After TSC’s Science of Sports event, we sat down with one of the featured researchers – Johns Hopkins’ Dr. Jessica Gill – to talk more about biomarkers, brain injuries, and how being a soccer player influenced her research.
Dr. Jessica Gill is a leading expert in traumatic brain injury (TBI) research. Her work with fluid biomarkers seeks to shed light on what factors make certain individuals more likely to recover from a concussion or a TBI than another. While earning her masters in psychiatric nursing, Dr. Gill did her clinical training with the Veterans Administration. She noticed that veterans had differing responses to TBIs, some bouncing back while others experiencing lasting effects upon their return home.
Her interest in trauma resiliency led Dr. Gill to pursue her research in PTSD and cumulative trauma at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, earning a PhD. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at NIH’s National Institute of Nursing Research. She studied the interrelation of head injuries and sleep disorders, looking into how biomarkers change during sleep and how that impacts overall health. NIH asked her to shift her portfolio, working with Water Reed at the intersection of brain injuries and mental health to uncover the biological mechanisms that underpin PTSD and depression.
Dr. Gill became the first nurse to receive the Lasker Clinical Research Scholar Award, the NIH’s most prestigious research grant. The award allowed her to become a senior investigator and delve into TBI research, as well as become the first nurse to become tenured. Dr. Gill became acting deputy scientific director of the National Institute of Nursing Research and deputy director of the Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine.
Dr. Gill is no stranger to firsts. Before becoming the first nurse to win the Lasker, Dr. Gill was also the first of her family to attend college, earning a BS in nursing from Linfield College. A soccer player, sports got her through the door. Now, she’s looking at how to make sports safer. One of her three children loves playing full-contact football. Understanding the risks, Dr. Gill is determined to create a safer environment for him and all athletes.
Yet her career has not been without challenges. Dr. Gill learned that not all experiences need to be positive to be educational. When working with colleagues who aren’t supportive, you can’t always do something about it. You just need to get to get through it – and write through it, harvesting those experiences and putting it on paper. A researcher’s CV is their passport to the next job. In search of inspiration, Dr. Gill sometimes needs a break. Opening your mind and talking to people helps to bring out new ideas. You might not have all the answers, but through collaboration, you might find someone who can help.
Leadership in the sciences can feel like trial by fire. It’s important to obey your conscience and be able to defend what’s right and true in your decisions. Dr. Gill believes in “infinite capacity”: the idea that anyone can do anything at any time. Uplifting other people is key to innovation. It’s vital to provide the skills necessary to those who want to participate, and to instill the idea that nobody is more important than anyone else. There’s enough room for everyone to be successful, but no room for infighting. Research is not about ego, but about who you’re serving with your findings.
When it comes to research itself, equity is everything and lived experience is crucial. By involving individuals directly affected by TBIs in the design and execution of studies, Dr. Gill aims to ensure that her research remains relevant and impactful to those who stand most to benefit. And in communicating the importance of research, Dr. Gill finds that distilling the why of research down to one sentence helps convey the meaning most effectively. Listening and learning is central to her ethos. Every aspect should be open to questions to better focus the research’s purpose and allow people to better understand the need for it – and to better understand the findings.
Dr. Gill returned to Johns Hopkins from NIH as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Schools of Nursing and Medicine. She aims to create point-of-care devices that individuals can use to monitor their brain health. She’s working to develop sweat patches as a wearable method of detecting biomarkers that correlate to brain activity. Looking ahead, Dr. Gill acknowledges the complexities of brain research but remains optimistic that new sensitivities can lead to better outcomes. Her work in TBI and biomarkers has not only advanced scientific understanding but also offered practical solutions to improve the lives of athletes, military personnel, and countless others. As she continues her research at Johns Hopkins, her contributions will enhance our understanding of the brain and our overall ability to recover from injury.