Her research concerned electrocardiology and the automated analysis of heart rhythms.
[1][2] Jenkins was originally from Flint, Michigan, and grew up in a family of three sisters in Alton, Illinois.
[2] She entered college at the same time as her oldest child, at age 37.
[1][2] She became the advisor of 20 doctoral students,[1] among them biometric expert Stephanie Schuckers.
[1][3] Jenkins was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 1994, "for outstanding technical contributions and training of students in electrocardiology, including computer techniques for automatic arrhythmia analysis".