Jessica L. Fetterman PhD
Associate Professor, Vascular Biology
75 E. Newton St | (617) 358-7544jefetter@bu.edu
Sections
Vascular Biology
Centers
Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute
Framingham Heart Study
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
Biography
Jessica L. Fetterman, PhD, is a basic and translational scientist studying the intersections of mitochondrial physiology, mitochondrial genetics, and cardiovascular disease. She is a member of the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, a member of the Genome Science Institute, and an ancillary member of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Boston University. She is a Framingham Heart Study Investigator and Fellow of the American Heart Association.
Dr. Fetterman leads a research program focused on studying the role and mechanisms of mitochondrial genetics in cardiovascular pathophysiology using population-level genetics approaches, mechanistic studies in human induced pluripotent stem cells differentiated to cardiovascular cells, and multiomics and systems biology approaches in biobanked human samples. A key barrier in the field is the limited literature studying mitochondrial genetics in human cardiovascular cells and tissues. To facilitate such efforts, her team has developed and published a protocol for biobanking of whole human hearts preserved to maintain the spatial resolution for multiomics, which served as the basis for a funded multi-PI R01 with Deepa M. Gopal, MD, MS, to establish the Framingham Heart Study Cardiovascular Biobank, a program they co-direct called the Lifelong Endowment for Genomic and Cellular DiscoverY (LEGACY).
Her team has ongoing studies manipulating mitochondrial genes implicated in mitochondrial cardiomyopathies and heart failure in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Relatedly, she received a Smith Family Foundation Odyssey Award for an innovative approach to targeting nucleotide sequences into mitochondria, a key barrier to the implementation of CRISPR-Cas systems on the mitochondrial genome. The team is also working on creating novel bioinformatics pipelines to enhance our ability to delineate pathogenic and benign variants and to enable the investigation of mitochondrial-nuclear genetic interactions.
She has directly mentored 40 high school students, undergraduates, PhD candidates, medical students, residents, fellows, and early-career faculty, of whom 17 are from groups underrepresented in science and medicine, who have published >39 papers. She has led two American Heart Association fellowship programs. Dr. Fetterman was recognized for her deep commitment to mentorship with the Boston University Department of Medicine Junior Faculty Mentoring Award.
Education
Pathology, PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Microbiology, BA, Ohio Wesleyan University
Publications
Fisher N, Xue L, Smith KK, Tao B, Cunha JA, Ladenheim S, Moreira-Bouchard JD, Milstone ZJ, Zhebrun A, Zhang X, Jun GR, Stein TD, Ang TFA, Farrer LA, Farb MG, Padera RF, Benjamin EJ, Levy D, Gopal DM, Isaac RS, Lenburg ME, Choi SH, Fetterman JL. Mitochondrial genetic variation across tissues of the human body. Nucleic Acids Res. 2026 May 20; 54(10). PMID: 42179041.
Published on 2/24/2026Jebai R, Ranker LR, Fetterman JL, Chen HY, Hong T, Ross JC. How effective are national tobacco prevention and cessation campaigns in reaching youth? Population assessment of tobacco and health, Wave 7 insights. Addict Behav. 2026 Jul; 178:108651. PMID: 41762946.
Published on 1/21/2026Palaniappan LP, Allen NB, Almarzooq ZI, Anderson CAM, Arora P, Avery CL, Baker-Smith CM, Bansal N, Currie ME, Earlie RS, Fan W, Fetterman JL, Barone Gibbs B, Heard DG, Hiremath S, Hong H, Hyacinth HI, Ibeh C, Jiang T, Johansen MC, Kazi DS, Ko D, Kwan TW, Leppert MH, Li Y, Magnani JW, Martin KA, Martin SS, Michos ED, Mussolino ME, Ogungbe O, Parikh NI, Perez MV, Perman SM, Sarraju A, Shah NS, Springer MV, St-Onge MP, Thacker EL, Tierney S, Urbut SM, Van Spall HGC, Voeks JH, Whelton SP, Wong SS, Zhao J, Khan SS. 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: A Report of US and Global Data From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2026 Mar 03; 153(9):e275-e906. PMID: 41562125.
Published on 12/30/2025Chen HY, Zhuang Y, Jebai R, Beaudoin C, Ranker LR, Fetterman JL, Cornacchione Ross J, Hong T. Systematic review of eye-tracking experiments evaluating tobacco health warning labels. Tob Control. 2025 Dec 30. PMID: 41469201.
Published on 12/2/2025Fetterman JL, Chinnery PF, McClellan R, Wallace DC, Suomalainen A, Ojala T, Lewis SC, Ballinger SW. Mitochondrial Genetics in Cardiovascular Health and Disease: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2026 Feb 03; 153(5):e42-e68. PMID: 41328540.
Published on 10/1/2025Milstone ZJ, Moreira-Bouchard JD, Smith KK, Anilkumar A, Gower AC, Alekseyev Y, Cunha JA, Fisher N, Legler L, Lepson J, Tao BS, Williams C, Benjamin EJ, Levy D, Mitchell RN, Padera RF, Shah H, Choi SH, Gopal DM, Tucker NR, Fetterman JL. Multiomics investigation of the female hypertensive human heart. Physiol Rep. 2025 Oct; 13(19):e70586. PMID: 41036600.
Published on 8/23/2025Cornacchione Ross J, Ranker LR, Fetterman JL, Benjamin EJ, Hong T. Public Support for Warning Label Policies on Social Media Among U.S. Adults in 2024. Am J Prev Med. 2025 Dec; 69(6):108067. PMID: 40854337.
Published on 8/21/2025Nessen EJ, Xanthakis V, Gopal DM, Fetterman JL, Roberts LM, Moreira-Bouchard JD. Depression, anxiety, stress, and resting blood pressure between cisgender queer and heterosexual emerging adults. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2025 Sep 01; 329(3):H724-H729. PMID: 40839380.
Published on 7/22/2025Jebai 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 Jul 22; 27(8):1438-1446. PMID: 39912206.
Published on 5/1/2025Toro C, Eromosele OB, Flynn DB, Wilson AA, Kotton DN, Hughes TM, Moreira-Bouchard JD, Post WS, Bertoni AG, Benjamin EJ, Gopal DM, Fetterman JL. Organ Donation for Research Biobanking Among Historically Marginalized Racial and Ethnic Groups: A Systematic Review. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 May 01; 8(5):e2512133. PMID: 40423972.
Media Mentions
Published on 4/28/2024
New research suggests that exposure to social media can raise the risk of smoking tobacco
Published on 4/24/2024
Daily social media use makes teens more likely to start smoking
Published on 9/23/2020
Survey data indicating teen e-cig use is down may be flawed due to a loophole in flavor ban
Published on 5/9/2020
Vaping Has Same Heart Disease Risk as Smoking
Published on 4/30/2020
E-cigarette Use Causes as Much Vascular Damage as Smoking cigarettes
Published on 4/30/2020
New Study Suggests Vaping Can Damage Our Heart The Same Way Smoking Does
Published on 4/30/2020
Study: E-Cigarettes as Bad for Arteries as Regular Cigarettes
Published on 4/30/2020
Like Tobacco, Long-term E-Cigarettes Harm Vascular Function
Published on 4/30/2020
E-Cigarette, Traditional Cigarette Use Result in Similar Vascular Damage
Published on 4/29/2020
Vaping may damage the heart just as smoking does
View full list of 22 media mentions.