
Susan Kay Murphy
Associate Professor in Obstetrics and GynecologyOverview
Dr. Murphy is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and serves as Chief of the Division of Reproductive Sciences. As a molecular biologist with training in human epigenetics, her research interests are largely centered around the role of epigenetic modifications in health and disease.
Dr. Murphy has ongoing projects on gynecologic malignancies, including approaches to eradicate ovarian cancer cells that survive chemotherapy and later give rise to recurrent disease. Dr. Murphy is actively involved in many collaborative projects relating to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD).
Her lab is currently working on preconception environmental exposures in males, particularly on the impact of cannabis on the sperm epigenome and the potential heritability of these effects. They are also studying the epigenetic and health effects of in utero exposures, with primary focus on children from the Newborn Epigenetics STudy (NEST), a pregnancy cohort she co-founded who were recruited from central North Carolina between 2005 and 2011. Dr. Murphy and her colleagues continue to follow NEST children to determine relationships between prenatal exposures and later health outcomes.
Positions
Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology in the School of Medicine
2014 School of Medicine
Chief, Division of Reproductive Sciences in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the School of Medicine
2017 School of Medicine
Associate Professor in the Division of Environmental Natural Science in the Nicholas School of the Environment
2025 Nicholas School of the Environment
Associate Professor in Pathology in the School of Medicine
2012 School of Medicine
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute in the School of Medicine
1998 School of Medicine
Education
B.A., University of North Carolina, Charlotte 1992
1992 University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Ph.D., Wake Forest University 1998
1998 Wake Forest University
Dissertation Advisor, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities 2019 - 2023
2023 University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Dissertation Advisor, North Carolina State University 2022 - 2024
2024 North Carolina State University
Publications, Grants & Awards
- Grants (49)
- Awards (13)
- Academics Articles (307)
- Conference Pages (51)
- Book Sections (8)
National Institutes of Health
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Offices & Contact
Durham, NC
27701
Durham, NC
27701