Raymond F. Palmer is an associate professor of family and community medicine at the

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) is a public academic health science center in San Antonio, Texas. It is part of the University of Texas System. UT Health San Antonio is the largest health scie ...

(UTHSCSA), a post he has held since 2003. His area of expertise is

biostatistics Biostatistics (also known as biometry) are the development and application of statistical methods to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, the collection and analysis of data from those experime ...

. In one study, Palmer ''et al.'' correlated

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

data about the release of mercury in 254 Texas counties with special education cases and

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

diagnoses in the state's 1,200 school districts. At a press conference, Palmer stated that "This is not a definitive study, but just one more that furthers the association between environmental mercury and autism." Thomas Lewandowski stated in a viewpoint that "... the conclusions drawn from the analysis are questionable", and Palmer told

WebMD WebMD is an American corporation known primarily as an online publisher of news and information pertaining to human health and well-being. The site includes information pertaining to drugs. It is one of the top healthcare websites. It was foun ...

that this type of study is not necessarily proof of a causative link between mercury and autism. Palmer has studied baby teeth for environmental toxins the children could have been exposed to during the prenatal period; this research was funded by a Suzanne and Bob Wright Trailblazer grant from

Autism Speaks Autism Speaks Inc. is a controversial autism advocacy organization and the largest autism research organization in the United States. It sponsors autism research and conducts awareness and outreach activities aimed at families, governments, an ...

. He has also studied the differences in autism rates between Hispanic children and white children, and has concluded that the former are less likely to be diagnosed with the disorder than the latter. He says that this difference is unlikely to be solely an artifact of socioeconomic factors.

Education

Palmer has a bachelor's degree in psychology from

Long Beach State University California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

(1980), as well as an M.A. in psychology from

California State University, Dominguez Hills California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system. In 2020, ...

(1985) and a PhD in

preventive medicine Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...

from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

(1995).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Raymond F. Autism researchers American biostatisticians Keck School of Medicine of USC alumni Living people University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio faculty Year of birth missing (living people)