Dr. Jenkins is a Professor and the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at Howard University.  She is also the Chair of the Pediatric Section of the National Medical Association.  Dr. Jenkins received both her A.B. and M.D. degrees from Wayne State University.  She completed a general pediatrics residency at the Albert Einstein/Jacobi Hospital Program in 1974 and completed an Adolescent Medicine fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York.  Dr. Jenkins was the first director of Adolescent Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at Howard University and served as President of the Society for Adolescent Medicine in 1989 -90. 

Dr. Jenkins is the Immediate Past -President of the District of Columbia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and she has been active in the American Academy of Pediatrics serving on national and local committees, including chairing the national Committee on Community Health Services and currently serving on the Committee on Federal Government Affairs (COFGA).  She is a member of the Institute of Medicine and serves on the Board on Children, Youth and Families of the National Academy of Sciences.  She also has served on many advisory groups, non-profit boards and review committees. Her publications and presentations range from primarily adolescent health and sexuality to violence prevention and health issues of minority children.