Jessica Dennis
(she/her)
PhD, MSc
Investigator, BC Children's Hospital
Medrxiv
Termorshuizen, J.D. and Davies, H.L. and Lee, S.-H. and Dennis, J.K. and H{\"u}bel, C. and Johnson, J.S. and Lu, Y. and Munn-Chernoff, M.A. and Peters, T. and Mph, B.Q. and Schaumberg, K.E. and Signer, R.H. and Singh, K. and ter Kuile, A.R. and Thornton, L.M. and Xu, J. and Yao, S. and Yilmaz, Z. and Zhang, R. and Zvrskovec, J. and Abdulkadir, M. and Ayorech, Z. and Corfield, E.C. and Havdahl, A. and Krebs, K. and Mack, T.M. and Niarchou, M. and Palviainen, T. and Sealock, J.M. and Baker, J.H. and Bergen, A.W. and Birgeg?rd, A. and Perica, V.B. and B{\"u}hren, K. and Burghardt, R. and Cassina, M. and Collantoni, E. and Crowley, J.J. and Danner, U.N. and Degenhardt, F. and DeSocio, J.E. and Dina, C. and Dmitrzak-W?glarz, M. and Duncan, L.E. and Egberts, K.M. and Foretova, L. and Giegling, I. and Gonidakis, F. and Gordon, S.D. and Grove, J. and Guillaume, S. and Guintivano, J.D. and Hartman, A.M. and Hatzikotoulas, K. and Herms, S. and Imgart, H. and Jim{\'e}nez-Murcia, S. and Juli{\`a}, A. and Kalsi, G. and Kaminsk{\'a}, D. and Karhunen, L.J. and Kiezebrink, K.M. and Kolb, T. and Larsen, J.T. and Li, D. and Lilenfeld, L. and Maj, M. and Mattingsdal, M. and Meneguzzo, P. and Miller, A.L. and Mitchell, K.S. and Monteleone, A.M. and Olsen, C.M. and Padyukov, L. and Pantel, J. and Parker, R. and Pinto, D. and Raevuori, A. and Ripatti, S. and Roberts, M.E. and Santonastaso, P. and Savva, A. and Schmidt, U.H. and Schosser, A. and Seitz, J. and Slachtova, L.L.S. and Slopien, A. and Sorbi, S. and Straub, P.S. and Szatkiewicz, J.P. and Tam, F.I. and Tenconi, E. and Tortorella, A. and Tsitsika, A. and van Elburg, A.A. and Wagner, G. and Watson, H.J. and Adan, R.A.H. and Alfredsson, L. and Andreassen, O.A. and Ask, H. and Brandt, H.A. and Crawford, S. and Crow, S. and Davis, L.K. and de Zwaan, M. and Dedoussis, G. and Dick, D.M. and Ehrlich, S. and Estivill, X. and Favaro, A. and Fern{\'a}ndez-Aranda, F. and Fischer, K. and Forstner, A.J. and Gorwood, P. and Hakonarson, H. and Hebebrand, J. and Herpertz-Dahlmann, B. and Hinney, A. and Hudson, J.I. and Johnson, C. and Jordan, J. and Kaplan, A.S. and Kaprio, J. and Karwautz, A.F.K. and Kas, M.J.H. and Kaye, W.H. and Kennedy, J.L. and Kennedy, M.A. and Keski-Rahkonen, A. and Kim, Y.-R. and Klump, K.L. and Land{\'e}n, M. and Le Hellard, S. and Lehto, K. and Lissowska, J. and Maguire, S.L. and Martin, N.G. and Mattheisen, M. and Medland, S.E. and Micali, N. and Mitchell, J.E. and Monteleone, P. and Mortensen, P.B. and Nacmias, B. and Ophoff, R.A. and Papezova, H. and Pedersen, N.L. and Petersen, L.V. and Rajcsanyi, L.S. and Ramoz, N. and Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. and Ricca, V. and Ripke, S. and Rujescu, D. and Rybakowski, F. and Scherer, S.W. and Slof-Op{'}t Landt, M.C.T. and Sullivan, P.F. and ?wi?tkowska, B. and van Furth, E.F. and Wade, T.D. and Werge, T. and Whiteman, D.C. and Woodside, D.B. and Zipfel, S. and Bulik, C.M. and Huckins, L.M. and Breen, G. and Coleman, J.R.I.
DOI: 10.1101/2025.01.31.25321397Biorxiv
Chapel, M. and Dennis, J. and de Boer, C.G.
DOI: 10.1101/2025.01.07.631805Biomolecules
Barr, E. and Comtois-Cabana, M. and Coope, A. and Cot{\'e}, S.M. and Kobor, M.S. and Konwar, C. and Lupien, S. and Geoffroy, M.-C. and Boivin, M. and Proven?al, N. and Catherine, N.L.A. and Dennis, J.K. and Ouellet-Morin, I.
DOI: 10.3390/biom15060887npj Parkinson's Disease
Schaffner, S.L. and Casazza, W. and Artaud, F. and Konwar, C. and Merrill, S.M. and Domenighetti, C. and Schulze-Hentrich, J.M. and Lesage, S. and Brice, A. and Corvol, J.C. and Mostafavi, S. and Dennis, J.K. and Elbaz, A. and Kobor, M.S.
DOI: 10.1038/s41531-024-00704-3iScience
Casazza, W. and Inkster, A.M. and Del Gobbo, G.F. and Yuan, V. and Delahaye, F. and Marsit, C. and Park, Y.P. and Robinson, W.P. and Mostafavi, S. and Dennis, J.K.
DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109047PLoS Genetics
Garg, E. and Arguello-Pascualli, P. and Vishnyakova, O. and Halevy, A.R. and Yoo, S. and Brooks, J.D. and Bull, S.B. and Gagnon, F. and Greenwood, C.M.T. and Hung, R.J. and Lawless, J.F. and Lerner-Ellis, J. and Dennis, J.K. and Abraham, R.J.S. and Garant, J.-M. and Thiruvahindrapuram, B. and Jones, S.J.M. and Strug, L.J. and Paterson, A.D. and Sun, L. and Elliott, L.T.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011192medRxiv
Thberge, E. and Dennis, J.
DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.10.23288267medRxiv
Casazza, W. and Schaffner, S.L. and Artaud, F. and Domenighetti, C. and Baglietto, L. and Schulze-Hentrich, J.M. and Lesage, S. and Brice, A. and Corvol, J.-C. and Mostafavi, S. and Kobor, M.S. and Elbaz, A. and Dennis, J.K.
DOI: 10.1101/2023.07.21.23293014William Casazza and Amy M. Inkster and Giulia F. Del Gobbo and Victor Yuan and Fabien Delahaye and Carmen Marsit and Yongjin P. Park and Wendy P. Robinson and Sara Mostafavi and Jessica K Dennis
DOI: 10.1101/2022.10.04.2228069510 / 2022
Psychiatric Genomics
Davis, L.K. and Kiri Dennis, J.
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-819602-1.00018-8Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation
Yengo-Kahn, A.M. and Hibshman, N. and Bonfield, C.M. and Torstenson, E.S. and Gifford, K.A. and Belikau, D. and Davis, L.K. and Zuckerman, S.L. and Dennis, J.K.
DOI: 10.1097/HTR.0000000000000686Genome medicine
Dennis JK and Sealock JM and Straub P and Lee YH and Hucks D and Actkins K and Faucon A and Feng YA and Ge T and Goleva SB and Niarchou M and Singh K and Morley T and Smoller JW and Davis LK
DOI: 10.1186/s13073-020-00820-8 PubMed: 3344115001 / 2021
Molecular Psychiatry
Dennis, J. and Sealock, J. and Levinson, R.T. and Farber-Eger, E. and Franco, J. and Fong, S. and Straub, P. and Hucks, D. and Song, W.-L. and Linton, M.R.F. and Fontanillas, P. and Elson, S.L. and Ruderfer, D. and Abdellaoui, A. and Sanchez-Roige, S. and Palmer, A.A. and Boomsma, D.I. and Cox, N.J. and Chen, G. and Mosley, J.D. and Wells, Q.S. and Davis, L.K.
DOI: 10.1038/s41380-019-0614-yAaron M. Yengo-Kahn and Natalie Hibshman and Christopher M. Bonfield and Eric S. Torstenson and Katherine A. Gifford and Daniil Belikau and Lea K. Davis and Scott L. Zuckerman and Jessica K. Dennis
DOI: 10.1101/2020.07.17.2015589507 / 2020
medRxiv
Dennis, J.K. and Sealock, J.M. and Straub, P. and Hucks, D. and Actkins, K. and Faucon, A. and Goleva, S.B. and Nirachou, M. and Singh, K. and Morley, T. and Ruderfer, D.M. and Mosley, J.D. and Chen, G. and Davis, L.K.
DOI: 10.1101/2020.01.24.20018713bioRxiv
Moore, A.M. and Filshtein, T.J. and Dumitrescu, L. and Harrati, A. and Elahi, F. and Mormino, E.C. and Deming, Y. and Kunkle, B.W. and Mungas, D.M. and Hedden, T. and Apostolova, L.G. and Saykin, A.J. and Chasioti, D. and Lu, Q. and Dennis, J. and Sealock, J. and Davis, L.K. and Fardo, D.W. and Buckley, R. and Hohman, T.J.
DOI: 10.1101/838847Human Molecular Genetics
Abdellaoui, A. and Sanchez-Roige, S. and Sealock, J. and Treur, J.L. and Dennis, J. and Fontanillas, P. and Elson, S. and Nivard, M.G. and Ip, H.F. and Van Der Zee, M. and Baselmans, B.M.L. and Hottenga, J.J. and Willemsen, G. and Mosing, M. and Lu, Y. and Pedersen, N.L. and Denys, D. and Amin, N. and M Van Duijn, C. and Szilagyi, I. and Tiemeier, H. and Neumann, A. and Verweij, K.J.H. and Cacioppo, S. and Cacioppo, J.T. and Davis, L.K. and Palmer, A.A. and Boomsma, D.I.
DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddz219American Journal of Psychiatry
Zheutlin, A.B. and Dennis, J. and Linnr, R.K. and Moscati, A. and Restrepo, N. and Straub, P. and Ruderfer, D. and Castro, V.M. and Chen, C.-Y. and Ge, T. and Huckins, L.M. and Charney, A. and Kirchner, H.L. and Stahl, E.A. and Chabris, C.F. and Davis, L.K. and Smoller, J.W.
DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.18091085Journal of Neurotrauma
Dennis, J. and Yengo-Kahn, A.M. and Kirby, P. and Solomon, G.S. and Cox, N.J. and Zuckerman, S.L.
DOI: 10.1089/neu.2018.5916Zheutlin AB and Dennis J and Linnr RK and Moscati A and Restrepo N and Straub P and Ruderfer D and Castro VM and Chen C and Ge T and Huckins LM and Charney A and Lester Kirchner H and Smoller JW
DOI: 10.1101/42116409 / 2018
Journal of Rural Studies
Hannah Wittman and Jessica Dennis and Heather Pritchard
DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.03.00707 / 2017
Genetic Epidemiology
Dennis, J. and Medina-Rivera, A. and Truong, V. and Antounians, L. and Zwingerman, N. and Carrasco, G. and Strug, L. and Wells, P. and Trgout, D.-A. and Morange, P.-E. and Wilson, M.D. and Gagnon, F.
DOI: 10.1002/gepi.22049Scientific Reports
Truong, V. and Huang, S. and Dennis, J. and Lemire, M. and Zwingerman, N. and Assi, D. and Kassam, I. and Perret, C. and Wells, P. and Morange, P.-E. and Wilson, M. and Trgout, D.-A. and Gagnon, F.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-09552-zBMC Public Health
Teschke, K. and Dennis, J. and Reynolds, C.C.O. and Winters, M. and Harris, M.A.
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-3242-3Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis
Dennis, J. and Truong, V. and Assi, D. and Medina-Rivera, A. and Blankenberg, S. and Germain, M. and Lemire, M. and Antounians, L. and Civelek, M. and Schnabel, R. and Wells, P. and Wilson, M.D. and Morange, P.-E. and Trgout, D.-A. and Gagnon, F.
DOI: 10.1111/jth.13431BMJ Open
Teschke, K. and Koehoorn, M. and Shen, H. and Dennis, J.
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008052Thrombosis and Haemostasis
Dennis, J. and Kassam, I. and Morange, P.-E. and Trgout, D.-A. and Gagnon, F.
DOI: 10.1160/TH14-12-1043Thrombosis Research
Rocan-Arj, A. and Dennis, J. and Suchon, P. and Assi, D. and Truong, V. and Trgout, D.-A. and Gagnon, F. and Morange, P.-E.
DOI: 10.1016/j.thromres.2014.12.010Arthritis and Rheumatology
Kung, T.N. and Dennis, J. and Ma, Y. and Xie, G. and Bykerk, V. and Pope, J. and Thorne, C. and Keystone, E. and Siminovitch, K.A. and Gagnon, F.
