Jessica Cowden MD, MSPH

Education

Undergraduate: State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, (suma cum laude, All American Scholar), BS Biology/BA English Literature, 1995-1997
University of St Andrews, Scotland,1994-1995
Wake Forest University, 1993-1994
Medical School: State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, MD, 1997-2001
Internship: Department of Pediatrics, Wright Patterson Air Force Base / Dayton Children’s Hospital, 2001-2002
Residency: Department of Pediatrics, Wright Patterson Air Force Base / Dayton Children’s Hospital, 2002-2004
Fellowship: Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Colorado / Denver Children’s Hospital, 2004-2007
Graduate School: University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, MS Public Health, 2006-2008
Training in Tropical Medicine and Traveler’s Health, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Certificate Course, Uniformed Services University, February-May, 2012
Training in Vaccinology: Advanced Course in Vaccinology (ADVAC), Fondation Mérieux/Université de Genève, Annecy, France, May 2013

Biography

Col Jessica Cowden is the Chief of the Department of Retrovirology at USAMD-AFRIMS in Bangkok, Thailand. Prior to this position, she served as the Acting Chief Medical Officer for Enabling Biotechnologies at the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) from May 2020 to June 2021. In her role at JPEO-CBRND, she served as the coordinator/lead for DoD Military Treatment Facility site participation in USG-funded Phase 3 trials of COVID vaccine candidates in development and served as a DoD representative on the Interagency Federal Response (previously named Operation Warp Speed) Vaccine Clinical Team, the Coronavirus Prevention Network (CoVPN), and the SARS-CoV-2 Interagency Risk Assessment Group (SCIRAM).

Prior to her assignment at JPEO-CNRND, Dr. Cowden served as Chief of Infectious Disease Programs at the Defense Institute for Medical Operations (2016-2021), the Director of the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Project (KEMRI/WRP) Kombewa Clinical Research Center and the Kisumu Field Station at the U.S. Army Medical Research Directorate-Kenya (USAMRD-K) from 2012 to 2016. In Kenya, Dr. Cowden led Kenyan researchers and clinical staff conducting clinical and epidemiologic field research and clinical trials of vaccines and therapeutics in development for malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, pneumococcal, and diarrheal disease. She oversaw the Kisumu West PEPFAR program and worked closely with local and national Ministry of Health leadership and with U.S. government, academic, public and private partners. Prior to her assignment in Kenya, she served as a clinical investigator in the Malaria Branch at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), and in a clinical position at Keesler Medical Center. In 2019, she deployed to Iraq as the CJTF-OIR Global Health Specialist leading coalition engagements and medical build partner capacity efforts.

Col Cowden is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology and her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Binghamton University and her Medical Degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She completed her residency in Pediatrics at Wright Patterson Air Force Base/Wright State University in Ohio and her fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Denver Children’s Hospital/University of Colorado School of the Health Sciences. She earned her Masters of Science in Public Health from the University of Colorado. She has worked as an attending at the Children’s Hospital New Orleans, the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the Kombewa District Hospital (Kenya) and the San Antonio Military Medical Center. She is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). Col Cowden is married to Wayne Cowden. Together they have two children, Kael and Nyah, ages 15 and 10 years, respectively.

Career Highlights: Positions, Projects, Deployements, Awards and Additional Publications

Chief, Department of Retrovirology, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (USAMD-AFRIMS), July 2021-present

Acting Chief Medical Officer, Vaccine Acceleration Project, Joint Program Executive Officer for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND), June 2020-June 2021

Global Health Specialist, Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), Union III, Baghdad, Iraq, March 2019-October 2019

Chief, Infectious Disease Programs, Defense Institute for Medical Operations (DIMO), JBSA Lackland, San Antonio, TX, September 2016-June 2021

Director, Kombewa Clinical Research Center, U.S. Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa, Kisumu, Kenya, October 2012-September 2016 / Director, Kisumu Field Station, U.S. Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa, Kisumu, Kenya, July 2014-September 2016

Clinical Investigator, Malaria Vaccine Branch, U.S. Military Malaria Research Program, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), August 2010-September 2012

Member/DoD Representative, Operation Warp Speed / Countermeasure Acceleration Group Vaccine Clinical Team, USG Interagency, 2020-2021.

Member/DoD Representative, Coronavirus Prevention Network (COVPN) Community Engagement Working Group, 2020-2021.

Member/DoD Representative, SARS-CoV-2 Interagency Risk Assessment Working Group (SCIRAM), USG Interagency, 2020-2021.

Coalition/DoD Representative, WHO Health Cluster – Iraq, Mar-Oct 2019.

