Jeeyeon Cha, MD, PhD

Jeeyeon Cha MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Division
Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism

Instructor of Medicine, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, & Metabolism

Professional Bio

Jeeyeon Cha, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist studying sexual dimorphism in metabolism with a goal to simplify and personalize the care of patients with diabetes. She is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism within the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
 
Dr. Cha completed MD and PhD training at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati where she trained under Sudhansu K. Dey, PhD, in reproduction. She then joined the Vanderbilt Physician-Scientist Training Program, the Harrison Society, and completed residency in Internal Medicine in 2017 and fellowship in Adult Endocrinology in 2020.
 
She is studying sexually dimorphic responses of the pancreatic islet beta cell in diabetes. Dr. Cha's work has been supported by the NIH, a Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Physician-Scientist Fellowship, and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists. She was awarded the ASCI Young Physician-Scientist Award in 2022.

Education

PhD - Molecular and Developmental Biology - Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation - 2013
MD - University of Cincinnati College of Medicine - 2015
Residency - Internal Medicine - Vanderbilt University Medical Center - 2017
Fellowship - Adult Endocrinology - Vanderbilt University Medical Center - 2020

Publications

1. Cha J, Birsoy B, Kofron M, Mahoney E, Lang S, Wylie C, Heasman J. The Role of FoxC1 in Early Xenopus Development. Developmental Dynamics 236(10): 2731-41, 2007.

2. Hirota Y, Cha J, Dey SK. Revisiting Reproduction: Prematurity and the Puzzle of Progesterone Resistance. Nature Medicine 16(5): 529-31, 2010.

3. Cha J & Browne A. Gastrointestinal Drugs. Andrew W. Browne & Margaret A. Stefater (Eds.), In Pharmacology You See: A high yield pharmacology review for health professionals (pp.115-123). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Toronto Notes, 2011. Book Chapter.

4. Hirota Y, Cha J, Yoshie M, Daikoku T, Dey SK. Heightened uterine mTORC1 signaling provokes preterm birth in mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 108(44): 18073-18078, 2011.

5. Daikoku T*, Cha J*, Sun X, Tranguch S, Huirong X, Fujita T, Hirota Y, Lydon J, DeMayo F, Maxson R, Dey SK. Conditional deletion of MSX homeobox genes in the uterus inhibits blastocyst implantation by altering uterine receptivity. Developmental Cell 21(6):1014-25, 2011. *Equal contribution

6. Cha J, Hirota Y, Dey SK. Sensing Senescence in Preterm Birth. Cell Cycle 11(2): 205-206, 2012.

7. Cha J, Sun X, Dey SK. Mechanisms of implantation: strategies for successful pregnancy. Nature Medicine 18(12): 1754-67, 2012. Review article.

8. Daikoku T, Yoshie M, Xie H, Sun X, Cha J, Ellenson LH, Dey SK. Conditional deletion of Tsc1 impedes normal oviductal and uterine function by enhancing mTORC1 signaling in mice. Molecular Human Reproduction, 19(7): 463-72,  2013.

9. Cha J, Sun X, Bartos A, Fenelon J, Lefevre P, Daikoku D, Shaw G, Maxson R, Murphy BD, Renfree MB, Dey SK. A new role for muscle segment homeobox genes in mammalian embryonic diapause. Open Biology (Royal Society) 3(4):130035, 2013.

10. Cha J, Bartos A, Egashira M, Haraguchi H, Saito-Fujita T, Leishman E, Bradshaw H, Dey SK, Hirota Y. Combinatory approaches prevent preterm birth profoundly exacerbated by gene-environment interactions. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 123(9):4063-75, 2013.                  

11. Laskin J, Lanekoff I, Burnum-Johnson K, Thomas M, Short J, Carson J, Cha J, Dey SK, Yang P, Prieto-Conaway M. High-Speed MS/MS in Situ Imaging by Nanospray Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry. Analytical Chemistry, 85(20): 9596-603, 2013.

