Jessica N. Wise

Bio

Jessica is a health services researcher. She is currently a pre-doctor fellow at the Texas Medical Center in Houston where she researches bioethics, policy and health economics. Her current research focuses on non-medical (social and economic) determinants of health.

Education

Jessica earned a BS in Human Biology from The University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Public Health from the University of Texas School of Public Health -UTHealth Houston; and a Ph.D.c (expected 2024) in Health Economics from the University of Texas School of Public Health.

Professional Background

Prior to research in academia, Jessica worked in private industry doing environmental compliance and management consulting. As a consultant, she was involved in some exciting projects like the Qualified Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) Tax Credit and Grant that was part of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.  The firm she worked for helped the IRS draft the grant application and then the firm assisted hundreds of biotech companies claim the tax credit and grants.  She has also worked with several biomedical device manufacturers as a consultant.    Because of her time in the industry and at the school of public health, she is fairly adept at switching back and forth between the four healthcare perspectives- payer, provider, patient and population.

Motivation for Teaching

Both Jessica’s research interests and her personal teaching philosophy reflect the dignity and value that she sees in each lived human experience. The humanistic teaching style is reflected in her tendency to support personal growth and self-direction by curating positive learning experiences. The overall guiding light for Jessica’s personal philosophy is in the hope that her teaching will make the world a better place, even if only to the smallest degree, through the new knowledge, skills, behavior and habits of thought imparted through that process. Her teaching style is generally a learner-centered approach. This teaching style aligns with her personal educational philosophy in that it assumes that people are inherently good and have unlimited growth potential. This learner-centered style also emphasizes the students’ personal experiences and enhances the learning process by making it meaningful to the students in their everyday life.

Helping Students Be Successful

Jessica teaches her students about biostatistics and ethics in research with real-life examples and hands-on exercises. She hopes to challenge all her students along their learning journey to develop new habits of thought when it comes to health informatics and research. She is readily available via email and virtual office hours to answer questions, provide guidance and offer insights.