Mary Beth Terry

Biography

Mary Beth Terry, PhD, focuses her research on breast cancer and in the molecular epidemiology and lifecourse methods of the disease, in particular. She is a cancer epidemiologist with over 16 years of leading studies of breast cancer etiology specifically focused on the role of genetics, epigenetics, and other biomarkers play in modifying the effects of environmental exposures. Dr. Terry currently leads NIH grants funded through the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences that focus on following cancer risk within family-based cohorts focused on studying environmental exposures during key windows of breast susceptibility. She is also leading prospective studies to validate and extend breast cancer risk assessment models. She is also funded through the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Dr. Terry has authored or co-authored over 250 scientific publications. Her more recent work supports that environmental exposures and biomarkers are associated with modifying risk even within high risk families. Understanding whether biomarkers can help explain risk in higher risk women is important as only a minority of women with a family history of cancer carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation. Her work also focuses on measuring risk factors for mammographic density, a strong intermediate marker of breast cancer. In addition to her doctorate in epidemiology, Dr. Terry has a Master's degree in economics and previously worked as an econometrician and program evaluator for a number of government-sponsored programs. Dr. Terry teaches introductory and advanced epidemiologic methods. Mary Beth Terry, PhD, focuses her research on breast cancer and in the molecular epidemiology and lifecourse methods of the disease, in particular. She is a cancer epidemiologist with over 16 years of leading studies of breast cancer etiology specifically focused on the role of genetics, epigenetics, and other biomarkers play in modifying the effects of environmental exposures. Dr. Terry currently leads NIH grants funded through the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences that focus on following cancer risk within family-based cohorts focused on studying environmental exposures during key windows of breast susceptibility. She is also leading prospective studies to validate and extend breast cancer risk assessment models. She is also funded through the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Dr. Terry has authored or co-authored over 250 scientific publications. Her more recent work supports that environmental exposures and biomarkers are associated with modifying risk even within high risk families. Understanding whether biomarkers can help explain risk in higher risk women is important as only a minority of women with a family history of cancer carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation. Her work also focuses on measuring risk factors for mammographic density, a strong intermediate marker of breast cancer. In addition to her doctorate in epidemiology, Dr. Terry has a Master's degree in economics and previously worked as an econometrician and program evaluator for a number of government-sponsored programs. Dr. Terry teaches introductory and advanced epidemiologic methods.

Research Interest

Longitudinal Studies, Research Design and Methods, Cancer, Cancer Breast, Cancer Screening, Genetic Susceptibility, Genetics