Terry is a proud native of Chicago’s Greater Englewood and Woodlawn communities, where the majority of Terry’s family still resides as invested residents. Terry completed his undergraduate degree in Sociology with an emphasis in Criminology at Northern Illinois University. Terry also completed his Emergency Management and Continuity Graduate certificate at University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) where Terry also earned his Master of Public Health degree.

In 2019 Terry was selected to serve as a student research fellow with the Chicago Gun Violence Research Collaborative. He was invited to return and serve as a mentor fellow for the 2020 fellow cohort, and in 2021 / 2022 he served as a faculty fellow for the Collaborative. Terry was also recently selected to serve on the Steering Committee of the Collaborative.

Simultaneous to his academic career, Terry has committed his professional career in serving as a Peace Officer for the past 18+ years. Terry currently serves as a Sergeant at the University of Illinois Chicago Police Department where he leads the Police Advancing Community Engagement Unit amongst other roles at his agency.

Within the community, Terry currently serves as a board member of a youth focused non-profit, Imagine Englewood if. Terry also engages with Greater Englewood’s Quality of Life Health and Wellness Taskforce as well as serving as a community-based research consultant to various organizations throughout Chicago. Terry’s work focuses on engaging with the stakeholders within the community through utilizing the Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach to develop and implement different strategies for enhancing social cohesion and social capital.

Terry’s work also focuses on the prevalence of identified health disparities caused by the victimization of structural violence within marginalized neighborhoods. Through collaborative efforts with communities, the premise of Terry’s objectives aims to develop and implement innovative preventative intervention strategies to promote health equity throughout the nation.