Jake June-Koo Lee, MD, PhD

Assistant Member
Administrative Contact:
Cristina Radu
Email: Raduc@mskcc.org

About

Jake Lee, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Member in the Computational Oncology Service, where his research focuses on mutational processes in cancer, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms driving genomic rearrangements. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, he earned his MD from Seoul National University, where he also completed an internal medicine residency, followed by a PhD in Cancer Genomics at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He subsequently moved to the United States for postdoctoral training in Prof. Peter Park’s laboratory at Harvard Medical School and completed a second internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He then relocated to New York City for a medical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), where he established his research group in July 2025. Through his work at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Lee made key discoveries elucidating the mechanisms underlying oncogene amplifications and gene fusions in breast and lung cancers. At MSK, he expanded these studies to the single-cell level in collaboration with his mentor, Prof. Sohrab Shah. In recognition of his contributions, he received the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists in 2024 and an NCI K08 award in 2025. He also takes care of patients with lung cancer, as part of Thoracic Oncology Service at MSK. As a clinical investigator, his work has also advanced the understanding of targeted therapies in lung cancer and the mechanisms driving therapeutic resistance.
The Lee Lab

Education

MD
Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

PhD
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, South Korea

 

Appointments

Assistant Member
Computational Oncology, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Assistant Attending
Thoracic Oncology, Department of Medicine
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Assistant Professor
Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences
Weill Cornell Medicine

Selected Publications

Watson E*, Lee JJ*, Gulhan DC, Melloni GEM, Venev SV, Magesh RY, Frederick A, Chiba K, Wooten EC, Naxerova K, Dekker J, Park PJ, Elledge SJ. Chromosome evolution screens select tissue-specific tumor aneuploidy patterns. Nature Genetics. 2024 May;56(4):900-912. [PMID 38388848]

Lee JJ, Jung YL, Cheong TC, Valle-Inclan JE, Chu C, Gulhan DC, Ljungstrom V, Jin H, Viswanadham V, Watson EV, Cortes-Ciriano I, Elledge SJ, Chiarle R, Pellman D, Park PJ. ERɑ-associated translocations underlie oncogene amplifications in breast cancer. Nature. 2023 Jun;618(7967):1024-1032. [PMID 37198482]

Lee JJ*, Park S*, Park H, Kim S, Lee J, Lee J, Youk J, Yi K, An Y, Park IK, Kang CH, Chung DH, Kim TM, Jeon YK, Hong D, Park PJ, Ju YS†, Kim YT†. Tracing oncogene rearrangements in the mutational history of lung adenocarcinoma. Cell. 2019 Jun 13;117(7):1842-1857. [PMID 31155235]

Lee JK, Lee J, Kim S, Kim S, Youk J, Park S, An Y, Keam B, Kim DW, Heo DS, Kim YT, Kim JS, Kim SH, Lee JS, Lee SH, Park K, Ku JL, Jeon YK, Chung DH, Park PJ, Kim J, Kim TM†, Ju YS†. Clonal history and genetic predictors of transformation into small cell carcinomas from lung adenocarcinomas. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2017 Sep 10;35(26):3065-3074. [PMID 28498782]

Lee JK*, Hahn S*, Kim DW†, Suh KJ, Keam B, Kim TM, Lee SH, Heo DS. Epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors vs conventional chemotherapy in non-small-cell lung cancer harboring wild-type epidermal growth factor receptor: a meta-analysis. JAMA – Journal of American Medical Association. 2014 Apr;311(14):1430-1437. [PMID 24715074]

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