Sue Fenton
Bio
Dr. Suzanne (Sue) Fenton earned her MS and PhD from the University of WI-Madison in the Endocrinology/Reproductive Physiology Program. Following her postdoctoral fellowship at the UNC-Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, she led a research laboratory at the US EPA’s Reproductive Toxicology Division for 11 years before she joined the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). She led the Reproductive Endocrinology group at NIEHS, in what was known as the National Toxicology Program (now Division of Translational Toxicology) for 14 years. Dr. Fenton joined NC State as the Director of the Center for Human Health and the Environment in October 2023.
Dr. Fenton’s laboratory has developed, and enhanced methodology used in toxicologic mammary gland assessment, and has characterized windows of sensitivity for early life chemical exposures that lead to persistent developmental changes, altered function, or disease susceptibility in the breast over the life course. Recent work has focused on health effects resulting from placental and breast milk exposures to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in mice. Dr. Fenton is a member of SOT, US DOHaD, Society for Birth Defects Research & Prevention, and has served as an Associate Editor for Environmental Health Perspectives since 2017. She has received the EPA’s Minority Mentoring and the NIH’s Graduate Mentoring Awards, as well as numerous institute-wide awards for her research on PFAS and other endocrine disruptors.
Publications
- Broadening the Environmental Lens to Include Social and Structural Determinants of Women’s Health Disparities , Environmental Health Perspectives (2024)
- A complex systems model of breast cancer etiology: The Paradigm II Model , PLOS ONE (2023)
- Erratum: Current Breast Milk PFAS Levels in the United States and Canada: After All This Time, Why Don’t We Know More? , Environmental Health Perspectives (2023)
- Exposure to select PFAS and PFAS mixtures alters response to platinum-based chemotherapy in endometrial cancer cell lines , Environmental Health (2023)
- Methods to Evaluate Changes in Mitochondrial Structure and Function in Cancer , Cancers (2023)
- Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Breastfeeding as a Vulnerable Function: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological Studies , Toxics (2023)
- A High-Throughput Toxicity Screen of 42 Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and Functional Assessment of Migration and Gene Expression in Human Placental Trophoblast Cells , Frontiers in Toxicology (2022)
- Best practices to quantify the impact of reproductive toxicants on development, function, and diseases of the rodent mammary gland , Reproductive Toxicology (2022)
- Brominated flame retardants , Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology (2022)
- Chemical Effects on Breast Development, Function, and Cancer Risk: Existing Knowledge and New Opportunities , Current Environmental Health Reports (2022)