Peter Lee, MD, PhD, MPH, FACS, FACC

Dr. Peter H.U. Lee earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience at Brown University, Providence, R.I., followed by a Master of Science degree at The International Space University (ISU), Strasbourg, France. Dr. Lee furthered his knowledge and expertise by earning a Doctorate of Philosophy and Doctorate of Medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, R.I. Dr. Lee also obtained his Master’s of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, M.A.

Dr. Lee completed his residency in General Surgery at Tufts University School of Medicine affiliated St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Boston, M.A. followed by a residency in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of California Los Angeles. He completed a Heart/Lung Transplantation and VAD Fellowship at Stanford University, Stanford, C.A.

Dr. Lee is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS), the American College of Cardiology (FACC), and the Aerospace Medical Association (FAsMA). He is also an elected Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine. He is board certified by both the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery.

Prior to joining Southcoast, Dr. Lee served as an Assistant Professor of Surgery at The Ohio State University, with a joint appointment in Biomedical Engineering, and practiced as a cardiac surgeon in the Division of Cardiac Surgery at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. His clinical interests included adult cardiac surgery and heart and lung transplantation.

Beyond the medical field, Dr. Lee has always had an interest in space exploration. As an adult, he turned his interest into a career researching the effects of space microgravity on muscles and the heart. Dr. Lee has been funded by NASA and the NIH and has had experiments on numerous space missions, including the space shuttle, the International Space Station (ISS), and suborbital flight.

Dr. Lee’s most recent experiment in March of 2020 involved sending bio-engineered heart tissue to the ISS for one month to study the effect of space flight on the heart with the goal of using the results to help patients with heart disease on Earth. Dr. Lee is also a U.S. Air Force Lt. Col., where he serves as a surgeon and flight surgeon in the Air National Guard.