DOI: 10.1002/art.38331PLoS ONE
Assi, D. and Dennis, J. and Ladouceur, M. and Truong, V. and Zwingerman, N. and Rocanin-Arjo, A. and Germain, M. and Paton, T.A. and Morange, P.-E. and Gagnon, F. and Trgou, D.-A.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108087Cancer Epidemiology
Zarychanski, R. and Dennis, J. and Singh, H.
DOI: 10.1016/j.canep.2013.10.007BMJ (Online)
Dennis, J. and Ramsay, T. and Turgeon, A.F. and Zarychanski, R.
DOI: 10.1136/bmj.f2674Blood
Dennis, J. and Johnson, C.Y. and Adediran, A.S. and De Andrade, M. and Heit, J.A. and Morange, P.-E. and Trgout, D.-A. and Gagnon, F.
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2011-10-383448Breast Journal
Dennis, J. and Krewski, D. and Ct, F.-S. and Fafard, E. and Little, J. and Ghadirian, P.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1524-4741.2011.01133.xInternational Journal of Epidemiology
Dennis, J. and Hawken, S. and Krewski, D. and Birkett, N. and Gheorghe, M. and Frei, J. and McKeown-Eyssen, G. and Little, J.
DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyr088Injury Prevention
Dennis, J. and Potter, B. and Ramsay, T. and Zarychanski, R.
DOI: 10.1136/ip.2009.025353Breast
Dennis, J. and Ghadirian, P. and Little, J. and Lubinski, J. and Gronwald, J. and Kim-Sing, C. and Foulkes, W. and Moller, P. and Lynch, H.T. and Neuhausen, S.L. and Domchek, S. and Armel, S. and Isaacs, C. and Tung, N. and Sweet, K. and Ainsworth, P. and Sun, P. and Krewski, D. and Narod, S.
DOI: 10.1016/j.breast.2010.05.009Jessica Dennis and Julia Sealock and Rebecca T Levinson and Eric Farber-Eger and Jacob Franco and Sarah Fong and Peter Straub and Donald Hucks and MacRae F Linton and Wen-Liang Song and Pierre Fontanillas and Sarah L Elson and Douglas Ruderfer and Abdel Abdellaoui and Sandra Sanchez-Roige and Abraham A Palmer and Dorret I Boomsma and Nancy Cox and Guanhua Chen and Jonathan D Mosley and Quinn S Wells and Lea Davis
DOI: 10.1101/512541We study psychiatric conditions like depression, neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, and the relationship between psychiatric and neurodegenerative conditions. We aim to better understand the genetic factors that associate with the emergence and development of psychiatric and neurodegenerative conditions over time, so that we can develop precision prevention and treatment strategies.
We use data from large-scale biobanks, which are collections of biospecimens (e.g., blood) linked to many different types of data on health behaviours, health outcomes (e.g., administrative health records), and environment. Increasingly, longitudinal data are being collected in biobanks, which allows us to study relationships between biological factors like genotype, and health changes over time.
While our genes are fixed at conception, environments change over time, and our genotype may influence how we react to these environments. We are exploring novel ways to statistically model gene-environment interactions, focusing on how exposures at different life stages become biologically embedded through our epigenome, and ultimately influence health outcomes.
Every day, our researchers work towards breakthroughs to transform the lives of kids in BC and around the world. Learn about our latest innovations and advancements in child health.

Congratulations to BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) and Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI) investigators and their teams who were awarded funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Spring 2025 Project Grant competition.

Dr. Michael Kobor has been awarded the 2022 Geoffrey L. Hammond Lectureship. The former, and inaugural, director of the Healthy Starts Research Theme at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR), senior scientist at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics (CMMT) and professor at The University of British Columbia (UBC) was nominated for his pioneering…

Congratulations to the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute investigators who have been given Michael Smith Health Research BC 2022 Scholar and Research Trainee awards! Dr. Jessica Dennis, Dr. Ramon Klein Geltink and Dr. Marianne Vidler have each received a Scholar award. Dr. Anne-Sophie Archambault, Dr. Michael Asamoah-Boaheng, Dr. Alberto Delaidelli, Dr. Olivia De-Jongh González, Dr.…
At BC Children’s, we are making discoveries that save lives and transform health care for children in our province and around the world. Our research portfolio includes basic, clinical, population, and public health research.
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