Gill Named NINR Deputy Scientific Director

Dr. Jessica M. Gill

Dr. Jessica M. Gill has been appointed deputy scientific director of the Division of Intramural Research at the National Institute of Nursing Research. She will participate with the scientific director in planning and directing NINR’s intramural research activities.

Gill is a Lasker clinical research scholar, senior investigator at NIH and chief of the brain injury unit at NINR. In these roles, she is responsible for both the laboratory and clinical programs of research that address biologic and behavioral mechanisms and clinical outcomes in individuals, including military personnel, athletes and other groups who present with traumatic brain injuries.

Gill has been able to extend the reach of her science through development of several key collaborations including leading the biomarker core for the National Collegiate Athletic Association CARE Consortium, co-directing the Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine and leading the biomarkers core for the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium.

Significant scientific accomplishments include her most recent work published in Brain Behavior and Immunity (2018) where she was the first to report that blast exposure results in a unique profile of protein changes, including changes in tau, phosphorylated tau and amyloid-beta. This research suggests that tau and amyloid-beta activity following blast initiate neurodegenerative processes that may underlie chronic symptoms.

For details, visit Gill’s profile at www.ninr.nih.gov/researchandfunding/dir/JGill.