
Jessica James, M.S.
Ph.D. Student
Background: I am a third year Ph.D. student in the Exercise and Rehabilitation Science program at Marquette University. I was raised in Central Washington in the small town of Sunnyside where I grew up on a dairy farm and graduated Valedictorian of my class. I started my educational path at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA. While at EWU, I earned my B.S. in Exercise Science, earning a 4.0 GPA with Summa Cum Laude honors while simultaneously competing at the NCAA Division I level in track and field as a 400-meter hurdler and heptathlete. My education continued at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. While at BYU, I earned my M.S. in Exercise Science. Under the mentorship of Dr. Jayson Gifford, I investigated the impact of physical activity and inactivity, age, and cardiovascular function during exercise. My master’s thesis observed the power-duration relationship in relation to sex differences and the menstrual cycle. During my time at Marquette, I have published three first author publications which investigated contributing factors that have led to the underrepresentation of women as research participants in the field of exercise physiology research and the presence of sex differences in athletic performance prior to puberty. Additionally, I have aided in multiple research studies investigating the mechanisms of increased muscle fatigability in clinical populations and various interventions to combat this fatigability. I was recently awarded a predoctoral fellowship from the Clinical and Translational Science Institute in the spring of 2024 (START TL1).
Outside the Lab: When not conducting research in the lab, I enjoy spending time outdoors, playing piano, doing hot yoga, crossing things off my bucket list and spending time with my husband and family.