Health Administration and Population Health at Baptist Health Sciences University. She also holds an appointment as a tenured associate professor in health administration and public health at D’Youville College and as an assistant professor in the college of health sciences at Rush University. Dr. Jegier’s teaching experience includes courses taught in statistics, decision analysis, epidemiology, research design, healthcare finance, healthcare insurance, and management communication.
Dr. Jegier previously served as the program director for the Substance Use Disorder Program, the program coordinator for the Healthcare Management program, and the assistant director for the center for research on physical activity, sport, and health (CRPASH) at D’Youville College. In these roles she developed over 30 new programs in health and health related professions and received external grant funding of over $800,000 to support programs and research. She also was previously the director for curriculum at Malcolm X College where she partnered with faculty to develop and implement 5 new healthcare education programs as a part of a health professions training grant partnership between several community colleges around the United States and the Department of Labor.
Dr. Jegier is currently the co-chair of the Breastfeeding Committee and the treasurer for the Maternal Child Health Section and the past chair for the Breastfeeding Forum for the American Public Health Association. She is an elected member of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation. She serves on the audit committee for the Association of University Programs in Health Administration and as an advisory board member for the Shelby County Schools NAF program.
Education
Dr. Jegier received her doctorate in public health with concentration in healthcare management and policy with emphasis on economics and finance from St. Louis University, her master’s in health systems management from Rush University, and her bachelor’s in communication with a concentration in organizational development from the University of South Florida.
Research
Dr. Jegier's research interests have 3 primary foci: 1) the economics of hospital-based interventions, 2) the economics of policy and programs to support public health interests, and 3) the evaluation and implementation of healthcare education programs. Her economics research for both hospital, policy, and programs has focused primarily on human milk feeding and breastfeeding for infants in the neonatal intensive care unit and among pump-dependent women. She has also developed several electronic tools to capture breastfeeding and the impact of breastfeeding on populations. These tools include an app for data collection and management information for breastfeeding and pumping sessions as well as counseling and health management information for both the mom and the researcher. She has also been part of a team that developed a web-based calculator and underlying Monte Carlo based java simulator that predicts cost savings associated with population level breastfeeding rates. Her work on the calculator was related to implementation of the economic work and coordination and management of the engineers required to develop and optimize the simulator. Her work on the evaluation and implementation of healthcare education programs has focused primarily on developing pathways for students from high school to entry into graduate level healthcare professions training. Dr. Jegier’s most recent publication presented the results of an innovative web-based calculator that predicts the cost savings associated with changes in breastfeeding initiation and duration in the United States. Her most recent research project was funded by the United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that is evaluating the economics of the baby-friendly hospital initiative designation in US hospitals. Her most recent healthcare education program development project was funded by the US Health Resources and Services Administration. Her most recent sub-award training and evaluation grant was funded by the Office for Minority Health( lead agency: Shelby County Division of Community Services).
Home and Personal
Dr. Jegier currently lives in Memphis, Tennessee with her husband Jamus, sons Bryan, Thomas, and Finley, and dog Whiskey. She enjoys reading, baking, playing in adult sport leagues, and coaching youth sports teams.