John K. Lee, M.D., Ph.D.

Lee studies the mechanisms that drive advanced prostate and bladder cancers and seeks to translate these findings into novel therapeutic strategies. His current research interests are understanding the interaction of oncogenic events in the initiation and progression of these cancers, identifying antigens as targets to develop antibody and cell-based immunotherapies and targeting Myc and AR in castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Lee has made significant contributions in developing immunotherapies for genitourinary cancers and in deciphering the complex genetic interactions that underlie cancer initiation and progression. He has innovated a preclinical approach to rapidly generate diverse cancer subtypes from stem/progenitor-enriched primary epithelial cells that enables interrogation of genotype-phenotype relationships at scale using massively parallel single-cell sequencing. 

Lee's studies have also directly led to the development of early phase clinical trials investigating two CAR-T cell therapies for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and small cell neuroendocrine prostate cancer. These targeted therapies could improve outcomes for individuals with these aggressive cancers, which are often fatal in less than a year.