Representative Bibliography

Gromowski G, Cincotta C, Mayer S, King J, Swafford I, McCracken M, Coleman D, Enoch J, Storme C, Darden J, Peel S, Epperson D, McKee K, Voss J, Currier J, Okulicz J, Paquin-Proulx D, Cowden J, Peachman K. Humoral immune responses associated with control of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections in a vaccinated US military population. eBioMedicine 2023;94:104683. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2023.104683.

Andagalu B, Watson O, Onyango I, Opot B, Okoth R, Chemwor G, Sifuna P, Juma D, Cheruiyot A, Yeda R, Okudo C, Wafubwa J, Yalwala S, Abuom D, Ogutu B, Cowden J, Akala H, Kamau E. Malaria Transmission Dynamics in High Transmission Setting of Western Kenya and the Inadequate Treatment Response to Artemether-lumefantrine in an Asymptomatic Population. Clin Infect Dis 2022 Jun 29;ciac527. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac527.

Falsey AR, Sobieszczyk ME, Hirsch I, Sproule S, Robb ML, Corey L, Neuzil KM, Hahn W, Hunt J, Mulligan MJ, McEvoy C, DeJesus E, Hassman M, Little SJ, Pahud BA, Durbin A, Pickrell P, Daar ES, Bush L, Solis J, Carr QO, Oyedele T, Buchbinder S, Cowden J, Vargas SL, Guerreros Benavides A, Call R, Keefer MC, Kirkpatrick BD, Pullman J, Tong T, Brewinski Isaacs M, Benkeser D, Janes HE, Nason MC, Green JA, Kelly EJ, Maaske J, Mueller N, Shoemaker K, Takas T, Marshall RP, Pangalos MN, Villafana T, Gonzalez-Lopez A; AstraZeneca AZD1222 Clinical Study Group. Phase 3 Safety and Efficacy of AZD1222 (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) Covid-19 Vaccine. N Engl J Med 2021;385(25):2348-2360.

Kamau E, Yates A, Maisiba R, Singoei V, Opot B, Adeny R, Arima CO, Otieno V, Sumbi CS, Okoth RO, Abdi F, Mwalo M, Ochola J, Otieno J, Ake J, Imbach M, Turley HA, Juma D, Akala HM, Owuoth J, Andagalu B, Crowell TA, Nwoga C, Cowden J, Polyak CS; RV393 Study Group. Epidemiological and clinical implications of asymptomatic malaria and schistosomiasis co-infections in a rural community in western Kenya. BMC Infect Dis 2021;21(1):937.

Tunnage J, Yates A, Nwoga C, Sing'oei V, Owuoth J, Polyak CS, Crowell TA; RV393 Study Group. Hepatitis and tuberculosis testing are much less common than HIV testing among adults in Kisumu, Kenya: results from a cross-sectional assessment. BMC Public Health 2021;21(1):1143.

Sing'oei V, Ochola J, Owuoth J, Otieno J, Rono E, Andagalu B, Otieno L, Nwoga C, Copeland NK, Lawlor J, Yates A, Imbach M, Crowell TA, Eller LA, Kamau E, Modjarrad K, Cowden J, Ake J, Robb ML, Polyak CS. Clinical laboratory reference values in adults in Kisumu County, Western Kenya; hematology, chemistry and CD4. PLoS One 2021;16(3):e0249259.

Moon JE, Ockenhouse C, Regules JA, Vekemans J, Lee C, Chuang I, Traskine M, Jongert E, Ivinson K, Morelle D, Komisar JL, Lievens M, Sedegah M, Garver LS, Sikaffy AK, Waters NC, Ballou WR, Ofori-Anyinam O; RTS,S Malaria Vaccine Working Group. A Phase IIa Controlled Human Malaria Infection and Immunogenicity Study of RTS,S/AS01E and RTS,S/AS01B Delayed Fractional Dose Regimens in Malaria-Naive Adults. J Infect Dis 2020;222(10):1681-1691.

Warria K, Nyamthimba P, Chweya A, Agaya J, Achola M, Reichler M, Cowden J, Heilig CM, Borgdorff MW, Cain KP, Yuen CM. Tuberculosis disease and infection among household contacts of bacteriologically confirmed and non-confirmed tuberculosis patients. Trop Med Intl Health 2020, doi:10.1111/tmi.13392.

Sifuna P*, Ouma C, Atieli H, Owuoth J, Onyango D, Andagalu B, Cowden J. Spatial Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in the High-Burden Counties of Kisumu and Siaya, Western Kenya, 2012-2015. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2019;23(3):363-370.

Sifuna P*, Otieno L, Andagalu B, Oyieko J, Ogutu B, Singoei V, Owuoth J, Ogwang S, Cowden J, Otieno W. A Spatiotemporal Analysis of HIV-Associated Mortality in Rural Western Kenya 2011-2015. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2018;78(5):483-490.