About Me
Dr. Jessica Allen is an immunologist and microbiologist who researches how organisms are able to maintain their health despite the numerous infections and stresses faced by all living things. They work with the model organism Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) to study what genetic differences may explain why some of us tend to feel and get sicker when infected with bacterial pathogens and why some recover quicker than others.
Prior to joining the faculty at ²Ø¾«¸ó in 2020, Dr. Allen was an assistant professor at Columbia College in Columbia, SC and is so grateful that biology has allowed her to live in and learn about numerous cities across the US. (Originally from Harrisburg, PA, they has resided in Columbia, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, and Boston.) When not teaching or doing research, they enjoy just being in the wonderful city of Chicago, cheering on the Chicago Sky, checking out the latest at the Museum of Contemporary Art, hearing live music or seeing any sort of performances, and working out just enough to counterbalance their hobbies of cooking and eating.
- Postdoctoral Fellow in Microbiology Immune responses to latent herpes simplex virus infection — New York University School of Medicine
- Postdoctoral Fellow in Immunology and Microbiology Assessment of measures of health during infection — Stanford University School of Medicine
- PhD in Immunlogy Immune Reconstitution After Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation — Stanford University School of Medicine
- BA Biology and Science in Society — Wesleyan University (CT)