Sun Young Lee, PhD

Keck School of Medicine

Dr. Sun Young Lee was born and raised in South Korea. She trained at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, where she completed her ophthalmology residency and vitreoretinal surgery fellowship. After moving to the USA, she became a board-certified retina surgeon and clinician-scientist, undergoing additional training at top ophthalmology programs, including Johns Hopkins University, the University of Southern California, and the University of Iowa. Dr. Lee has extensive experience managing complex vitreoretinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, inherited retinal diseases, and diabetic retinopathy. Her current research focuses on the role of extracellular vesicles (EV), particularly exosomes, in retinal diseases and developing innovative EV-based intraocular therapies. Notable contributions to her field include studies on retinal cell biology, multi-omics of extracellular vesicles, and advanced imaging techniques for retinal diseases. Dr. Lee's research is currently supported by the National Eye Institute, Alcon Research Institute and The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. She runs the LeeRetinaLab.