Drawing upon over 40 years of professional experience, Dr. Jean R. Starkey is recognized for excellence in the field of cancer pathobiology. Beginning in 1984, she has excelled as an associate research professor of microbiology at Montana State University, where she has focused her research on cancer and how cancer cells interact with connective tissue. Earlier in her career, Dr. Starkey was a professor at Washington State University for 12 years.
To prepare for her career, Dr. Starkey pursued a formal education at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, receiving a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1968. After immigrating to the United States in 1969, she went on to complete certificates in orthopedic surgery and orthopedic pathology at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University, respectively. In 1974, she completed a Doctor of Philosophy in pathology at the University of Pennsylvania. While pursuing her doctoral degree, she also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in equine orthopedics and an NIH postdoctoral fellowship. Dr. Starkey notes that, although she initially trained in veterinary medicine, she subsequently underwent training in orthopedic pathology and conducted connective tissue research. These areas ultimately led to her esteemed work in cancer research.
Notably, Dr. Starkey has been published in several peer-reviewed journals and has lent her expertise on a civic basis to such organizations as the Komen Foundation, the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Cancer Society, and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. In light of her outstanding feats in medicine and education, she was honored with the Lawson, Wally and Williams Prize and the Commonwealth Bureau of Animal Health Prize, both from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1969. Furthermore, she received the Letters and Sciences Award for Excellence as a Mentor and was named Faculty Colleague of the Year in 2006.
Among her many career highlights, Dr. Starkey is especially proud of the success of her doctoral students, who have gone on to carry some of her ideas and research into their own professional careers.
