College of Public Health

CPH alum Dr. Noah Peeri achieves JAMA Oncology publication just months after graduation

December 2, 2022 • News

By Sally Crocker

Noah Peeri, PhD, MPH, a recent graduate of The University of North Texas Health Science Center’s College of Public Health, has achieved a major milestone by publishing an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology just months after completing his graduate degree.

This is his first postdoctoral publication, and JAMA Oncology represents a major achievement so early in his research career.

Peeri graduated from the HSC College of Public Health with a PhD in Epidemiology in May 2022 and was selected for a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship program in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York — one of the world’s leading institutions in patient care, research and education.

His research interests focus on cancer epidemiology as it relates to health disparities among minority, racial and ethnic populations.

At Sloan Kettering, he is currently studying under the mentorship of Dr. Margaret Du, recognized for her research and international collaborations focusing on reducing the risk of cancer in underserved and understudied populations around the world.

Peeri has pursued the study of cancer epidemiology for more than six years. He started along this path while working on his MPH in epidemiology at the University of South Florida, where he completed a cancer epidemiology internship at Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, a National Institutes of Health-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. He moved to North Texas in 2018 to pursue doctoral studies with HSC.

His new JAMA article explores the association between polycystic ovary syndrome and the risk of pancreatic cancer.

College of Public Health associate professor Dr. Uyen-Sa D. T. Nguyen served as Peeri’s research mentor during his studies with HSC.

“Dr. Peeri’s JAMA publication represents a major achievement from one of our recent PhD graduates. He has accomplished something in his first few months as a postdoctoral Fellow that many investigators, like myself, can only dream of,” Dr. Nguyen said. “Indeed, he has set quite a high bar!”