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Brendan Lee (academic)

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Brendan Lee
NationalityAmerican
Known forGenetic bone disorders, translational research, skeletal dysplasia, urea cycle disorders
Awards
Honors
Academic work
InstitutionsBaylor College of Medicine

Brendan Lee is an American physician-scientist and academic specializing in medical genetics, skeletal and metabolic diseases, and translational research. He is Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM).

Career

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Lee is co-director of the Lawrence Family Bone Disease Program of Texas, a collaborative initiative involving the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas Health, and Baylor College of Medicine. He has held various leadership roles in the program since 2007. He also directs the BCM Center for Skeletal Medicine and Biology, established in 2012,[1] and founded the Baylor College of Medicine Pamela and David Ott Center of Excellence in Heritable Disorders of Connective Tissue and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome in 2013.[2][3]

At Texas Children's Hospital, Lee is the director and founder of the Skeletal Dysplasia Clinic. From 2000 to 2020, he led the Medical Students Research Track (renamed the Medical Research Pathway in 2019), and he has been a member of the Faculty Operating Committee for the MD/PhD Program since 1999.[4]

Research work

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Lee’s research has focused on genetic bone disorders. His early work contributed to the identification of mutations associated with conditions such as dwarfism and Marfan syndrome.[5] He has investigated the role of transcription factors in skeletal development and identified genes involved in osteogenesis imperfecta (OI).[6][7] His research implicated increased TGF-β signaling in OI and supported related clinical trials.[8] Other contributions include identifying WNT1’s role in bone mass regulation[9] and examining the involvement of Notch signaling in osteosarcoma and metastatic breast cancer.[10] His group has developed gene therapy approaches for chondrodysplasias and conducted the first in vivo trial using high-capacity adenoviral gene therapy for knee osteoarthritis.

In metabolic disease research, Lee has studied urea cycle disorders (UCD), identifying a protein complex that regulates nitric oxide production and providing a framework for nitric oxide-based therapies.

As of 2025, Lee has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed articles and over 90 reviews, book chapters, and books. His research has received over $139 million in cumulative funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He leads several NIH-supported initiatives, including the Baylor College of Medicine Undiagnosed Diseases Network Clinical Site,[11] the RE-JOIN Consortium site,[12] the Brittle Bone Disorders Consortium,[13] and the All of Us "Evenings with Genetics" Scholars Program.

Lee was instrumental in the development of Baylor Genetics, a molecular diagnostics laboratory that evolved from BCM’s internal diagnostic operations. Under his leadership, the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics has been ranked first in NIH funding among U.S. medical school genetics departments for several years.[14][15]

Selected honors

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Memberships

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Awards

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References

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  1. ^ "DoD grant supports preclinical tests of osteoarthritis gene therapy". BCM. 13 June 2022.
  2. ^ "Heritable Disorders of Connective Tissue Research | BCM". Baylor College of Medicine.
  3. ^ "Baylor College of Medicine gifted funds to study rare disorder". Business Journals.
  4. ^ "Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital join national collaboration to solve most difficult, rare medical cases". Texas Children's Hospital. 1 July 2014.
  5. ^ "Cracking Cases With a Genetics Gumshoe". Houstonia Magazine.
  6. ^ "Osteogenesis imperfecta gene identified". The Scientist.
  7. ^ "Mutated bone stem cells caught in a loop leading to osteogenesis imperfecta type V". BCM. 26 June 2024.
  8. ^ "Targeting TGF-β for treatment of osteogenesis imperfecta". BCM. 15 February 2022.
  9. ^ "Research identifies how master regulator, bone-building protein can be used for therapy". Medical Xpress.
  10. ^ "ASHG 2023: The Power of Diagnosis and Therapy". GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News. 8 November 2023.
  11. ^ "These Houston Doctors Seek to Diagnose the Previously Un-Diagnosable". Houstonia Magazine.
  12. ^ "Targeted Research to Improve Joint Pain | NIH HEAL Initiative". NIH. 2023.
  13. ^ "Experimental drug shows promise for treating 'brittle bone' disease". UPI.
  14. ^ "Department of Molecular and Human Genetics". BCM.
  15. ^ "The Great Explainer: Dr. Brendan Lee Translates Genetics—the ABCs of DNA". NIH.
  16. ^ "Brendan Lee". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 20 May 2025.
  17. ^ "Brendan Lee". NAM.edu.
  18. ^ "AAAS Fellow Class of 2014 Announced | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)". AAAS.org.
  19. ^ "Members". TAMEST.
  20. ^ https://beta.the-asci.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2010-Joint-Meeting-program.pdf
  21. ^ "Brendan Lee, MD, PhD". The American Society for Clinical Investigation.
  22. ^ "William F. Neuman Award". American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. 22 January 2009.
  23. ^ "2017 Alumni Award Recipients". BCM.
  24. ^ "Past Award Recipients". ASHG.
  25. ^ "ALUMNI AWARD DESCRIPTIONS" (PDF). BCM.
  26. ^ "Past Award Recipients". Society for Pediatric Research.
  27. ^ "Edith and Peter O'Donnell Award in Medicine". TAMEST.
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