I-Min Lee

Lee was born in 1960 in Penang, Malaysia. She earned her MBBS degree in Medicine and Surgery at the National University of Singapore in 1984. She completed a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at the Harvard School of Public Health in 1987 and a Doctor of Science (ScD) degree in Epidemiology in 1991 under the supervision of Ralph S. Paffenbarger Jr.

Before her research training, Lee undertook clinical and research posts in Singapore, including housemanship in obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery and internal medicine, and served as a medical officer in primary health care and research at the Ministry of Health, Singapore.

Lee began her faculty career as assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in 1993, was promoted to associate professor in 2001, and became full professor in 2012. She simultaneously held positions as assistant, associate, and full professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. Since 1993, she has been affiliated as an epidemiologist with Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Lee has published over 600 scientific articles. Her research focuses on several areas within physical activity epidemiology, including: (1) associations between physical activity and the prevention of non-communicable diseases and premature mortality; (2) dose–response relationships between physical activity and health outcomes; (3) objective measurement of physical activity and sedentary behavior in large population cohorts; (4) health effects of low levels of physical activity; and (5) the population-level impact of physical inactivity.

Lee’s early influential work includes investigations from the Harvard Alumni Health Study, initially led by her doctoral advisor Paffenbarger, which she later inherited. At that time, there was little interest or knowledge in whether physical activity influenced cancer risk. Her doctoral work showed inverse associations to also exist between activity and cancer risk. Subsequently, Lee continued research into the role of physical activity for preventing non-communicable diseases (including coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, various cancers, and Parkinson’s Disease) and enhancing longevity using data from this study, the Women’s Health Study, and other cohorts. Her research findings are used to inform physical activity recommendations, including those from the 1995 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/American College of Sports Medicine; the 1996 Surgeon General’s report on physical activity and health; and the inaugural (2008 US Physical Activity Guidelines) and 2 edition of the US federal guidelines (2018).

As evidence accumulated on the importance of physical activity for health and well-being, Lee examined how more specific information could inform physical activity guidelines and clarify recommended practices. This work focused on dose–response relationships between physical activity and health outcomes. …