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Dr. Jessiman is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Psychology, in the College of Arts.

Her teaching interests include early childhood development, adolescent psychology, adulthood and aging.

Dr. Jessiman's research focus is how typical and pathological aging affects language and memory. For her PhD she examined how Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) affect language that relies on more conscious control. Specifically she focused on what parts of the brain are affected by typical and pathological aging and thus what subsequent linguistic and cognitive functions are affected by these age-related neurological changes. As a post-doctoral research fellow, Dr. Jessiman continued her research into the effects of PD on language and communications and examined how typical aging and PD affects everyday communicative tasks such as holding conversations.

Dr. Jessiman completed a study with Dr. Shelley Canning, Associate Professor in Nursing at UFV, looking at how secondary education influences ageist opinions and beliefs. She is also looking at how agism affects the use of elderspeak. In addition, Dr. Jessiman is looking at misconceptions of elder mistreatment/abuse and the effects of loneliness and social isolation in older adults. The principal focus in all of her research is improving the quality of life of the older adult and dispelling the myths that only seek to exacerbate the negative stereotypes of old age. Dr. Jessiman's honours student is currently working on a study measuring implicit agism in older and younger adults and examining how self-agism can impact cognitive performance in older adults. 

Dr. Jessiman's research interests include development, adulthood and aging, as well as Parkinson's Disease.