She received her B.S. in Biology from Coastal Carolina University in 1997, and her Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from the University of South Carolina in 2004. Since joining the School of Medicine in 2010 she has been continuously funded by extramural grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Murphy’s research is focused on understanding inflammatory processes in chronic diseases including cancer and obesity. She is particularly interested in the relationship between obesity and cancer including breast cancer and colon cancer.