating tissue optical properties. Part I: Theory and validation on synthetic phantoms.” Appl Opt 45, no. 5 (February 10, 2006): 1062–71. https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.45.001062.
  • Palmer, Gregory M., Changfang Zhu, Tara M. Breslin, Fushen Xu, Kennedy W. Gilchrist, and Nirmala Ramanujam. “Comparison of multiexcitation fluorescence and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for the diagnosis of breast cancer (March 2003).” IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 50, no. 11 (November 2003): 1233–42. https://doi.org/10.1109/TBME.2003.818488.