Epidemiology

Dr. Mary Beth Terry, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, has been teaching both introductory and advanced epidemiologic methods at the Mailman School for over 10 years.  Her primary research focus is in breast cancer, specifically focusing on molecular epidemiology and lifecourse methods. Currently, Dr. Terry is investigating how adult health and diseases such as breast cancer may be influenced by prenatal and early life exposures.  For example, she has recently reported that prenatal exposures affect the timing of puberty, adult body size, and epigenetic changes measured in adults - all indicators of future cancer risk. In addition, she has just completed a study demonstrating that epigenetic changes can help predict who gets breast cancer within families at high risk of the disease.

Dr. Terry is also the Principal Investigator of an NCI-funded R01 investigating the role of early life exposures in breast cancer and the Principal Investigator of an NCI-funded U01 breast cancer family registry. She is a past recipient of an NCI-funded K07 career development award, a DoD-funded idea award, and an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Training Award, along with 10 other completed grants.

Finally, Dr. Terry has published over 100 peer-reviewed research articles, served on 11 grant review panels, and currently serves as co-director of the Cancer Epidemiology Program for the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center.