Kristy Brown, Ph.D.

Kristy A. Brown, PhD, received her doctorate in reproduction from the Université de Montréal in 2006. She completed postdoctoral training at Prince Henry’s Institute in Australia, first as an FQRNT Postdoctoral Fellow and subsequently as a Terry Fox Foundation Fellow of the National Cancer Institute of Canada. Supported by multiple NHMRC awards, she rose to become Co‑Head of the Metabolism and Cancer Laboratory at Prince Henry’s Institute.

In 2014, Dr. Brown was appointed Research Group Head at the Hudson Institute for Medical Research, where she was recognized with the Mavis Robertson Award from the National Breast Cancer Foundation. She joined the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine in 2017 and was promoted to Associate Professor of Biochemistry in Medicine in 2020. In 2022, she received the Emilie Lippmann and Janice Jacobs McCarthy Research Scholar Award in Breast Cancer.

Dr. Brown was recruited to the University of Kansas Medical Center in 2023 as Associate Professor of Metabolism and Cancer and Co‑Program Leader for the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the University of Kansas Cancer Center (KUCC). In 2026, she became Co-Leader of the Obesity, Metabolic Health, and Cancer Program within KUCC. She is also a member of the KU Diabetes Institute and serves as Co‑Director of Research Program Development for the Kansas Center for Metabolism and Obesity Research (KC‑MORE) COBRE.

Dr. Brown has authored 89 peer‑reviewed publications and two books, holds two patents, and has delivered more than 90 invited lectures worldwide, alongside extensive public outreach efforts. She is ranked among the top 0.007% of published authors for ‘aromatase’, 0.11% for ‘obesity’, and 0.13% for ‘breast cancer’ (Expertscape).

Obesity is a leading modifiable risk factor for at least 13 types of cancers, including hormone receptor‑positive breast cancer after menopause. Several local and systemic changes are hypothesized to support this relationship, including increased circulating insulin and glucose, as well as adipose‑derived estrogens, adipokines, and inflammatory mediators. Metabolic pathways governing energy production and use are dysregulated in tumor cells, and this dysregulation is now recognized as a hallmark of cancer. Dr. Brown's team has led groundbreaking work defining the role of metabolic pathways in the breast microenvironment and in regulating aromatase, the estrogen‑producing enzyme, in driving breast cancer risk in obesity. From these discoveries, they identified the AMPK‑activating anti‑diabetic drug metformin as a tissue‑selective inhibitor of estrogen production.

Through these studies, an appetite‑regulating hormone emerged as a potential breast cancer therapeutic. Ghrelin and its unacylated form, des‑acyl ghrelin, are produced predominantly by the gut, with circulating levels inversely associated with obesity. The team found that both ghrelin and des‑acyl ghrelin potently inhibit aromatase and estrogen production in breast adipose tissue, providing an additional mechanism for obesity‑associated increases in aromatase and supporting the therapeutic potential of des‑acyl ghrelin analogues. Their work has also examined effects of des‑acyl ghrelin effects on tumor growth. Effects appear to be tumor‑type specific and dependent on interaction with the extracellular matrix.

Building on this work, the impact of obesity and breast adipose‑derived factors on tumorigenesis was explored. The lab focused on whether poor metabolic health may contribute to breast cancer penetrance in BRCA mutation carriers. These women face elevated breast and ovarian cancer risk, yet little is known as to whether modifiable risk factors contribute to tumor formation. In NIH‑funded studies, body mass index (BMI) and markers of metabolic dysfunction were found to be positively correlated with more DNA damage in the non-cancerous breast epithelium of BRCA mutation carriers. Data in high fat diet-fed Brca1-/+ mice support a role for obesity in driving DNA damage in the normal mammary gland. Mechanistic studies have demonstrated that the estrogen receptor degrader fulvestrant or anti-diabetic drug metformin can reduce DNA damage in human tissue, suggesting potential opportunities for intervention. Using a carcinogen-induced Brca1 -/+ model developed in the Brown lab, high fat feeding was found to lead to increased tumor penetrance.

Breast adipose tissue-derived extracellular vesicles from obese women alter tumor cell metabolism.

Extracellular Vesicle and Particle Biomarkers Define Multiple Human Cancers

Extracellular Vesicle and Particle Biomarkers Define Multiple Human Cancers.

Ghrelin and des-acyl ghrelin inhibit aromatase expression and activity in human adipose stromal cells: suppression of cAMP as a possible mechanism.

Hyperglycemia in acute COVID-19 is characterized by insulin resistance and adipose tissue infectivity by SARS-CoV-2

Inhibition of EZH2 Catalytic Activity Selectively Targets a Metastatic Subpopulation in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Leptin regulation of the p53-HIF1α/PKM2-aromatase axis in breast adipose stromal cells: a novel mechanism for the obesity-breast cancer link.

Metabolic pathways in obesity-related breast cancer

Metabolic pathways in obesity-related breast cancer.

Obesity promotes breast epithelium DNA damage in women carrying a germline mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2

Obesity promotes breast epithelium DNA damage in women carrying a germline mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2.

PPARγ antagonists induce aromatase transcription in adipose tissue cultures.

Prostaglandin E2 inhibits p53 in human breast adipose stromal cells: a novel mechanism for the regulation of aromatase in obesity and breast cancer.

Three-dimensional growth of breast cancer cells potentiates the anti-tumor effects of unacylated ghrelin and AZP-531

Three-dimensional growth of breast cancer cells potentiates the anti-tumor effects of unacylated ghrelin and AZP-531.

Update on Adipose Tissue and Cancer

Update on Adipose Tissue and Cancer.

Characterizing the autologous fat graft microenvironment resulting from differential intraoperative processing techniques: A comparative analysis and its clinical implications

Digital Lifestyle Intervention to Improve Normal Weight Obesity in Primary Breast Cancer

Effects of Tirzepatide on Blood, Imaging and Breast Tissue Biomarkers in Women with Obesity and Other Risk Factors for Breast Cancer: A Feasibility Study

Identifying metabolic vulnerabilities of breast epithelium in BRCA1 mutation carriers with obesity and impact of exercise and anti-obesity medications for cancer prevention: a focus on mitochondrial function and DNA damage

In-vivo Characterization of White Adipose Tissue with Quantitative Ultrasound

Kansas Center for Metabolism and Obesity Research (KC-MORE) Center of Biomedical Research Excellence Women’s Health Supplement