Rate My Professor Carol M.Y. Lee

Dr Carol M.Y. Lee is Project Lead for Motor Neurone Disease Research at the Motor Neuron Disease Research Centre within Macquarie Medical School at Macquarie University. She leads efforts on geolocation mapping of MND cases and systematic identification of sporadic MND patients in New South Wales, including management of a pilot MND surveillance unit. Her recent work includes leading Australia’s first population-based real-world study on alopecia areata incidence, prevalence, and management, as well as national quality-of-life and caregiver-burden research.

Dr Lee holds a BSc (Honours) in Pharmacology from the University of New South Wales and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Sydney, completed in affiliation with Westmead Hospital. Her doctoral research examined the effects of HIV on human T-cell function, focusing on the Nef protein. Following her PhD, she undertook post-doctoral training at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in the Antibody Therapeutics Lab, where she developed antibodies and cytokines and authored a highly cited Nature Protocols paper on phage-display methods for human antibody-fragment selection. She brings over 10 years of experience in pharmaceutical R&D and clinical pharmacology, with expertise in ethnic variability in drug development and pharmacogenomics. Key publications include studies on MND mortality trends in Australia (2026), alopecia areata (2023–2025), interleukin-21, and HIV Nef protein effects (2008), among others. Dr Lee’s professional email address is c.lee@mq.edu.au.