Hyun-Sung Lee, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Surgery

Positions

Associate Professor of Surgery: Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery
David J. Sugarbaker Division of Thoracic Surgery
Baylor College of Medicine
HOUSTON, Texas, United States

Director: Systems Onco-Immunology Lab

Member: Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center

Co-Leader: DLDCCC Cancer Immunology Special Interest Group

Addresses

Laboratory (Lab): Alkek Building for Biomedical Research
Houston, TX, 77030
United States

Education

Research Fellowship at Systems Biology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center: HOUSTON, Texas, United States

Clinical Fellowship at Thoracic Surgery, Center for Lung Cancer, National Cancer Center: Goyang, Republic of Korea

PhD from Yonsei University College of Medicine: Seoul, Republic of Korea

Residency at Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine: Seoul, Republic of Korea

MD from Yonsei University College of Medicine: Seoul, Republic of Korea

Honors & Awards

PEAR (Professional Educator Appreciation and Recognition) Award: Baylor College of Medicine (08/2022)

O.H. Frazier, M.D. Innovation Awards: Baylor College of Medicine (10/2022)

Waun Ki Hong Memorial Award: Severance Alumni Association of USA (11/2022)

The Power of Professionalism (POP) Award: Baylor College of Medicine (03/2023)

Michael E. DeBakey Faculty Research Award: BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE (07/2021 - 06/2022)

Professional Interests

Systems Onco-Immunology
Malignant pleural mesothelioma
Lung cancer
Single-Cell Multi-Omics
Immunoproteogenomics

Professional Statement

Dr. Lee is a tenured Associate Professor of the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). He has more than ten years of experience treating lung cancer and esophageal cancer as an attending thoracic surgeon, three years of research in the Department of Systems Biology at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, and eight years of immunology research in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at BCM. Dr. Lee is Director of the Systems Onco-Immunology Lab (SOIL) at BCM, in which the 10XGenomics Chromium X and Chromium Controller are equipped to generate single-cell libraries for single-cell multi-omics platforms, including single-cell RNA sequencing with TCR analysis. He is particularly enthusiastic about “systems onco-immunology,” with specific experience in comprehensively integrating high-dimensional single-cell time-of-flight mass cytometry (CyTOF), imaging mass cytometry (IMC), mass spectrometry–based immunopeptidomics, and single-cell multi-omics data. He has applied innovative immunoproteomic and immunogenomic approaches to this framework to understand the mechanisms underlying clinical outcomes and primary or acquired resistance to immunotherapy in these diseases. He continues to characterize and unravel the cellular immune network by analyzing human and mouse single-cell data, correlating immune composition with immunogenomic determinants to predict clinical prognosis and response to checkpoint immunotherapy.
Dr. Lee's strongest expertise lies in grasping the clinical implications of translational research and bridging our advancing science to meet the critical needs within immuno-oncology. His overarching goals are to identify potential therapeutic targets to overcome resistance to checkpoint immunotherapy and to investigate the cellular mechanism of tumor immunity and autoimmunity after immunotherapy by applying “comprehensive and integrated systems immunology” approaches.

Websites

Division of General Thoracic Surgery

NCBI Bibliography

Systems Onco-Immunology Lab (SOIL)

