Joy Winuthayanon

Principal Investigator

Associate Professor, OB/GYN & Women Health

School of Medicine

Joy is originally from Thailand. Her hometown is in Nakhonpathom Province. You can call her Joy as her last name is not that easy to pronounce. 

She completed a Bachelor of Nursing Science from Ramathibodi School of Nursing in 2002 and her Ph.D. (Physiology) from Faculty of Science in 2009 both from Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. Because of her interest in women’s health, she underwent training in midwifery for several months during her final year of nursing school. To integrate basic science knowledge with clinical relevance, Joy has directed her interests towards a career path in reproductive sciences focusing on reproductive physiology in women. Her post-doctoral research at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS/NIH) was focusing on the estrogen and phytoestrogen effects on female reproductive function using mouse models. She started her lab at the School of Molecular Biosciences at the Washington State University in 2015 and her lab has relocated to University of Missouri in 2022. Her research program is set out to decipher the roles of hormonal regulation in the oviduct and uterus during fertilization, preimplantation embryo development, and embryo transport using genetically engineered animal models. Her research team is also developing new “on-demand” contraceptive methods for women by targeting semen liquefaction process.

Fun fact about Joy, she likes to skate and used to play Roller Derby! She loves sushi and Thai food.