Jessica has expertise in community-based participatory research, mixed methods, and program evaluation. She has over a decade of experience designing and implementing studies focused on the health of families, women, and children, including understanding social factors that contribute to differences in preterm birth outcomes across populations and implementing HIV interventions in faith-based organizations.

She conducts community-based participatory research where she has invaluable insight into what it takes to manage and execute an extremely difficult research project around sensitive subject matter with an equally nuanced and complex community of participants. She strategically navigates each phase of the research process to anticipate and address issues that may often arise (e.g., participant recruitment and adjusting data analyses). This work requires the construction and maintenance of relationships built on trust with community members.

Jessica also has expertise with using quantitative and qualitative research methods to evaluate local and national-level programs. Skills include creating data analysis plans, conducting thematic analysis, conducting descriptive statistics, and synthesizing research findings. At NORC, she serves as the project director for multiple projects focused on reducing drowning rates among children, including the Y-USA Water Safety Awareness Evaluation, an evaluation of the Y-USA’s Community-Based Organization Engagement Grant, an evaluation of the Y-USA’s Safety Around Water (SAW) Program delivered to children with autism spectrum disorder, and the Engaging American Indian and Alaska Native Teens and Young Adults in Swim Instructor Training project (funded by the CDC).

Between 2022-2025, Jessica served as the secondary data lead for the evaluation of the CDC’s Adult Immunization Program to improve adult vaccination uptake. Previously, she served as a senior scientist for the CDC's Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Services (CSTLTS) evaluation of a large national initiative. Additionally, Jessica led and contributed to an environmental scan to enhance home visiting program performance measures for the Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (HEAL-PM).