Jessica Leigh Turnier, MD

Dr. Turnier is a physician scientist and Clinical Lecturer in Pediatric Rheumatology at the University of Michigan. She received her MD degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 2011. She completed her residency in Pediatrics at the University of Colorado, Children’s Hospital Colorado in 2014. She returned to the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and completed her Pediatric Rheumatology fellowship and training in clinical and translational research in 2017. Dr. Turnier joined the University of Michigan faculty in 2018. She cares for all children with rheumatologic diseases. Her research focuses on improving clinical care for children with myositis and lupus. Dr. Turnier is studying skin disease in myositis and lupus to identify novel disease mechanisms, biomarkers and treatment targets. She uses bioinformatic and translational science approaches to understand how we can develop precision medicine for myositis and lupus patient care and treatment. Dr. Turnier is also developing a multidisciplinary juvenile myositis clinic to increase access to state of the art clinical care and better integrate research with clinical care.

Childhood-onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Lupus Nephritis, Juvenile Myositis, Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

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My research focuses on understanding mechanisms of skin disease in myositis and lupus. Specifically, my goal is to discover how skin inflammation influences systemic disease development and progression. My ultimate goal is to improve care for myositis and lupus patients through advancing knowledge of underlying pathogenic disease mechanisms, understanding disease heterogeneity and discovering novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets.