Terry Maratos-Flier ANZOS-Breakthrough Discoveries Joint Annual Scientific Meeting 2018

Terry Maratos-Flier

Terry Maratos-Flier is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her work focuses extensively on the regulation of energy homeostasis. Her initial research was on hypothalamic regulation of food intake and energy expenditure and in particular the role of the neuropeptide melanin concentrating hormone (MCH). Her laboratory was the first to demonstrate that MCH has orexigenic properties and that mice lacking MCH are lean and have increased oxygen consumption. In 2004 she became interested in dietary composition on metabolism and published the first comprehensive study of the effects of a ketogenic diet in a rodent model of obesity. These studies also led to the identification of Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 as a critical regulator of hepatic fatty acid oxidation. More recent studies have demonstrated a role of FGF21 in obesity and browning of white adipose tissue. In addition to ongoing studies of MCH and FGF21 she is also principal investigator on clinical studies examining the mechanisms of exenetide induced weight loss in non-diabetic humans. Terry is based at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where she sees patients with obesity and type II diabetes and where she is director of the center for Academic Careers and Faculty Development. Terry received her B.A. from New York University and her M.D. from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. After two years of training at George Washington University hospital, she completed her residency at Beth Israel Hospital, and her endocrinology training at at the Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s hospital, and the Joslin Diabetes Center. She has been elected to the American Association of Physicians.