Richard Lee, M.D.

Richard Lee, M.D.

Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Richard T. Lee, Harvard University

Richard T. Lee's laboratory seeks to understand heart failure and metabolic diseases that accompany human aging, and to translate that understanding into therapies, including stem cell transplantation strategies and new biological agents.

The Lee Laboratory uses biotechnologies to discover and design new approaches to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. We work at this interface using a broad variety of techniques in genomics, stem cell biology, and molecular biology.

Our approach is to understand human problems and design solutions in the laboratory, and then we demonstrate the effectiveness of these solutions in vivo.

Ongoing projects in the laboratory include studies of cardiac regeneration, diabetes, aging and metabolism.

Heart regeneration with stem cells: We explore ways to use induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to create cardiomyocytes that could be used in clinical treatments, and potential approaches to stimulating endogenous heart regeneration in adult mammals.

The aging heart: Because aging is a major factor in the worldwide heart failure epidemic, we study factors that contribute to cardiac aging and heart failure.

Arrestin proteins and metabolism: We investigate how the alpha arrestins, a family of conserved proteins, regulate mammalian metabolism.

DNA adducts in aging: We collaborate with Professor Peter Dedon of MIT to study new DNA molecules in the aging heart and brain.

Biosketch

 

Richard T. Lee is Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is a 1979 graduate of Harvard College in Biochemical Sciences and received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1983. Lee completed his residency in 1986 and cardiology fellowship in 1989, both at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in cardiovascular disease. Lee is Leader of the Cardiovascular Diseases Program of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Circulation.

Dr. Lee has published over 270 peer-reviewed articles based on his research, and teaches undergraduates at Harvard College. In addition, he is an active clinician. He regularly treats patients as a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

 

Feature stories:

Contact Information

Year

Clinician-Scientist