Terry Magnuson

Dr. Magnuson’s research focuses on the role of epigenetic phenomena in mammalian genomes, including parent of origin imprinting, X-chromosome inactivation, and stem cell pluripotency. He has also made salient contributions towards understanding how the dynamics of chromatin remodeling complexes and complex genetic backgrounds impact mutant phenotypes such as cancer. Dr. Magnuson has trained 51 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and he has twice been voted “outstanding graduate mentor.” Dr. Magnuson is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the AAAS. He was named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, a Basil O’Connor awardee from the March of Dimes, and he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Weill Cornell University. Dr. Magnuson is a widely respected scholar and administrator deeply engaged in service to the scientific community at the local, national and international level. Dr. Magnuson was the founding chair of the highly ranked Department of Genetics and founding director of the Carolina Center for Genome Sciences at UNC Chapel Hill. He also created the Cancer Genetics Program in the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He served as Vice Dean for Research in the UNC School of Medicine between 2010-2016, and was appointed Vice Chancellor for Research at UNC Chapel Hill between 2016-2022.

Dr. Magnuson holds a BS in Biology from the University of Redlands and a Ph.D. from the Sloan-Kettering Division of the Cornell Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He also completed postdoctoral training at the University of California San Francisco in Genetics.