Edward B. Lee, M.D., Ph.D., graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford and earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. After training in Anatomic Pathology and Neuropathology, he was appointed to the faculty in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in 2011 where has risen to the rank of Professor and serves as the Director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Resaerch, Co-Director of the Institute on Aging, Associate Director of the Penn Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and principal investigator of the Translational Neuropathology Research Laboratory which investigates neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and trauma-related brain injuries.

He has made significant contributions to understanding aging-related diseases, including defining the molecular consequences of the loss of normal TDP-43 protein in FTD/ALS, the discovery of vacuolar tauopathy linked to VCP mutations, and the development of cryo-electron tomography to study human brain tissue. Edward is also an attending physician at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in diagnostic neuropathology. With over 250 publications in top journals and an h-index of 78, Edward is recognized as a Highly Cited Research by Clarivate and has received numerous NIH grants and awards including a Clinical Scientist Development Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Edward serves on several editorial boards for prominent journals including JCI Insight, and has participated in multiple NIH and DoD study sections including his current role as chair of the CMND study section. He is dedicated to training future scientists, having mentored 42 trainees within his own laboratory, serving on over 55 thesis committees, and directing an NIA R13-funded national workshop for neuropathology trainees. His vision is to foster interdisciplinary collaboration to better understand aging and develop new therapies for aging-related neurodegenerative diseases.