Jessica Heath, M.D.

Jessica Heath, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Pediatrics, has been appointed to serve as the Associate Director for Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Vermont Cancer Center (UVMCC). 

As Associate Director, Dr. Heath will help facilitate the production of clinical research across the UVMCC. To this end, Dr. Heath will connect fundamental and population scientists to clinical scientists for the development of investigator initiated translational studies. She will mentor clinicians and scientists in the development of new studies, promote collaborative research, and work with both program and component leaders and the UVMCC’s clinical trials office.

In this new role, Dr. Heath will join the UVMCC’s senior leadership team. Prior to this role Dr. Heath was the chair of the Protocol Review and Management Committee (PRMC).  Hibba Rehman, MD will assume the role of PRMC chair with Alissa Thomas, MD serving as vice chair and in the interim Dr. Heath will remain on the PRMC as immediate past chair. 

Dr. Heath received her medical degree from the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, completed a Pediatric residency and chief residency at Albany Medical Center, then completed a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, and an Intensive Research Training fellowship, both at Duke University Medical Center. She has been recognized with numerous awards including the American Society of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Young Investigator Award, the Larner College of Medicine Dean’s Excellence in Research: Rising Star New Investigator Award, the Jerold and Ingela Lucey Early Career Investigator Prize for Innovations in Infant or Child Health, and the UVM Health Network Group Junior Investigator of the Year.

Dr. Heath's laboratory research program focuses on high-risk pediatric leukemia. She examines how certain genetic mutations in some of these leukemias can cause chemotherapy resistance and aims to discover and test new ways to treat these leukemias. Dr. Heath is also a clinical pediatric hematologist-oncologist. She provides expert clinical care to infants, children, adolescents, and young adults with all types of cancer and blood disorders. In this role, she is involved in the conduct of clinical trials for many types of childhood cancer through the Children’s Oncology Group.

Learn more about Dr. Heath on her member bio page.