Faculty & Staff

Dr. Jessica Hekman (she/her) is a postdoctoral associate at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where she researches how genetics affect behavior in pet and working dogs. Jessica received her Ph.D. in animal sciences (genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics) in 2017 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she studied canid behavioral genetics. Previously, Jessica graduated from the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in 2012 with a dual DVM/MS degree.

Her Master's work was on the behavior and cortisol responses of healthy dogs to being hospitalized overnight. She also completed a shelter medicine veterinary internship at the University of Florida Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program. Jessica lives in Marlborough, MA with her husband and two dogs: Dashiell, an English shepherd who does agility, parkour, and rally; and Jenny, a shy mixed breed dog who does parkour.

Website: www.dogzombie.com

Pronouns: Jessica goes by she/her.