JESSICA HEKMAN

DVM, PHD

Jessica graduated from the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine with a joint DVM/MS degree in 2012. Her Master’s work was on stress in hospitalized dogs. She completed a specialty internship in veterinary shelter medicine at the University of Florida’s Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program in 2013. She studied for her PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, investigating the genomics of two lines of foxes, one bred for tameness and one for aggression. After receiving her PhD in 2017, she went to work for the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, studying the genomics of behavior in pet and working dogs as part of the Darwin’s Ark project and the Working Dog Project. Jessica also teaches online and in person seminars on the biology of behavior. She is passionate about supporting ethical breeding and changing the conversation around what makes a reputable breeder, and founded the FDC in 2020. She lives in Raymond, NH with her husband and three dogs.