Diane Palmieri, Ph.D., Director, Center for Research Strategy (CRS)

As Director of the Center for Research Strategy (CRS) at NCI since 2022, Diane Palmieri leads planning, analysis, and reporting efforts and directs analysis and evaluation projects to support NCI leadership and the work of the institute. 

Dr. Palmieri is a translational cancer research scientist with 15 years of experience in cancer biology and 10 years of scientific programmatic administration experience. She earned her Ph.D. in molecular and cellular pathology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a focus on serpins in cancer. She came to the NCI as a Cancer Research Training Award fellow in the Women’s Cancers Section, Laboratory of Pathology, Center for Cancer Research (CCR).  Dr. Palmieri was a CCR staff scientist for 7 years, during which time she directed a research team identifying mechanisms of breast cancer metastasis and conducted independent research on breast cancer metastasis to the central nervous system (CNS). She was a recognized expert in cancer metastasis research and served as book editor of Central Nervous System Metastasis, the Biological Basis and Clinical Considerations, a book that provided a comprehensive resource for CNS metastasis. Upon leaving laboratory research, Dr. Palmieri spent 3 years in the Office of the Scientific Director at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and then she rejoined NCI in CRS and served as the Deputy Director for 4 years, before being appointed CRS Director. 

Dr. Palmieri has more than 50 scientific publications and has given numerous invited research presentations throughout her career.  She also has 15 years of teaching and curriculum development experience for the National Breast Cancer Coalition Project LEAD science-training program for cancer advocates. As the CRS Director, she provides leadership in disseminating information about the NCI and cancer research to Congress, scientific organizations, advocacy groups and the public. She is particularly skilled in explaining complex scientific information to lay audiences and in building working relationships with groups across NCI with diverse interests and responsibilities to serve the mission of NCI.