About

Jeffrey E. Lee is a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at UC San Diego School of Medicine. His research and clinical work focus on ophthalmology, with particular interest in electronic health records, ophthalmic surgery, and the genetic and molecular factors influencing melanoma and other neoplasms. He has contributed to the understanding of genetic variants associated with melanoma survival, the impact of electronic health record implementation on ophthalmology training, and the development of diagnostic and prognostic tools in oncology. His work includes investigating the genetic basis of melanoma, evaluating clinical workflows in ophthalmology, and improving surgical outcomes through analysis of operative factors. Dr. Lee's publications reflect a broad engagement with medical informatics, surgical techniques, and cancer prognosis, emphasizing the integration of genetic, clinical, and technological approaches to enhance patient care and outcomes.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Cancer research
• Biology
• Genetics
• Internal medicine
• Oncology
• Surgery
• Gastroenterology
• Pathology
• Immunology
• Urology
• Food science
• Bioinformatics

Selected publications

• Artificial intelligence–assisted estimation of superior mesenteric artery dissection extent during robotic pancreatoduodenectomy

  HPB · 2026-04-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Table 2 from Obesity Is Associated with Altered Tumor Metabolism in Metastatic Melanoma

  2025-11-25

  articleOpen access

  <p>Differential gene expression analysis for covariates controlled.</p>

  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Figure S1 from Obesity Is Associated with Altered Tumor Metabolism in Metastatic Melanoma

  2025-11-25

  articleOpen access

  <p>Integrated gene set enrichment analysis by body mass index (BMI) with correction for S phase. This figure presents a dotplot of genes differentially up- or downregulated in OW/OB patients versus NL BMI patients. Red indicates upregulation in OW/OB verse NL. The far left column is all patients, and then, an analysis controlling for sex, cohort, and tissue site is shown in the 3 columns to the right.</p>

  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Figure S4 from Obesity Is Associated with Altered Tumor Metabolism in Metastatic Melanoma

  2025-11-25

  articleOpen access

  <p>Immune cell analysis by BMI. A. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis for CD8-, CD45RO-, FOXP3-, CD68-, GZMB-, PD-1-, LAG-3-, and CD3-positive cells in overweight/obese (OW/OB) verse normal (NL) tumors as defined by body mass index from the MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDA) cohort. Line represents median +/- interquartile range; each dot represents a single tumor. B. IHC analysis for PD-L1-, CD45RO-, FOXP3-, EOMES-, GZMB-, PD-1-, TBET-, and TBET:FOXP3-positive cells in OW/OB verse NL tumors as defined by body mass index from the Gide cohort. Line represents median +/- interquartile range; each dot represents a single tumor.</p>

  PublisherDOI

• Long-Term Survival and Biomarker Analysis Evaluating Neoadjuvant Plus Adjuvant Relatlimab (anti-LAG3) and Nivolumab (anti-PD1) in Patients With Resectable Melanoma

  Journal of Clinical Oncology · 2025-07-10 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has revolutionized outcomes for patients with melanoma across multiple disease settings. In patients with advanced, unresectable disease, the ICB combination of nivolumab (anti-PD1) and relatlimab (anti-LAG-3) has demonstrated improved clinical outcomes compared with nivolumab monotherapy. There exists an unmet need to identify biomarkers that predict response to this combination regimen and rational therapeutic strategies to overcome resistance. We previously reported the initial results of a phase II clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02519322) of neoadjuvant systemic treatment (NST) followed by adjuvant treatment with nivolumab and relatlimab, which achieved a major pathologic response (MPR; ≤10% viable tumor) rate of 63% in patients with stage III/IV, surgically resectable melanoma. Our updated clinical follow-up (median 47 months) for these patients demonstrates that at 4 years from the start of NST, 80% of patients remain event-free, including 95% of patients who achieved a MPR. Gene expression analysis of longitudinally collected biospecimens from the trial identifies baseline upregulation of several immune modulatory pathways associated with MPR; by contrast, increased B7-H3 expression was associated with resistance. This work demonstrates the long-term benefit of neoadjuvant nivolumab and relatlimab and identifies a potentially targetable predictor of resistance to this combination therapy.

  PublisherDOI

• P199: Pathological complete response rate followed by neoadjuvant chemotherapy according to BRCA 1/2 mutation: A single center retrospective cohort study

  The Breast · 2025-02-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Figure S5 from Obesity Is Associated with Altered Tumor Metabolism in Metastatic Melanoma

  2025-11-25

  articleOpen access

  <p>Immune cell analysis by BMI and sex. A. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis of the MDA cohort stratified by BMI and sex. Line represents median +/- interquartile range; each dot represents a single tumor. B. IHC analysis of the Gide cohort stratified by BMI and sex. Line represents median +/- interquartile range; each dot represents a single tumor.</p>

  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Tables 1 and 6-8 from Obesity Is Associated with Altered Tumor Metabolism in Metastatic Melanoma

  2025-11-25

  articleOpen access

  <p>Supplementary Table 1: Baseline characteristics for patients included in the integrated gene set enrichment analysis (Figure 2-3) by cohort; Supplementary Table 6: The most frequent somatic alterations (alts) in patients with regionally metastatic melanoma by body mass index from The Cancer Genome Atlas cohort; Supplemental Table 7: Integrated gene set enrichment analysis for pathways associated with fatty acid metabolism by body mass index; Supplemental Table 8: Gene expression of selected genes of interest involved in fatty acid metabolism.</p>

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supplementary Figure S3 from Obesity Is Associated with Altered Tumor Metabolism in Metastatic Melanoma

  2025-11-25

  articleOpen access

  <p>Integrated gene set enrichment analysis of subgroups by body mass index BMI. This figure compares gene expression between overweight/obese (OW/OB) and normal (NL) BMI patients with metastatic melanoma across subgroups by sex, cohort, and tissue site. Supplementary Figure 2 presents a dotplot of genes differentially up- or downregulated in OW/OB patients versus NL BMI patients by subgroups. Red indicates upregulation in OW/OB verse NL.</p>

  PublisherDOI

• Supplementary Figure S6 from Obesity Is Associated with Altered Tumor Metabolism in Metastatic Melanoma

  2025-11-25

  articleOpen access

  <p>Direct metabolite measurements from a subset of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort. Comparison of additional tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolites measured by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry between metastatic melanoma tumors from overweight/obese (OW/OB) patients by body mass index (BMI) verse normal (NL) BMI from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Lines represent mean +/- SEM; each dot represents a single tumor.</p>

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant P50CA093459

  NIH · $8.6M · 2017

• 02 Research Animal Support Facility-Houston/Smithville

  NIH · $92.3M · 1996–2026

Frequent coauthors

• Matthew H. G. Katz

  283 shared

• Jeffrey E. Gershenwald

  Klein Buendel (United States)

  245 shared

• Merrick I. Ross

  The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

  235 shared

• Christopher I. Amos

  Houston Institute for Clinical Research

  205 shared

• Qingyi Wei

  203 shared

• Janice N. Cormier

  Baylor College of Medicine

  171 shared

• Jason B. Fleming

  Moffitt Cancer Center

  170 shared

• Shenying Fang

  168 shared

Education

• M.D., Ophthalmology

  University of California, San Diego

  1995

• B.S., Biology

  University of California, San Diego

  1991