Jessica Snowden, MD, did not set out to be a scientist. The new vice chancellor for Research at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center initially planned to be a pediatrician and a teacher.
That is, until an infectious disease fellowship expanded her view of medicine and health care.
“I was in Arkansas for my fellowship and the person whose lab I worked in and who was in charge of my training program said, ‘Come try research. You never know what you’re going to like until you try it,’” she recalled. “It turned out I really did like having a different way to solve the problems I was seeing in my clinical work. I could go around in the hospital and give you antibiotics for whatever is wrong with you, but I also then could go back and answer questions about, well, gee, why has this happened to you over and over again and is there something different we can do about this that might make you have a better long-term outcome.”
A nationally recognized pediatric infectious disease specialist and researcher, Dr. Snowden officially joined UT Health Science Center September 1. Along with leading the university’s research enterprise, she will also serve as a professor in the College of Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics.
Previously the vice dean for Research and chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), Dr. Snowden has forged a career that has combined her interest in scientific inquiry, clinical practice, pediatrics, and teaching. She is known as a dedicated mentor and a leader in integrating clinical, research, and academic work to advance the understanding of health and disease.
Dr. Snowden brings substantial experience and leadership in multisite and multistate interdisciplinary research, including a groundbreaking opioid study, as well as a major long-COVID study into the effects of the virus on children and families, particularly in underserved areas. These studies, including pediatric clinical trials, have involved institutions across the country and impacted thousands of children. Dr. Snowden also has a longstanding relationship with other pediatric infectious disease specialists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
“Now my job is really going to be to support everybody else’s research, as opposed to being focused on my own,” she said. “This will be a big change, but I’m excited about it. Up until this point, I supported a lot of other research projects, but in a very hands-on way. Now, I’ll be helping at a more systemwide level.”
Her new role as vice chancellor allows her to use the research, clinical, and teaching skills developed over her career to further the university’s research profile.
“What made me take the path toward this more administrative work is my realization that the things that made me happiest at work each day were generally when I helped somebody else solve a problem that got their research to move forward,” she explained. “I love making my own graphs and seeing things turn out the way I want them to. That’s great. But anytime I looked back at any given day, the thing that made me happiest was being able to help somebody else get their research done. So, that was part of making the choice to kind of step away from clinical work and to step away from my own research and move into things where I can help everybody else’s research.”
“I’m really looking forward to figuring out what everybody wants to do and how we can help them get there.”
Dr. Jessica Snowden
She grew up outside a small town in Southwest Louisiana, north of Lake Charles, called Merryville “like Merry Christmas,” Dr. Snowden said. She is the oldest of three children, “and a fairly stereotypical oldest child” by her own admission.
The family lived about an hour bus ride outside of the town. “We were one of the first people on and last people off at the end of the day,” she said. Her father worked with large equipment, like dozers used to clear property and plant trees, and the family also had cows. Her mother stayed at home when the children were young, and later worked as an administrative assistant at her high school.
When she was about 10, the family moved to Houston, where public schools were better. “It really made a huge difference for me to be able to see opportunity that I hadn’t before,” Dr. Snowden said. “I am grateful for the investment they made in us by doing that. It helped me see how important it is that we have good educational systems and support places and opportunity.”
Her maternal grandmother was of Native American heritage and became involved in a Cherokee tribe in Louisiana later in her life, eventually becoming the chief of that tribe.
“I spent time during my residency working with the health system in the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma,” Dr. Snowden said. “I had the opportunity of spending time in clinics, in hospitals, going out with their community nurses to give flu shots, going to therapy programs for children with mental health issues and substance abuse issues, and really getting to see what was a very different community than what I was used to.”
Dr. Snowden has said her early rural upbringing combined with her Native American heritage has helped inform her perspective of her role in research and in research communication and advocacy.
Dr. Snowden’s appointment at UT Health Science Center was announced in early June, after an extensive national search that was led by Deborah Crawford, PhD, vice chancellor for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Sam Dagogo-Jack, MD, senior associate dean for Research in the College of Medicine at UT Health Science Center.
Dr. Snowden is no stranger to Memphis thanks to of her connection to St. Jude, but is eager to learn more about the area. “I come to Memphis every year for a meeting in St. Jude, but I’ve never actually seen anything outside in the city,” she said.
Her husband, Darrell, a computer programmer, is from Helena, Arkansas, and went to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital as a child. The couple and their 13-year-old son, Oliver, live in Collierville.
In her off time, Dr. Snowden said she likes to cook with her family, or more specifically, “at the end of a hard day, I like to chop some vegetables.” The family also enjoys hiking and will be seeking out nearby nature preserves and trails.
Chancellor Peter Buckley, MD, said Dr. Snowden’s collaborative style and team science expertise stand to enhance the university’s growing research collaborations with partners across the University of Tennessee System institutions.
Last week, UT Health Science Center researchers were well represented in the Grand Challenge Grant Awards from the UT System, which are aimed at tackling the state’s most-pressing problems. UT Health Science Center teams, along with partners, were included in nine grants, involving work on education, rural health, and addiction research. Additionally, UT Health Science Center teams were part of five of nine proposals selected to compete for larger grant awards.
“Collaborative work like this supports our vision: Healthy Tennesseans. Thriving Communities,” Chancellor Buckley said.
The chancellor expressed deep appreciation to Wesley Byerly, PharmD, who served as interim vice chancellor for Research. “We are indebted to Wes for his stellar service and his great leadership, which we are delighted will continue in partnership with Jessica,” he said.
Dr. Snowden said she looks forward to becoming part of the campus community.
“I’m really excited to meet everyone and learn about what they do and what makes them excited,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to that piece, to figuring out what everybody wants to do and how we can help them get there.”