Executive Board Member
Stacey Missmer
MSc, ScD
Past President 2023-2025
Grand Rapids, USA
Professor and Associate Chair for Research of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Lecturer in Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Adjunct Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology at Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA Scientific Director, Boston Center for Endometriosis, USA
Stacey Missmer received her Bachelors degree in Biology from Lehigh University and her Master and Doctor of Science degrees in Epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health.
She joined the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) Research Group at Harvard University in 1998 initially as a member of Dr Susan Hankinson’s hormonal markers of breast cancer discovery team and subsequently as the senior endometriosis investigator. In 2007, Dr Missmer joined the International Endometriosis Genomics Consortium as the US Principal Investigator – combining resources for GWAS discovery of endometriosis with Australia PI, Dr Grant Montgomery and UK PI, Dr Krina Zondervan.
In 2012, Dr Missmer co-founded the Boston Center for Endometriosis with Dr Marc Laufer, and serves as the Scientific Director where she designed and leads the Women’s Health Study: from Adolescence to Adulthood (A2A) – a multi-hospital and population-based cohort with longitudinal data and biologic sample collection. In 2014, as a member of the World Endometriosis Research Foundation (WERF) Board of Directors, she conceived of and became Co-Principal Investigator with Dr Zondervan of the Endometriosis Phenome and Biobanking Harmonization Project (WERF EPHect).
In 2016, Dr Missmer was the first faculty member to be endowed through Michigan State University’s Global Impact Initiative. In 2024 she joined University of Michigan as a Professor with Tenure and Associate Chair for Research in Obstetrics & Gynecology. At UMich she is founding a department-wide biorepository designed to enhance discoveries across obstetrics and gynecology. In collaboration with Drs. Sawsan (Suzie) As-Sanie and Andrew Schrepf, they are launching INSPIRE – Innovative Solutions for Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis Initiatives, Research, and Education.
She is past Chair of the Endometriosis Special Interest Group and also of the Nutrition Special Interest Group for the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). Formerly an Associate Editor, she is a member of the Statistical Advisory Board for Human Reproduction and is the inaugural Field Chief Editor for Frontiers in Reproductive Health.
Much of Dr Missmer’s research has focused on identifying factors that affect the risk of endometriosis – particularly among young women and girls. Her research team identified novel endometriosis associations with in utero exposures and was the first to discover early life body size, trauma, and dietary risk factors for endometriosis. In addition, her team discovered that girls and women with endometriosis are at greater risk for cardio- and cerebrovascular disease, early natural menopause, and long COVID. She conducted the first longitudinal cohort studies of risk for multiple autoimmune and immune dysregulated conditions. Through the WisE study that combines data and biologic samples among several EPHect harmonized sites, they are defining and validating endometriosis heterogeneity by applying exposome, multiomics, and machine learning methods that have successfully revolutionized our understanding of risk, treatment, and prognosis among clinically informative cancer subtypes.
Email: missmer@med.umich.edu