Sylvia Lee

Biography

Dr. Sylvia Lee is a medical oncologist who treats head and neck cancers, lung cancers and melanoma. Dr. Lee studied comparative literature and molecular biology in college, then became a high school science teacher in the Teach For America program. She enrolled in medical school at the University of North Carolina and continued her training at the University of Washington, where she pursued an internal medicine residency. She never expected to go into oncology, but during her intern year oncology rotation, she found the oncology patients to be among the most inspiring and rewarding patients she had ever worked with. As they felt more deeply and saw with more clarity the value of our life and the people around us, it was a privilege to work with them during both their triumphs and difficult times. During her hematology-oncology fellowship, Dr. Lee began training under the renowned cancer immunologist Cassian Yee, M.D. at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Enhancing your own immune system’s natural ability to recognize and attack cancer cells is perhaps the most promising new form of treatment in a field long limited to surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. These are still early days, but exciting, hopeful days, too.

Research Interest

Head and neck and lung cancers, and melanoma