Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the Ohio State University. Dr Jackson participated in formalized programs of clinical and translational research training as a junior faculty first through the NCRR-sponsored Clinical Associate Physician Award and later through a Physician Scientist Award to develop expertise in molecular biology and basic science discovery. She has been a faculty member at OSU since 1983, was the founding Director of the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center Clinical Trails Office and has served as the GCRC Advisory Committee chair for the past 5 years. In August 2006, with the acceptance of the position as PI of the OSU CTSA grant and Director of the OSU Center for Clinical and Translational Science, she was promoted to Associate Dean for Clinical Research. Her body of academic work focuses on clinical and translational investigations in metabolic bone disease and women's health.

Dr. Jackson has had continuous funding for the past twenty years and has been PI of two large longitudinal studies; the NHLBI-sponsored Women's Health Initiative and the NIAMS-sponsored Osteoarthritis Initiative. Currently Dr. Jackson is PI on U01(1) and N01(1) and co-investigator on R01(3) and recently received funding as PI of a genome-wide association study of the genetic determinants of hip fracture. Her individual and collaborative research efforts have resulted in peer-reviewed publications in Journal of the American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and other general medicine and sub-specialty journals. She was lead author of the WHI analyses that showed that calcium plus vitamin D had a modest but non-significant effect on reducing hip fracture in postmenopausal women and she is actively engaged in genomic, proteomic and candidate biomarkers for the prediction of hip fracture risk.

Dr Jackson has had scientific leadership and administrative responsibilities serving as the Steering Committee vice chair of the Women's Health Initiative for the past 8 years and has served as an Associate Editor of the Clinical Journal of Women's Health. She has been the recipient of recognitions including the Disabled Professional of the Year, the YWCA Women of Achievement, American Medical Women's Association Local Legends Award and the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame.