Jeannie T. Lee

Dr. Jeannie T. Lee is The Phillip A. Sharp Endowed Chair in Molecular Biology, a Professor of Genetics (and Pathology) at Harvard Medical School, and Chair of Molecular Biology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Lee specializes in the study of epigenetic regulation by long noncoding RNAs and uses X-chromosome inactivation as a model system. She is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Member of the National Academy of Medicine, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an elected Academician at Academia Sinica. She is also a 2018 Harrington Rare Disease Scholar of the Harrington Discovery Institute, the 2016 recipient of the Lurie Prize from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, a 2016 awardee of the Centennial Prize from the Genetics Society of America, a recipient of the Molecular Biology Prize (2010) and the Cozzarelli Prize (2020) from the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. Dr. Lee was also named a Distinguished Graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2013 and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. From 2013-2018, she co-launched the Epigenetics Initiative at Harvard Medical School and served as its Co-Director. Serving on the Board of Directors of the Genetics Society of America (GSA), Dr. Lee spearheaded the TAGC (The All-Genetics) Conference in 2016. As GSA's President, Dr. Lee established a Strategic Plan and a Development strategy for the society in 2018. She received her A.B. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard University and obtained M.D.-Ph.D degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Lee then carried out postdoctoral work at the Whitehead Institute & MIT and became Chief Resident of Clinical Pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital prior to joining the Faculty at Harvard Medical School. As a new investigator, she received the Basil O’Connor Scholar Award from the March of Dimes and the Pew Scholars Award. As a champion of translational science, she played a major role in the founding of Translate Bio and Fulcrum Therapeutics. Basic mechanisms in X chromosome inactivation are being translated to better understand and treat Rett Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, autism-spectrum disorders, and other X-linked disorders.