Scott Michael Palmer Jr.

Dr. Palmer is a physician investigator, clinician, and academic leader. He is a Donald F. Fortin, MD Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Duke University, Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine, Director of Medicine Plus Therapeutic Area at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, and Director of Clinical Research in the Duke Transplant Center. He is an expert in the care of patients with advanced lung diseases, such as interstitial lung diseases (ILDs), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung transplantation.

Dr. Palmer’s successful research career includes over 20 years of continuous NIH funding and over 300 publications. He has held key leadership roles in national and international pulmonary and transplant societies, has chaired many sessions at national and international meetings, served on the editorial board for prominent journals, and serves regularly on grant review study sections. He has received numerous honors including election into Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), and the Association of American Physicians (AAP). 

During his career, he has led numerous multicenter clinical trials, data coordinating centers, registries and large real-world data studies across different lung diseases.  His research in lung diseases has defined the best clinical practices, discovered novel biomarkers, and identified genetic risk factors.  His work in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) advanced the clinical development of LPA1 antagonism as a treatment. His work in bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) identified immune mechanisms that alter airway cell biology and underly disease development. He continues to lead multicenter studies that generate high quality evidence to guide patient care and to utilize cutting edge translational approaches such as single cell and spatial transcriptomics of human lung tissue to discover lung disease mechanisms.

Dr. Palmer is a dedicated mentor to trainees and junior faculty, having personally mentored over 40 pre- and post-doctoral trainees, many of whom are now engaged in their own successful research careers. He also co-leads multiple institutional training programs, including R38 and T32 grants, reflecting his deep commitment to training the next generation of academic investigators.