Jesse has spent the last ten years’ working in basic science and in vitro diagnostics with a focus on infectious disease. Jesse is currently a Medical Director for TriCore Research Institute’s Research and Clinical Trials Department and Point of Care Division where he spends his time administering clinical trials for submission to the FDA for approval. To date, Jesse has been involved in over 50 clinical trials resulting in multiple FDA approvals. Jesse earned a PhD from the University of New Mexico (UNM) School of Medicine. While pursuing his PhD, he was broadly focused on Human Papillomavirus Entry and pursued drug development for products that prevented HPV infection and HPV related pathology. Jesse also participated in the NIH SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance Collaborative between UNM, TriCore, and the New Mexico State Scientific Laboratory Division performing sequencing on SARS-CoV-2 variants and was directly involved in the identification of the Omicron variant in New Mexico. Throughout his scientific endeavors Jes has spent time navigating complex relationships with multiple institutes for the production of new diagnostic tools fed by a passion to forward medicine for patients and animals alike.

Favorite Quote: “If you don’t do the best with what you have, you could never have done better with what you could have had.” -Ernest Rutherford

You'd be surprised to learn that ... Jesse's first foray into science was through USGS working as a bat ecologist. He was responsible for monitoring and protecting local bat populations from White Nose Syndrome.