Dr. Terry J. Smith, the Frederick G.L. Huetwell Professor in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, studies Graves’ disease, its ocular manifestations, and related autoimmune diseases. Dr. Smith’s laboratory has described many unique molecular attributes of tissues surrounding the eye that make the orbit susceptible to inflammation and remodeling in Graves' disease. His investigation of these mechanisms has yielded several potential therapeutic targets that may interrupt the disease process. Among these, the insulin-like growth factor I receptor was implicated in the pathogenesis of thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy by his group and its inhibition has recently been shown to hold great therapeutic promise in thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy. Dr. Smith received his medical degree from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and completed his postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco, Columbia University, and the University of Chicago. His laboratory has been supported continuously by the NIH and/or the VA for over 35 years.
