Jessica L. Fetterman, PhD
Assistant Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Medicine
Vascular Biology

PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham
BA, Ohio Wesleyan University

Pronouns: she/her/hers



Jessica L. Fetterman, PhD, FAHA is a basic and translational scientist studying the intersections of mitochondrial physiology, mitochondrial genetic epidemiology, and cardiovascular disease. Her work focuses on the contribution of mitochondrial genetic variation and abnormalities to cardiovascular disease in the presence of risk factors, including tobacco product use and diabetes.

Using bioinformatics methods, Dr. Fetterman discovered that several select mitochondrial genetic variants are associated with non-invasive measures of vascular function within the Framingham Heart Study (FHS). Additionally, she has applied similar methodology to select mitochondrial single variant data within Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) to determine the associations of select mitochondrial genetic variants with cardiometabolic measures in collaboration with members of the mitochondrial genetics working group. Recently, Dr. Fetterman was awarded the competitive Trans-Omics Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Analytical Support Award for early career investigators to perform comprehensive bioinformatic annotation of the mitochondrial genetic variants within the TOPMed cohorts.

Dr. Fetterman also conducts research on the impact of new and emerging tobacco products on the vasculature, particularly studies designed to inform tobacco product regulation. Some of her recent work demonstrated that tobacco product flavoring additives induce vascular endothelial dysfunction, an early indicator of cardiovascular injury. She serves as an Associate Director of Education and Training within American Heart Association Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center. Additionally, she is the Director for the Boston University Tobacco Regulatory Science Affinity Research Collaborative, which is designed to bring together multi-disciplinary teams of scientists within Boston University to increase our understanding of tobacco product use patterns and the impact of new and emerging tobacco products on human health and disease.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

Within our lab, we strive to create a respectful and inclusive environment where all voices are encouraged, regardless of rank, seniority, position, or background. We each bring different experiences and perspectives that allow us to grow and develop new areas of research together. Creativity thrives in an open, positive environment where everyone’s viewpoint and input is valued and all member contributions are welcome and appreciated. We expect members of our lab to contribute to the growth and advancement of the entire group by providing timely, behaviorally-based, constructive feedback to team members and by sharing resources, protocols, and credit. Members of our team are expected to lift each other up as they rise, not tear each other down.

We approach our science with a diversity, equity, inclusive, and accessibility focus. We include both sexes and individuals across different ancestries and races in our research studies.

I am deeply committed to the mentorship and advancement of individuals from under-represented groups in science and medicine. I have mentored 25 undergraduates, PhD candidates, medical students, residents, and fellows, of whom, 22 are from groups under-represented in science. As an emerging leader, I believe it is the responsibility of each of us to mentor and advocate for change to create a more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible field.

Investigator
Framingham Heart Study


Member
Boston University
Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute


Member
Boston University
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research




Development Of Novel Approaches For Editing Mitochondrial Genetic Variants In Patient-Derived Stem Cells
11/01/2024 - 10/31/2026 (Subcontract PI)
Health Resources in Action, Inc. Richard/Susan Smith


Mitochondrial Genetic Variation Across Human Tissues
09/01/2023 - 05/31/2025 (PI)
NIH/National Institute on Aging
5R03AG081053-02

Relations of Mitochondrial Genetic Variation and Function with Atrial Fibrillation
04/01/2019 - 03/31/2024 (PI)
NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
5K01HL143142-05

Strategies to Understand Pathobiology, Predictors & Pharmacotherapy to Reduce Adverse CV Outcomes in T2DM (SUPER-CVDM)
01/01/2020 - 12/31/2023 (Subcontract PI)
The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. American Heart Assoc


E-cigarette-Induced Endothelial Dysfunction in Human Participants
01/01/2017 - 12/31/2018 (PI)
American Heart Association


AHA Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center: Vascular Core Laboratory
07/01/2016 - 08/31/2018 (PI of Sub-Project / SP)
American Heart Association NIH NHLBI
5P50HL120163-05

TOPMed Informatics Resource Center - Data and Working Group Support
04/01/2017 - 04/30/2018 (Subcontract PI)
University of Michigan NIH NHLBI
5R01HL117626-05

American Heart Association Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center (A-TRACT) - Project 2: Cardiovascular Injury due to Tobacco Use
09/19/2013 - 06/30/2017 (PI of Sub-Project / SP)
American Heart Association NIH NHLBI
5P50HL120163-03



Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. Jebai R, Hong T, Ranker LR, Wu J, Rohila A, Fetterman JL, Cornacchione Ross J. Social Media Engagement and Quit Intentions among Youth with Exclusive E-cigarette Use: The Moderating Role of Social Norms. Nicotine Tob Res. 2025 Feb 06.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39912206; DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntaf031;
      Article has an altmetric score of 1
  2. Cooper LL, Majid S, Wang N, Fetterman JL, Palmisano JN, Benjamin EJ, Vasan RS, Mitchell GF, Hamburg NM. Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of smoking behaviour with central arterial haemodynamic measures: the Framingham Heart Study. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2025 Feb 05.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39907713
     
  3. Moreira-Bouchard JD, Roberts LM, Silva V, Nessen EJ, Smith KK, Streed CG, Fetterman JL. Enhancing student understanding of cardiovascular disease burden in marginalized communities in the physiology classroom. Adv Physiol Educ. 2025 Mar 01; 49(1):230-239.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39809469; DOI: 10.1152/advan.00182.2024;
      Article has an altmetric score of 1
  4. Pinheiro A, Petty CA, Stephens CE, Cabrera K, Palanques-Tost E, Gower AC, Marano M, Leviss EM, Boberg MJ, Mahendran J, Bock PM, Fetterman JL, Naya FJ. The Dlk1-Dio3 noncoding RNA cluster coordinately regulates mitochondrial respiration and chromatin structure to establish proper cell state for muscle differentiation. Development. 2024 Dec 15; 151(24).View Related Profiles. PMID: 39612212
      Article has an altmetric score of 2
  5. Dennison Himmelfarb CR, Benowitz NL, Blank MD, Bhatnagar A, Chase PJ, Davis EM, Fetterman JL, Keller-Hamilton B, Ogungbe O, Page RL, Rezk-Hanna M, Robertson RM, Whitsel LP. Impact of Smokeless Oral Nicotine Products on Cardiovascular Disease: Implications for Policy, Prevention, and Treatment: A Policy Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2025 Jan 07; 151(1):e1-e21. PMID: 39624904; DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000001293;
      Article has an altmetric score of 137
  6. Wu J, Ranker LR, Origgi JM, Ma J, Hao D, Benjamin EJ, Cornacchione Ross J, Xuan Z, Wijaya D, Fetterman JL, Hong T. Protecting historically marginalized groups or targeted marketing? A computational analysis of individuals engaging with public and protected cigar-branded tweets. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2025 Jan 01; 266:112516.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39689499; PMCID: PMC11844820; DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.112516;
     
  7. Ranker LR, Tofu DA, Lu M, Wu J, Bhatnagar A, Robertson RM, Wijaya D, Hong T, Fetterman JL, Xuan Z. Concurrent Mentions of Vaping and Alcohol on Twitter: Latent Dirichlet Analysis. J Med Internet Res. 2024 Nov 12; 26:e51870.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39531640; PMCID: PMC11599884; DOI: 10.2196/51870;
      Article has an altmetric score of 3
  8. Moreira-Bouchard JD, Cunha J, Tao BS, Kim H, Lepson J, Nessen EJ, Milstone ZJ, Fisher N, Clinton N, Roberts LM, Serrano MA, Gopal DM, Benjamin EJ, So-Armah K, Fetterman JL. Creating diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility statements for your CV: a resource guide to effectiveness and comprehensiveness. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2024 Dec 01; 327(6):H1376-H1383.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39485298
      Article has an altmetric score of 4
  9. Eckhardt CM, Balte P, Morris JE, Bhatt SP, Couper D, Fetterman J, Freedman N, Jacobs DR, Hou L, Kalhan R, Liu Y, Loehr L, Lutsey PL, Schwartz JE, White W, Yende S, London SJ, Sanchez TR, Oelsner EC. Non-cigarette tobacco products, aryl-hydrocarbon receptor repressor gene methylation and smoking-related health outcomes. Thorax. 2024 Oct 16; 79(11):1060-1068. PMID: 39033027; PMCID: PMC11483209; DOI: 10.1136/thorax-2023-220731;
      Article has an altmetric score of 3
  10. Wu J, Fetterman JL, Cornacchione Ross J, Hong T. Effects of Message Frames and Sources in TikTok Videos for Youth Vaping Cessation: Emotions and Perceived Message Effectiveness as Mediating Mechanisms. J Adolesc Health. 2025 Jan; 76(1):122-130.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39365229; PMCID: PMC11655248; DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.08.013;
      Article has an altmetric score of 1
Showing 10 of 73 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 73 publications over 14 distinct years, with a maximum of 12 publications in 2024

YearPublications
20111
20121
20134
20142
20165
20172
20188
20193
20205
20217
202210
202310
202412
20253


New research suggests that exposure to social media can raise the risk of smoking tobacco

The Jerusalem Post 4/28/2024

Daily social media use makes teens more likely to start smoking

Earth.com 4/24/2024

Survey data indicating teen e-cig use is down may be flawed due to a loophole in flavor ban

Legal Reader 9/23/2020

Vaping Has Same Heart Disease Risk as Smoking

The Star Online 5/9/2020

E-cigarette Use Causes as Much Vascular Damage as Smoking cigarettes

Cardiovascular Business 4/30/2020

New Study Suggests Vaping Can Damage Our Heart The Same Way Smoking Does

Medical Daily 4/30/2020

Study: E-Cigarettes as Bad for Arteries as Regular Cigarettes

Newsmax 4/30/2020

Like Tobacco, Long-term E-Cigarettes Harm Vascular Function

TctMD 4/30/2020

E-Cigarette, Traditional Cigarette Use Result in Similar Vascular Damage

MD Magazine 4/30/2020

Vaping may damage the heart just as smoking does

Science News 4/29/2020

Vaping is just as bad as smoking cigarettes for increasing the risk of heart disease ‘because it stiffens blood vessels in the same way’

Daily Mail 4/29/2020

New Study Finds E-cigarette May Cause Similar Damage to the Arteries as Tobacco Cigarettes

Yahoo News 4/29/2020

Vaping is just as bad as smoking cigarettes for increasing the risk of heart disease 'because it stiffens blood vessels in the same way’

The Daily Mail 4/29/2020

E-cigarettes fail to improve vascular profile vs. combustible cigarettes

Healio 4/29/2020

E-Cigarettes as Bad for Arteries as Regular Smokes, Study Finds

Health Day 4/29/2020

Study: E-cigarettes damage vascular function much like traditional cigarettes

News Medical: 4/29/2020

E-cig flavorings may damage lining of blood vessels

Community Health 2/15/2019

‘Fine, I’ll just vape without the nicotine.’ Not so fast! E-cig flavorings may cause damage all by themselves

Dentistry IQ 1/24/2019

E-Cigarettes Aren't Any Safer Than Regular Cigarettes, Especially With Kids Around

Moms 11/29/2018

E-cigarette flavorings may damage blood vessels and heart

WHBL 7/11/2018

E-cigarette flavorings may damage blood vessel function

Healio 6/22/2018

E-Cigarette Flavorings May Harm Blood Vessels

MedPage Today 6/14/2018

2023 American Heart Association: Fellow of the American Heart Association
2020 Boston University School of Medicine: Outstanding Research Collaborator
2019 Boston University : Junior Faculty Mentoring Award
2010 University of Alabama at Birmingham: Center for Free Radical Biology Travel Award
2010 University of Alabama at Birmingham: Ireland Research Travel Award
2009 University of Alabama at Birmingham: Center for Free Radical Biology Travel Award
2009 University of Alabama in Birmingham: 2nd Place at the Vascular Biology and Hypertension Symposium
In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

Mitochondria
Mitochondrial DNA
Tobacco Smoking
E-cigarettes
Tobacco Regulatory Science
Vascular Endothelium

Dr. Fetterman is willing to mentor fellows, graduate students, and undergraduates interested in either mitochondrial genetics and physiology.

Available to Mentor as: (Review Mentor Role Definitions):
  • Advisor
  • Career Mentor
  • Co-Mentor or Peer Mentor
  • Diversity Mentor
  • Project Mentor
  • Research / Scholarly Mentor
  • Work / Life Integration Mentor
Contact for Mentoring:
  • Email (see 'Contact Info')

75 E. Newton St Evans Building
Boston MA 02118
Google Map

617.358.7544
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