12. Cha J, Vilella F, Dey SK, Simon C. Molecular Interplay in Successful Implantation in Ten Critical Topics in Reproductive Medicine, S. Sanders, Ed. Science/AAAS, Washington, DC, pp. 44-48, 2013.

13. Cha J, Lim H, Dey SK. Embryo Implantation. Knobil and Neill’s Physiology of Reproduction. Eds.  Tony M. Plant and Anthony J. Zeleznik. Elsevier, New York. pp. 1697-1739, 2014. 4th edition. Book Chapter.

14. Cha J & Dey SK. Cadence to procreation: orchestration of embryo-uterine interactions. Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology, 34C: 56-64, 2014.

15. Haraguchi H, Saito-Fujita T, Hirota Y, Egashira M, Matsumoto L, Matsuo M, Koga K, Yamauchi N, Fukayama F, Bartos A, Cha J, Dey SK, Fujii T, Osuga Y. Progesterone signaling mediated by microRNA-200a is critical for endometrial proliferation-differentiation switch and embryo implantation. Molecular Endocrinology, 28(7): 1108-1117, 2014.

16. Cha J, Bartos A, Park C, Sun X, Cha SW, Ho H, Yamaguchi T, Dey SK. Appropriate crypt formation in the uterus for embryo homing and implantation requires Wnt5a-ROR signaling. Cell Reports, 24;8(2):382-92, 2014.

17. Lanekoff I, Burnum-Johnson K, Thomas M, Cha J, Dey SK, Yang P, Prieto-Conaway M, Laskin J. Three-Dimensional In Situ Tissue Imaging by Nanospray Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry to localize biological molecules. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 407(8):2063-71, 2015.

18. Cha J*, Burnum-Johnson KE*, Bartos A, Li Y, Baker ES, Tilton SC, Webb-Robertson BJ, Piehowski PD, Monroe ME, Jegga AG, Murata S, Hirota Y, Dey SK. Muscle segment homeobox genes direct embryonic diapause by limiting inflammation in the uterus. Journal Biological Chemistry, 290(24):15337-49, 2015. *Equal contribution

19. Cha J, Dey SK. Reflections on Rodent Implantation: A Tribute to Roger Short. Advances in Anatomy, Embryology, and Cell Biology. Rodney D. Geisert, Fuller W. Bazer (Eds). Bern: Springer. 216:69-85, 2015. Book Chapter.

20. Kyle JE, Zhang X, Weitz KK, Monroe ME, Ibrahim YM, Moore RJ, Cha J, Sun X, Lovelace ES, Wagoner J, Polyak SJ, Metz TO, Dey SK, Smith RD, Burnum-Johnson KE, Baker ES. Uncovering biologically significant lipid isomers with liquid chromatography, ion mobility spectrometry and mass spectrometry. Analyst (Royal Society of Chemistry). 141(5): 1649-59, 2016.

21. Sones JL*, Cha J*, Woods AK, Bartos A, Heyward CY, Lob HE, Isroff CE, Butler SD, Shapiro SE, Dey SK, Davisson RL. Decidual Cox2 inhibition improves fetal and maternal outcomes in a preeclampsia-like mouse model. JCI Insight. 1(3):e75351, 2016. *Equal contribution

22. Deng W*, Cha J*, Haraguchi H, Bartos A, Viollet B, Bradshaw H, Hirota Y, Dey SK. p53 coordinates decidual Sestrin2-AMPK-mTORC1 signaling to govern parturition timing. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 126(8):2941-54, 2016. In Press. *Equal contribution

23. Yuan J*, Cha J*, Deng W, Bartos A, Sun X, Ho HYH, Borg JP, Yamaguchi T, Yang Y, Dey SK. PCP signaling directs epithelial evaginations and engages Noggin-Bmp2 interaction for blastocyst attachment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 113(50): E8079-E8088, 2016. *Equal contribution

24. Cha J & Dey SK. Hunting for Fox(A2): Dual roles in female fertility. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, pii: 201620648, 2016.