Jessica Ballou
UT Southwestern MD Class of 2014
B.A.  Public Policy Studies; Minor Biology, Duke University, 2007
M.P.H. University of Texas School of Public Health, 2009

Past research experience
Jessica’s past research experiences consisted primarily of Public Health studies, where she enjoyed research involving the interplay of social and scientific factors. As a Master of Public Health student in Brownsville, TX, she worked with local and state agencies to collect respiratory samples and geographic information during the H1N1 Swine Influenza outbreak. She also worked extensively with obstetrician-gynecologists in the Lower Rio Grande Valley to study cervical cancer in Mexican-American women along the Texas- Mexico border.

Current research areas of interest
Jessica has a variety of research interests and hopes to one day find a way to weave them all together. Presently, she is most interested in surgery’s role in global health, particularly related to infection pathologies, emergency critical care, women’s health and maternal mortality.

Current professional trajectory
Jessica’s professional goals include focusing primarily on her role as a clinician, and then using her observations and experiences with patients to engage in interdisciplinary, translational research. Ideally, the research would be used to shape public and health policy. 

Personal words of wisdom
After “wanting to cry” from frustration during a research project, a former mentor once told Jessica: “Crying is useless--learn to spit!” (Note: actually spitting not encouraged).

Meetings and Abstracts
Wilson, J. Gaines, J. Ballou, C. Yan, S. P. Fisher-Hoch, B. Reininger, J. Gay, J. Salinas, P. Sanchez, Y. Salinas, L. Lopez, F. Calvillo, I. P. deLima, and J. B. McCormick. Pigs flying through time and space: spatiotemporal analysis of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic from the US-Mexico Border. Presented at  Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographer, Washington D.C. Presented by J.G.Wilson.

Publications
1.         Gaines Wilson J, Ballou J, Yan C, Fisher-Hoch SP, Reininger B, Gay J, Salinas J, Sanchez P, Salinas Y, Calvillo F, Lopez L, Delima IP, McCormick JB.Utilizingspatiotemporalanalysisofinfluenza-likeillnessandrapidteststofocusswine-origininfluenzavirusintervention. Health Place. 2010 Nov;16(6):1230-9. Epub 2010 Aug 14.
 
2.         McCormick JB, Yan C, Ballou J, Salinas Y, Reininger B, Gay J, Calvillo F, Wilson JG, Lopez L, Fisher-Hoch SP.ResponsetoH1N1 inaU.S.-Mexicobordercommunity. Biosecur Bioterror. 2010 Sep;8(3):233-42.