Jessica Cassavaugh, MD, PhD

Dr. Jessica Cassavaugh earned her MD and PhD from the University of Vermont, where her doctoral work revealed a previously unrecognized mechanism regulating hypoxia-inducible factor-1α and angiogenesis in ovarian cancer. She completed clinical training in anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where she investigated sex differences in cerebral vascular injury. Since joining BIDMC, she has expanded her scientific program to include cardiovascular metabolism and liver disease, informed by her clinical experience in critical illness and transplant anesthesiology. In addition to her research, Dr. Cassavaugh serves as Director of the ICU Resident Rotation and Director of the BASIC Course in Critical Care at BIDMC. She is deeply committed to mentorship and to advancing the role of women in science and medicine.

Dr. Cassavaugh's scientific focus lies in the molecular mechanisms underlying microvascular injury, with emphasis on how estrogen modulates purinergic and adenosinergic signaling pathways. As a T32 research fellow, she explored the interface between hormonal regulation and cardiovascular inflammation. Now, as principal investigator on multiple funded projects—including a Foundation for Anesthesia Education Mentored Research Training Grant—she is examining the estrogen-dependent regulation of metabolic liver disease and microvascular dysfunction in aging women. Her long-term goal is to translate these discoveries into therapeutic targets that address cardiovascular and metabolic differences in postmenopausal populations.

Research Areas

• Sex-Specific Metabolic Responses to Vascular Stress We are actively mapping organ-specific metabolic changes driven by estrogen deficiency. These studies aim to uncover gene targets of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and other stress-responsive transcription factors altered in post-menopausal disease states. This work informs how estrogen loss reshapes inflammatory and metabolic gene networks.
• Estrogen-Dependent Regulation of Metabolic Disease This project investigates how estrogen signaling influences metabolic homeostasis, with a focus on the endothelium’s role in metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). We are identifying estrogen-responsive transcriptional pathways that protect against inflammation and fibrosis in the liver. Using both in vivo and in vitro models, we aim to define molecular mechanisms that explain increased MASLD risk following menopause.
• Purinergic and Hypoxic Signaling in Microvascular Disease This project examined the interaction between estrogen and hypoxia-inducible signaling in the coronary microcirculation, with a specific focus on the regulation of CD39 and adenosine bioavailability. We demonstrated that estrogen enhances endothelial resilience to ischemia by modulating purinergic tone, with implications for sex differences in microvascular injury and diastolic heart failure.