Jess was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska where she enjoyed hiking, skiing, and traveling with her family. As an undergraduate student in New Hampshire, Jess had the fortune of meeting Dr. Barbara LeClair, who fostered her interest in veterinary medicine, and Pat and Tom McNamara, who showed her the wonders of dairy cows and farming.
After a four-year stint as a professional cross-county ski racer, Jess decided it was time to head to veterinary school, and in 2007 received her DVM from Cornell University. She spent the next two years as an intern and resident in Cornell’s Ambulatory and Production Medicine Clinic, and then went on to earn her PhD in epidemiology in 2012 with a focus on negative energy balance in early lactation dairy cows. Her first job was as an Assistant Professor in Livestock Medicine and Population Health at Colorado State University, but she soon decided to return to New York with her family.
Jess currently works as an Associate Professor in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences at Cornell University where she performs clinical service for the Ambulatory and Production Medicine Clinic, teaches veterinary students both in the classroom and on farms, and conducts research on the identification, epidemiology, and economics of periparturient diseases in dairy cattle.
When she isn’t on a farm, in the lab, or in a classroom, Jess enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters.