Mary J.C. Hendrix received her bachelor of science
degree in biology/pre-med from Shepherd
College (now called Shepherd University)
in 1974, her doctorate in anatomy from George
Washington University
in 1977, and an honorary doctorate of science in 1996 from Shepherd College.
Hendrix was an NIH Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School in the department of anatomy and cell biology from 1977 to 1980; assistant, associate and professor (and associate head) at the University of Arizona from 1980-1993 and served as an Arizona Disease Control Research Commissioner from 1985 to 1994. She was the Immuno-U.S. Endowed Professor and director of the Pediatric Research Institute, St. Louis University School of Medicine and Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital from 1994-1996, prior to joining the faculty of The University of Iowa as the Leading Woman Scientist Endowment Recipient and head of the department of anatomy and cell biology in June 1996. She also served as the Kate Daum Research Professor and associate director of basic research and deputy director for The Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at The University of Iowa, for the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine from 1996-2004.
Currently, she serves as president and scientific director for the Children's Memorial Research Center at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. She is the U.S. Editor of Pathology Oncology Research and member of the editorial boards of Developmental Dynamics, Cancer Biology and Therapy, Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, Cancer Research and the American Journal of Pathology. She is a past president of the Association of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Neurobiology Chairpersons and FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) consisting of more than 70,000 members, making it the largest coalition of biomedical research societies in the United States. She recently served on the National Advisory Council for the Human Genome Research Institute, and currently serves on the Board for the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences, the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Advisers, on the board of directors for the Metastasis Research Foundation, and the Council of Councils (assisting the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives, Office of the Director) for the National Institutes of Health.
She has over 200 publications in biomedical research, and is the recipient of a MERIT Award from the National Cancer Institute. Hendrix has been awarded the 2004 Australian Society for Medical Research Lecturer and Medal Recipient for research and advocacy, the 2006 Henry Gray Award by the American Association of Anatomists that recognizes achievement and unique and meritorious contributions to the field of anatomical science, and the 2006 Distinguished Woman Faculty Award from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.
Her scientific objectives include identifying genes that contribute to cancer metastasis and other related diseases which exhibit similar biological activities. Her major goal is to define important structure/function relationships, which provide the biological basis for new therapeutic strategies. Recent studies have generated molecular classification(s) of specific tumors and have provided new prognostic markers and novel targets for therapeutic intervention.
Current research activities focus on elucidating how regulatory molecules and phenotype control genes govern cell-to-cell and cell-to-matrix interactions, epithelial/mesenchymal transitions and motility. Specific projects include signal transduction events initiated by cell adhesion molecules and growth factors; factors regulating interconversion of the tumor cell phenotype; regulation of matrix metalloproteinases by tumor and stromal cell interactions; tumor angiogenesis and vasculogenesis; role of the microenvironment in inducing and maintaining an aberrant cellular phenotype; and the identification of stem cell subpopulations within tumors sharing characteristics in common with embryonic stem cells.