Katherine
Lee obtained her B.S., summa cum laude,
with Distinction in Chemistry from Yale University and her Ph.D. in Organic
Chemistry from MIT with Professor Rick Danheiser. Katherine then did
postdoctoral studies at the University of Texas at Austin with Professor
Stephen Martin before joining Mitotix, Inc. (now Agennix) as a medicinal
chemist. Katherine moved to Wyeth Research (now Pfizer) in 2000 and in 2009
joined Pfizer. Katherine is an expert in medicinal chemistry, with research
interests including fragment-based drug design, structure-based drug design,
and optimization of ADME and safety properties. Katherine is a co-inventor of
several clinical compounds, including a first-in-class IRAK4 inhibitor in Phase
2 and two cPLA2a inhibitors that achieved Phase 2 Proof of Concept.
In 2019, Katherine joined Pfizer’s Inflammation and Immunology Research Unit as
Senior Director and Head of Scientific Planning and Operations.