Terry J. Smith, MD, the Frederick G.L. Huetwell Professor in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, is an internationally known experimental and clinical endocrinologist. He has studied Graves’ disease, its ocular manifestations, and related autoimmune diseases for over 35 years. His laboratory group was the first to describe the unique molecular attributes of tissue surrounding the eye that make the orbit susceptible to immune activation and inflammation in Graves’ disease. He and his colleagues have mapped the mechanisms involved in tissue remodeling occurring in thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO), a disfiguring and potentially blinding disease for which no currently available medications have been approved by the US FDA. They have identified the insulin-like growth factor-I receptor as a therapeutic target for TAO. Their work has culminated in two successful clinical trials of teprotumumab, an inhibitory monoclonal antibody. The drug has exhibited unprecedented effectiveness in the active disease.
Dr. Smith is the author of over 275 articles and book chapters and has been awarded 5 patents for his research discoveries. He has lectured widely on autoimmune thyroid disease and the ocular manifestations of Graves’ disease.
