Wei-Ping Andrew Lee (Chinese: 李為平; pinyin: Lǐ Wéipíng; born c. 1957) is a Taiwanese-American hand surgeon and medical researcher. He is the dean of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and the provost of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Lee focuses on translational research on immune modulation for vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) and the implementation of protocols to minimize immunosuppression in hand transplant and other VCA programs.

Early life and education

Lee was born in Gangshan, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. His father, Lee Hsueh-yan[zh], was a general in the Republic of China Air Force.

Lee immigrated to the United States at the age of 15 to join his siblings. He followed his siblings to different towns due to their job re-location, and went to three high schools in three years while adapting to his new country and learning a new language.

Lee graduated with honors from Harvard College in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in physics. He received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he also completed his general surgery residency. He received plastic surgery training at the Massachusetts General Hospital and completed his orthopedic hand fellowship at the Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center. In 1991, he joined the academic faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, where he became the Director of Plastic Surgery Research Laboratory and Chief of Hand Service in Department of Surgery.

Career

In 2002, Lee was named the division chief of plastic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In 2010, he moved to Johns Hopkins Hospital to become the inaugural chairman of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. From 2010 to 2019, he was the Milton T. Edgerton, M.D., Professor and Chairman of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Johns Hopkins. He chaired the Associate Professor Promotion Committee of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine from 2014 to 2017 and was Chair of the Medical Board from 2016 to 2018.

In 2019, Lee became the 16th dean of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and executive vice president for academic affairs and provost of UT Southwestern Medical Center where he is Professor of Plastic Surgery and holds the Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science. He currently oversees four degree-granting schools, 3,700 faculty members, total research expenditure of nearly $800 million, and education of about 4,300 students and trainees.

Research

A hand surgeon and translational researcher, Lee investigates tolerance strategy for vascularized composite allografts (VCA) to ameliorate the need for long-term systemic immunosuppression. He has been principal investigator on numerous federal research grants totaling over $10 million.

Lee established multidisciplinary programs for hand transplantation at Johns Hopkins and the University of Pittsburgh using an immunomodulatory protocol based upon the work from his laboratory. He led the surgical team that performed the first bilateral hand transplant (2009) and the first trans-humeral transplant (2010) in the United States. A key feature of the protocol is single-agent immunosuppression that aims to minimize the long-term risks of VCA. He has led one of the largest hand and arm transplant programs in the field, and his group was especially focused on restoring functions to military servicemen with upper extremity amputations that resulted from combat injuries.

In March 2018, Lee oversaw the team that performed the world's first total penis and scrotum transplant. The operation included transplants of the penis, scrotum, and abdominal wall to a wounded serviceman and was the most complex surgery of its type.

Lee has authored about 240 original peer-reviewed publications and 40 textbook chapters and co-edited the book Transplantation of Composite Tissue Allografts, (2008). He has served on the editorial boards of Transplantation, Journal of Surgical Research' and Hand. He co-founded Vascularized Composite Allo-transplantation in 2014 and serves as its co-Editor.

Honors and awards

Society Leadership

Publications

  • Lee WPA, Yaremchuk MJ, Pan YC, Randolph MA, Tan CM, Weiland AJ. . Plastic Reconstructive Surg, 87:401, 1991.
  • Lee WPA, Mathes D. . J Hand Surg, 24A:906, 1999.
  • Lee WPA, Rubin JP, Bourget JL, Cober SR, Randolph MA, Nielsen GP, Ierino FL, Sachs DH. . Plastic Reconstr Surg, 107:1482, 2001.
  • Mathes DW, Randolph MA, Solari MG, Nazzal JA, Nielson GP, Arn JS, Sachs DH, Lee WPA. . Transplantation, 75:25-31, 2003.
  • Hettiaratchy S, Melendy E, Randolph MA, Coburn RC, Neville DM, Sachs DH, Huang C, Lee WPA. . Transplantation, 77:514, 2004.
  • Solari MG, Washington KM, Sacks JM, Hautz T, Unadkat JV, Horibe E, Venkataramanan R, Larregina AT, Thomson AW, Lee WPA. . Plast Reconstr Surg, 123:17S-25S, 2009.
  • Unadkat J, Schneeberger S, Horibe EH, Goldbach C, Solari MG, Washington KM, Gorantla VS, Cooper GM, Thomson AW, Lee WPA. . Am J Transplant, 10:251, 2010.
  • Schneeberger S, Gorantla VS, Brandacher G, Zeevi A, Demetris AJ, Lunz JG, Metes DM, Donnenberg AD, Shores JT, Dimartini AF, Kiss JE, Imbriglia JE, Azari K, Goitz RJ, Manders EK, Nguyen VT, Cooney DS, Wachtman GS, Keith J, Fletcher D, Macedo C, Planinsic R, Losee J, Shapiro R, Starzl TE, Lee WPA. . Ann Surg, 257:345-351, 2013.
  • Shores JT, Brandacher G, Lee WPA. . Plast Reconstr Surg, 135(2):351e-360e, 2015
  • Lee WPA. . J Hand Surg, 42(4):286-290, 2017.
  • Redett RJ, Etra JW, Brandacher G, Burnett AL, Tuffaha SH, Sacks JM, Shores JT, Bivalacqua TJ, Bonawitz S, Cooney CM, Coon D, Pustavoitau A, Rizkalla NA, Jackson AM, Javia V, Fidder SAJ, Davis-Sproul J, Breenan DC, Sander IB, Shoham S, Sopko NA, Lee WPA, Cooney DS. . N Engl J Med, 381(19):1876-1878m, 2019.
  • Etra JW, Shores JT, Sander IB, Brandacher G, Lee WPA. . Ann Surg, 271(5);e113-114, 2020.