Melanie Lee Explained
Melanie Georgina Lee CBE (born 29 July 1958)[1] is an English pharmaceutical industry executive and CEO of LifeArc, succeeding Dave Tapolczay in November 2018.
Career
Research
Lee received an undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of York, working with Simon Hardy,[2] and then a PhD at National Institute for Medical Research in London.[3]
Lee worked as a molecular genetics postdoc, first at Imperial College London on yeast and then from 1985 with Paul Nurse at the ICRF's Lincoln's Inn Laboratories.[4] Nurse's work on the cell cycle won him the Nobel Prize, and in his speech he cited Lee's work on finding a human homologue of the yeast gene cdc2.[5] Nurse said of this work that "I suppose the most astonishing thing was the way Melanie Lee in the lab did it by complementation."[6] Lee later recounted being uncomfortable with the competition in the laboratory.[3]
In 2003, she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.[7]
Works
- Complementation used to clone a human homologue of the fission yeast cell cycle control gene cdc2. Melanie G.. Lee. Paul. Nurse. Nature. 327. 6117. 31–5. 7 May 1987. 10.1038/327031a0. 3553962. 1987Natur.327...31L. 4300190 .
Business
Lee was appointed Chief Executive Officer of LifeArc in November 2018.[8] Lee currently serves on the Board of Directors at Sanofi and on the Board of Trustees at the Dementia Research Institute. Previously, she was Chief Scientific Officer of BGT Plc and was the founder and CEO of NightstaRx, a Syncona, Wellcome Trust company in 2014.[9]
She began her pharmaceutical industry career at Glaxo in 1988, leaving academia after she became pregnant. She joined Celltech in 1998 where she was Director of R&D.<ref>Web site: Melanie G. Lee CBE, PhD, FMedSci, DSc (Hons). BloombergBusiness. 14 September 2015. She held the same role at UCB Pharmaceuticals and was CEO of Syntaxin Ltd from 2010 to 2013.[10] [11] She had Chair and Deputy Chair Trustee appointments at Cancer Research Technology and Cancer Research UK respectively. She was on the board of Lundbeck and founded the Think10 business advice company.[12]
She was an advisor to the 2014–15 Dowling Review of business-university research collaborations.[13]
Awards
In January 2019, Lee was awarded the BIA Lifetime Achievement Award.[14] She received a CBE in 2009 in respect of her for services to medical science[15] [16] and in 2014, she was named as one of the top 100 "leading practising scientists" in the UK by the Science Council.[17]
Personal life
She is married to Christopher, with whom she lives in London. They have two sons.[3]
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Notice of Annual General Meeting. Lundbeck. 1 March 2012. 14 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20171206160330/http://investor.lundbeck.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=653052. 6 December 2017. dead.
- Web site: Honour for University of York plant biologist. University of York. 2 January 2009. 14 September 2015.
- News: From Watching 'The Expert' to Becoming An Expert. Cahoon. Lauren. Science Magazine. 26 September 2008. 14 September 2015. 10.1126/science.caredit.a0800142.
- Book: Weston, Kathleen. http://blueskiesbenchspace.org/index.php?pag=6. Blue Skies and Bench Space. 6: Divide and Rule. Cancer Research UK. 14 September 2015.
- Web site: The discovery of cdc2 as the key regulator of the cell cycle. Nurse. Paul. Cells. Jones and Bartlett Publishers. 2007. 14 September 2015.
- 2650208. The cell cycle and beyond: an interview with Paul Nurse. Disease Models & Mechanisms. Smith. Jim. March 2009. 19259383. 10.1242/dmm.002592. 2. 3–4. 113–5.
- http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellows-directory/ordinary-fellows/dr-melanie-lee/ Dr Melanie Lee CBE FMedSci
- Web site: LifeArc announces new CEO appointment. 2018-09-04. LifeArc. en-GB. 2019-03-30.
- Web site: Melanie Lee. Life Science Integrates. en-GB. 2020-05-14.
- Web site: Dr Melanie Lee CBE FMedSci. The Academy of Medical Sciences. 14 September 2015.
- News: Melanie Lee becomes CEO of Syntaxin. MedNous. Evernow Publishing. 8 February 2010. 14 September 2015.
- Web site: About us. Think10. 14 September 2015.
- Web site: Dowling Review Group. Royal Academy of Engineering. 14 September 2015.
- Web site: Melanie Lee CBE BIA Lifetime Achievement Award Winner 2019. BIA. www.bioindustry.org. 2019-03-30.
- http://www.cancertechnology.co.uk/dr-melanie-lee-chairman-crt-awarded-commander-order-british-empire-cbe Dr. Melanie Lee, Chairman of CRT, is awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
- News: New Year honours list: DBEs and CBEs. 31 December 2008. The Guardian. 14 September 2015.
- News: The UK's 100 leading practising scientists. 17 January 2014. 14 September 2015. Times Higher Education.