Selected Publications

Hyun-Sung Lee, Hee-Jin Jang, Jong Min Choi, Jun Zhang, Veronica Lenge de Rosen, Thomas M. Wheeler, Ju-Seog Lee, Thuydung Tu, Peter T. Jindra, Ronald H. Kerman, Sung Yun Jung, Farrah Kheradmand, David J. Sugarbaker, and Bryan M. Burt. " Comprehensive immunoproteogenomic analyses of malignant pleural mesothelioma " Comprehensive immunoproteogenomic analyses of malignant pleural mesothelioma JCI Insight. 2018 Apr 5;
Jang HJ, Truong CY, Lo EM, Holmes HM, Ramos D, Ramineni M, Lee JS, Wang DY, Pietropaolo M, Ripley RT, Burt BM, Lee HS. " Inhibition of CDK4/6 Overcomes Primary Resistance to PD-1 Blockade in Malignant Mesothelioma " Ann Thorac Surg. 2021 Sep ;
Lee HS, Jang HJ, Ramineni M, Wang DY, Ramos D, Choi JM, Splawn T, Espinoza M, Almarez M, Hosey L, Jo E, Hilsenbeck S, Amos CI, Ripley RT, Burt BM. " A Phase II Window of Opportunity Study of Neoadjuvant PD-L1 versus PD-L1 plus CTLA-4 Blockade for Patients with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma " Clin Cancer Res. 2023 Feb ; 29 (3) : 248-559.
Pubmed PMID: 36469573.
Jang HJ, Lee HS, Yu W, Ramineni M, Truong CY, Ramos D, Splawn T, Choi JM, Jung SY, Lee JS, Wang DY, Sederstrom JM, Pietropaolo M, Kheradmand F, Amos CI, Wheeler TM, Ripley RT, Burt BM. " Therapeutic Targeting of Macrophage Plasticity Remodels the Tumor-Immune Microenvironment " Cancer Res. 2022 Jul ; 82 (14) : 2593-2609.
Pubmed PMID: 35709756.
Espinosa-Carrasco G, Chiu E, Scrivo A, Zumbo P, Dave A, Betel D, Kang SW, Jang HJ, Hellmann MD, Burt BM, Lee HS, Schietinger A. " Intratumoral immune triads are required for immunotherapy-mediated elimination of solid tumors " Cancer Cell. 2024 Jul 8; 42 : 1202-1216.
Pubmed PMID: 38906155.
Lee HS, Jang HJ, Shah R, Yoon D, Hamaji M, Wald O, Lee JS, Sugarbaker DJ, Burt BM. " Genomic Analysis of Thymic Epithelial Tumors Identifies Novel Subtypes Associated with Distinct Clinical Features " Clin Cancer Res. 2017 Apr 11;
Pubmed PMID: 28400429.
Jang HJ, Patel M, Wang DY, Kang SW, Choi JM, Lee C, Vilchis M, Shim JS, Mitra S, Ranchod P, Kuncheria A, Hudson W, Jindra P, Lenge De Rosen V, Ramineni M, Camp ER, Kheradmand F, Ripley RT, Groth SS, Lee HS*, Burt BM.. " Ad-SGE-DKK3 Gene Therapy Overcomes Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Pleural Mesothelioma " Clin Cancer Res. 2025 ;
Pubmed PMID: 40208070.
Yao J, Shim JS, Wong K, Zhu J, Liu Y, Kang SW, Burt KBM, Choi JM, Lee C, Julio ICL, Soto LMS, Hernandez S, Colbert K, Lu W, Khan K, Mansfield PF, Jang HJ, Yue T, Li C, Zhu H, Wang L, Lee HS*, Wang T.. " Interpretable AI Model Reveals Spatial Codes of Cell Recruitment in Tissues " Nat Biomed Eng. 2026 ;
Pubmed PMID: 41332779.
Mitra S, Jang HJ, Kuncheria A, Kang SW, Choi JM, Shim JS, Lee C, Ranchod P, Jindra P, Ramineni M, Patel M, Ripley RT, Groth SS, Blackmon SH, Burt BM, Lee HS. " Soluble mesothelin-related peptide as a prognosticator in pleural mesothelioma patients receiving checkpoint immunotherapy " J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2025 ;
Pubmed PMID: 39395787.
Ito A, Kang SW, Jang HJ, Shim JS, Lee C, Ranchod P, Lee G, Mitra S, Jeon J, Syarif AH, Zhang Y, Byun J, Han Y, Malo J, Patel M, Ripley RT, Groth SS, Kheradmand F, Burt BM, Polverino F, Amos CI, Lee HS*.. " Tumor-infiltrating natural killer cell profiling for therapeutic stratification in patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer " J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2026 ;
Pubmed PMID: 41791482.

Memberships

Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center member: Research Member (03/2023)

American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS): Member

Funding

Single-cell multi-omics integration to exploit autoimmunity induced by checkpoint immunotherapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma #W81XWH-22-1-0657: (08/01/2022 - 07/30/2027); Grant funding from Department Of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program Impact Award; PI

Liquid multiomics for personalized systemic treatment in malignant pleural mesothelioma #R01CA314931: (08/01/2026 - 07/31/2031); Grant funding from NIH NCI; PI

NOVEL HUMORAL AND CELLULAR BIOMARKERS OF AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES CAUSED BY IMMUNOTHERAPY #R21AI159379: (09/01/2023 - 08/31/2025); Grant funding from NIH NIAID

Spatial profiling of tumor-immune microenvironment by multiplexed single-cell imaging mass cytometry #RP200443: (03/01/2020 - 02/29/2024); Grant funding from CPRIT Individual Investigator Research Awards; PI

Unraveling NK-like CD8 T cell dynamics for advancing precision immunotherapy: (07/01/2023 - 06/30/2027); Grant funding from Helis Research Grant

Targeting PD-1-expressing tumor-associated macrophages to overcome immunoresistant lung adenocarcinoma #R01CA308295: (09/01/2026 - 03/31/2031); Grant funding from NIH NCI; Co-I (PI: Jang)

Dissecting mechanism of EPHX2-deficient bladder cancer and targeting metabolic and immunologic vulnerabilities #R01CA311048: (04/01/2026 - 03/31/2031); Grant funding from NIH NCI; Co-I (PI: Putluri)

CD4 T cells and immune cell triads in anti-tumor immunity #R01CA312225: (04/01/2026 - 03/31/2031); Grant funding from NIH NCI; Co-I (PI: Schietinger at MSKCC)

Novel regulators of selenoprotein biosynthesis and ferroptosis in acute myeloid leukemia #R01CA31533: (09/01/2026 - 08/31/2031); Grant funding from NIH NCI; Co-I (PI: Nakada)

Proteomic determinants of response to checkpoint blockade in malignant pleural mesothelioma #R37CA248478: (01/01/2021 - 12/31/2027); Grant funding from NIH NCI; Co-I (PI: Burt)

Cell based immunomodulation to promote post-infarct myocardial repair #R01HL163258: (04/01/2023 - 03/31/2028); Grant funding from NIH NHLBLI; Co-I (PI: Ghanta)

Intratumoral microbiota and immune predictors of response to immunotherapy in lung cancer #R01CA285882: (09/01/2024 - 08/31/2029); Grant funding from NIH NCI; Co-I (PI: Liu)

Protective effects of metformin against cigarette smoke-induced lung pathologies via regulation of fatty acids metabolism #R0HL171622: (08/01/2024 - 07/31/2029); Grant funding from NIH NHLBLI; Co-I (PI: Polverino)

Detrimental effects of B cell-Th17 axis in antiviral immunity in smokers #R01HL177930: (09/01/2025 - 08/31/2030); Grant funding from NIH NHLBLI; Co-I (PI: Kheradmand and Polverino)