Dr. Brendan Lee is the Robert and Janice McNair Endowed Chair in Molecular and Human Genetics, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). In addition, Dr. Lee co-directs the joint MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas Health, and BCM Rolanette and Berdon Lawrence Bone Disease Program of Texas, and the BCM Center for Skeletal Medicine and Biology. He is founder and director of the Skeletal Dysplasia Clinic at Texas Children’s Hospital, and of the Medical Student Research Track at BCM.

As a pediatrician and geneticist, Dr. Lee studies structural birth defects and inborn errors of metabolism. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers and over 80 invited reviews, chapters, and books. His work has garnered over $68M in continuous NIH funding over his 25 years as an independent investigator. He currently leads the NIH BCM Undiagnosed Diseases Network Clinical Site and NIH Brittle Bone Disorders Consortium. He holds multiple patents in drug discovery and gene therapy and several licensed technologies are in clinical trial.

Furthermore, Dr. Lee has received local, national, and international recognition including election to the National Academy of Medicine, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science, and Technology (TAMEST), the Association of American Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Society of Pediatric Research. He has also been awarded the American Society of Human Genetics Curt Stern Award for outstanding scientific achievement, the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research William F. Neuman Award for outstanding contributions to science, teaching, research, and administration, the TAMEST Peter and Edith O’Donnell Award in medicine, the Society for Pediatrics Research E. Meade Johnson Award for pediatrics research, the Michael E. DeBakey Excellence in Research Award, the American Philosophical Society’s Judson Darland Prize for patient-oriented clinical investigation, Best Doctors in America, and Foreign Member, National Academy of Medical and Surgical Sciences in Napoli, Italy.

He has served on multiple nonprofit boards and advisory panels including the Advisory Committee to the Director of the NIH. Dr. Lee was previously an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute prior to becoming Chairman of the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at BCM in 2014. The department is the leading genetics program in the world integrating basic/translational/clinical research, prenatal/pediatric/adult clinical service, and molecular pathology activities. His global activities include the establishment of the joint BCM-Chinese University of Hong Kong Center for Medical Genetics in Hong Kong.