Published 1/19/2024

The American Heart Association recently awarded Jessica Cayton, DVM, a Predoctoral Fellowship Award. Cayton is a graduate fellow in the University of Missouri Comparative Medicine Program and a PhD candidate in the MU College of Veterinary Medicine Department of Veterinary Pathobiology. The award, which totals $67,000 over two years, is given to enhance the integrated research and clinical training of promising students who are matriculated in predoctoral or clinical health professional degree training programs and who plan to pursue careers as scientists, physician scientists or other clinician-scientists, or related careers aimed at improving global cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and brain health.

Cayton’s recent research at the MU School of Medicine focuses on medical pharmacology and physiology. The AHA Fellowship Award will support her investigations into mechanisms of atrial fibrillation, also called AFib. According to the AHA, by the year 2030 approximately 12 million people are projected to have AFib, and this cardiac rhythm disorder can lead to blood clots, stroke, and heart failure. Her mentor is Timothy L. Domeier, PhD, an associate professor in medical pharmacology and physiology in the School of Medicine. 

Cayton earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, before attending North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. After earning her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 2019, she entered the Comparative Medicine Residency at Mizzou.

In 2022, Cayton was highlighted by ShowMeMizzou and BioNexus KC for her submission to the Science2Art Exhibition, an event that provides a platform for regional scientists to display and describe their research through visual arts, according to the BioNexus website.

By Nick Childress