Brief Faculty Profile

Dr. Lee is Professor of Pediatrics and DiMarco Family Endowed Chair in Cell Based Therapy at Nationwide Children's Hospital. He is the founding Director of the Cellular Therapy and Cancer Immunotherapy Program, a joint program between NCH and The Ohio State University James Cancer Hospital. Dr. Lee conducts clinical and translational research on natural killer (NK) cells and cancer immunotherapy. He was recruited to MD Anderson in 2006, where his laboratory identified a crucial role for IL-21 and STAT3 signaling in NK cell function, survival, metabolism, and proliferation. This enabled large-scale propagation of clinical-grade NK cells for adoptive immunotherapy and novel approaches for genetic modification to enhance functionality. NK cells expanded with this approach have been infused into hundreds of adult and pediatric patients with leukemia, brain tumors, and solid tumors in investigator-initiated Phase I/II trials. Dr. Lee has served on committees for various clinical trial consortiums, societies, and government agencies including the NIH RAC, Gene Transfer Safety Board, and NExTRAC Gene Drive Working Group,. His work in cancer immunotherapy and cellular therapy is focused on genetic and non-genetic methods to enhance NK cell function including Cas9/RNP gene editing, AAV gene transfer, epigenetic imprinting, and NK-specific chimeric antigen receptors. His work is supported by NIH, DOD, FDA, and foundation grants with over 160 peer-reviewed publications, 300 filings across 40 patent families, commercial licenses, and biotech startups.