Jessica Murphy, PhD
Research Associate, Department of Health, Kinesiology, and Applied Physiology
Concordia University

Jessica Murphy completed her PhD at Concordia University in the Metabolism, Obesity, and Nutrition Lab directed by Sylvia Santosa. Her research investigated why people with childhood-onset obesity face a higher risk of type 2 diabetes than those with adult-onset obesity, and whether the underlying mechanisms can be reversed.

She focused on dysfunction in subcutaneous adipose tissue—an early feature of metabolic disease—and how it changes after lifestyle-induced weight loss. She found that in people with childhood-onset obesity, subcutaneous adipose tissue shows signs of accelerated aging and remodels less after moderate weight loss. These findings suggest that lifestyle changes alone may not fully address metabolic risk in people who have lived with obesity since childhood. 

Jessica continues to advance this work as a research associate, studying why metabolic diseases unfold differently across people and how treatments can better account for this heterogeneity.