Dr. Jayanthi Lea is the Director of the Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship Program at UT Southwestern and a member of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 

Board certified both in gynecologic oncology and in obstetrics and gynecology, Dr. Lea is skilled in minimally invasive, robotic surgery and advanced laparoscopic surgery. At the Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center, she specializes in the treatment of ovarian, endometrial, cervical and other gynecologic malignancies as well as the treatment of pre-invasive cervical, vaginal, and vulvar disease. She also participates in the clinical protocols of the National Cancer Institute’s Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) and serves on the committee to evaluate cervical cancer treatment protocols. 

Dr. Lea, who speaks both English and Tamil, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelors of science degree in biology. She received her medical degree from East Carolina University School of Medicine and completed her residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. 

Following a four-year gynecologic oncology fellowship at UT Southwestern Medical Center, she joined the faculty here. After a hiatus as Assistant Director for the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at Carolinas Medical Center in North Carolina, Dr. Lea returned to UT Southwestern in 2010.

While a scholar of the NIH Reproductive Scientist Development Program, Dr. Lea investigated the molecular pathogenesis of cervical cancer. Her translational research interest is in the development of clinical trials for ovarian cancer using novel therapeutic agents. She has published several papers on cervical and ovarian cancer.