• B.S., Biology and Community Health (cum laude), Tufts University, Medford, MA, 2003
• M.P.H., Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 2005
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CDC/CSTE) Applied Epidemiology Fellowship, Washington State Department of Health, Tumwater, WA, 2005-2007
• M.Phil., Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 2009
• Ph.D., Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 2011
• Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology and Cancer Epidemiology, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD, 2009-2011
• Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology and Cancer Epidemiology, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD, 2011-2016

Dr. Barry conducted her undergraduate studies at Tufts University and her graduate work at Yale. Prior to beginning her doctoral program at Yale, she spent two years as a CDC/CSTE Applied Epidemiology Fellow at the Washington State Department of Health. In this role, she evaluated patterns of cancer incidence/mortality and screening in Washington State and conducted cluster investigations of non-infectious conditions, including various cancers.

Dr. Barry joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) in 2016 after spending more than 7 years at the National Cancer Institute, NCI (Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics) as a pre-doctoral then post-doctoral fellow. For her doctoral dissertation as part of the Yale/NCI Partnership T32 Doctoral Training Program in Cancer Epidemiology, Dr. Barry investigated the risk of cancer associated with pesticide exposures and the modifying role of inherited genetic variation in DNA repair genes (i.e. gene-environment interactions) in the U.S. Agricultural Health Study (AHS). During her post-doctoral fellowship at the NCI, she continued to study occupational and environmental risk factors for cancer and the role of genetic susceptibility in the AHS and other studies. Dr. Barry also led molecular epidemiology studies focused on identifying DNA methylation markers of prostate cancer risk in peripheral blood.

At the UMSOM, Dr. Barry uses classical and molecular epidemiology studies to investigate occupational, environmental, and lifestyle risk factors for cancer, underlying biological pathways, and biomarkers of cancer risk and prognosis. She has continued to investigate cancer risk associated with occupation, as well as chemical exposures such as pesticides, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”), and drinking water nitrate. She has also expanded her work beyond blood-based biomarkers to tumor biomarkers. Much of her research focuses on identifying risk factors and biomarkers related to aggressive prostate cancer, which is more likely to be fatal and disproportionately affects African American men. This included her work as PI of an NCI K07 award on epigenomic and transcriptomic markers related to aggressive prostate cancer among African American men. She is currently PI of a funded American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant (R01-equivalent) on residential neighborhood disadvantage, prostate tumor RNA expression of stress-related genes, and aggressive prostate cancer. Additionally, she serves as co-I on several other projects, including an R01 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research on head and neck cancer disparities and projects related to the health effects of occupational exposures in military and healthcare settings. The long-term goal of her research is to inform population-based interventions and precision medicine approaches (e.g., tailoring screening for prostate cancer to high-risk groups) that will reduce the burden of aggressive disease, improve outcomes, and reduce disparities.

cancer epidemiology, molecular epidemiology, cancer disparities, biomarkers of cancer risk and prognosis, gene-environment interactions, epigenomics, DNA methylation, transcriptomics, prostate cancer, head and neck cancer, colorectal cancer, colorectal adenoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), occupational and environmental risk factors for cancer, neighborhood disadvantage, pesticides, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), lifestyle factors, quality of life

Barry KH, Moore LE, Sampson J, Koutros S, Yan L, Meyer A, Reddy M, Oler A, Cook MB, Fraumeni J, Jr., Yeager M, Amundadottir L, Berndt SI. Prospective study of DNA methylation at chromosome 8q24 in peripheral blood and prostate cancer risk. Br J Cancer 2017; 116(11):1470-1479. PMCID: 5520085.

Barry KH, Martinsen JI, Alavanja MCR, Andreotti G, Blair A, Hansen J, Kjærheim K, Koutros S, Lynge E, Sparèn P, Tryggvadottir L, Weiderpass E, Berndt SI, Pukkala E. Risk of early-onset prostate cancer associated with occupation in the Nordic countries. Eur J Cancer 2017; 87:92-100. PMCID: 6312186.

He S, Berndt SI, Kunzmann AT, Kitahara CM, Huang WY, Barry KH. Weight change and incident distal colorectal adenoma risk in the PLCO Cancer Screening Trial. JNCI Cancer Spectrum 2022;6(1):pkab098, doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkab098. PMCID: 8804223.*

Boyle J, Yau J, Slade JL, Butts DA, Zhang Y, Legesse TB, Cellini A, Clark K, Park JY, Wimbush J, Ambulos N, Jr, Yin J, Hussain A, Onukwugha E, Knott CL, Wheeler DC (shared senior authorship), Barry KH. Neighborhood disadvantage and prostate tumor RNA expression of stress-related genes among African American and European American men. JAMA Network Open 2024;7(7):e2421903. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.21903. PMCID: 11245728.

Boyle J, Yau J, Slade JL, Butts DA, Wimbush J, Park JY, Hussain A, Onukwugha E, Knott CL, Wheeler DC (shared senior authorship), Barry KH. Neighborhood disadvantage and prostate tumor aggressiveness among African American and European American men. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Prev 2024;33(10):1318-1326. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-240450. PMCID: 11614192.

*student-led paper

For a complete list of Dr. Barry’s peer-reviewed publications, please click here.

Note - some publications are listed under Hughes (former name).

Awards:

• 2012 NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence
• 2013 NCI Director’s Innovation Award (competitive intramural research funding award)
• 2014 American Association for Cancer Research Scholar-in-Training Award
• 2020 NIH Loan Repayment Program Award in Health Disparities, NCI
• 2022 Epidemiology & Human Genetics Program Faculty Mentoring Award, University of Maryland School of Medicine
• 2024 Epidemiology, Human Genetics & Gerontology Faculty Teaching Award, University of Maryland School of Medicine
• 2026 Selected as member of Dean’s Leadership Council, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Affiliations:

• Associate Member, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, 2005-present
• Member, Society for Epidemiologic Research, 2007-present
• Member, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), 2009-present
• Member, AACR Population Sciences Working Group (formerly Molecular Epidemiology Group), 2011-present

University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center