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2025
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2025

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Best Female Scientists

D-Index
239
Citations
217868
World Ranking
3
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3

Best Scientists

D-Index
239
Citations
217868
World Ranking
70
National Ranking
50

Medicine

D-Index
250
Citations
230499
World Ranking
34
National Ranking
25

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Medicine in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Female Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Medicine in United States Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Medicine in United States Leader Award
  • 2020 - Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for discovering TDP43 protein aggregates in frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and revealing that different forms of alpha-synuclein, in different cell types, underlie Parkinson’s disease and Multiple System Atrophy.
  • 2014 - J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine, Robarts Research Institute
  • 2013 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 2012 - Fellow, National Academy of Inventors
  • 2012 - Robert J. and Claire Pasarow Foundation Medical Research Award
  • 2005 - Member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
  • 1998 - Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick's, Alzheimer's, and Related Diseases, American Academy of Neurology
  • 1998 - Sedgwick Memorial Medal, American Public Health Association
  • 1996 - Metlife Foundation Award for Medical Research in Alzheimer's Disease
  • 1966 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Overview

Virginia M.-Y. Lee is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. Their research spans Medicine and Neuroscience, with a particular focus on Neurology, Physiology, Molecular Biology, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, and Psychiatry and Mental Health.

Their main research topics include Alzheimer's disease research and treatments, Parkinson's Disease mechanisms and treatments, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis research, Neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration mechanisms, Dementia and cognitive impairment research, Functional brain connectivity studies, and Neurological disorders and treatments.

Frequent co-authors in their work include John Q. Trojanowski, Edward B. Lee, Michael Donohue, John C. Morris, and Magdalena Korecka.

Virginia M.-Y. Lee has published extensively in the following venues:

  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • Nature Communications
  • Acta Neuropathologica
  • Alzheimer s & Dementia
  • Brain

Notable recent papers include:

  • "Protein transmission in neurodegenerative disease" (2020), published in Nature Reviews Neurology
  • "Type I interferon response drives neuroinflammation and synapse loss in Alzheimer disease" (2020), Journal of Clinical Investigation
  • "Spread of pathological tau proteins through communicating neurons in human Alzheimer's disease" (2020), Nature Communications
  • "Distribution patterns of tau pathology in progressive supranuclear palsy" (2020), Acta Neuropathologica
  • "In vivo staging of regional amyloid deposition" (2022), Columbia Academic Commons (Columbia University)

Virginia M.-Y. Lee has been recognized with several awards, including the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2020 for discovering TDP43 protein aggregates in frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and revealing different forms of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson's disease and Multiple System Atrophy.

Other honors include the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine from the Robarts Research Institute (2014), election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2013), Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2012), the Robert J. and Claire Pasarow Foundation Medical Research Award (2012), membership in the National Academy of Medicine (2005), the Sedgwick Memorial Medal from the American Public Health Association (1998), the Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick's, Alzheimer's, and Related Diseases from the American Academy of Neurology (1998), the Metlife Foundation Award for Medical Research in Alzheimer's Disease (1996), and Fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1966).

Best Publications

  • Alpha-synuclein in Lewy bodies.

    Maria Grazia Spillantini;Marie Luise Schmidt;Virginia M.-Y. Lee;John Q. Trojanowski

  • Ubiquitinated TDP-43 in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

    Manuela Neumann;Deepak M. Sampathu;Linda K. Kwong;Adam C. Truax

  • Diagnosis and management of dementia with Lewy bodies: Third report of the DLB Consortium

    I. G. McKeith;I. G. McKeith;D. W. Dickson;J. Lowe;M. Emre

  • Pathological α-Synuclein Transmission Initiates Parkinson-like Neurodegeneration in Nontransgenic Mice

    Kelvin C. Luk;Victoria Kehm;Jenna Carroll;Bin Zhang

  • Tau-mediated neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease and related disorders.

    Carlo Ballatore;Virginia M.-Y. Lee;John Q. Trojanowski

  • Synapse Loss and Microglial Activation Precede Tangles in a P301S Tauopathy Mouse Model

    Yasumasa Yoshiyama;Makoto Higuchi;Bin Zhang;Shu-Ming Huang

  • Cerebrospinal fluid biomarker signature in Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative subjects.

    Leslie M. Shaw;Hugo Vanderstichele;Malgorzata Knapik-Czajka;Christopher M. Clark

  • Aggregation of alpha-synuclein in Lewy bodies of sporadic Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.

    M. Baba;S. Nakajo;P.-H. Tu;T. Tomita

  • Oxidative Damage Linked to Neurodegeneration by Selective α-Synuclein Nitration in Synucleinopathy Lesions

    Benoit I. Giasson;John E. Duda;Ian V. J. Murray;Qiping Chen

  • A68: a major subunit of paired helical filaments and derivatized forms of normal Tau

    Virginia M.-Y. Lee;Brian J. Balin;Laszlo Otvos;John Q. Trojanowski

  • Chaperone Suppression of α-Synuclein Toxicity in a Drosophila Model for Parkinson's Disease

    Pavan K. Auluck;H. Y. Edwin Chan;John Q. Trojanowski;Virginia M.-Y. Lee

  • GSK-3α regulates production of Alzheimer's disease amyloid-β peptides

    Christopher J. Phiel;Christina A. Wilson;Virginia M.-Y. Lee;Peter S. Klein

  • Exogenous α-synuclein fibrils induce Lewy body pathology leading to synaptic dysfunction and neuron death.

    Laura A. Volpicelli-Daley;Kelvin C. Luk;Tapan P. Patel;Selcuk A. Tanik

  • Ataxin-2 intermediate-length polyglutamine expansions are associated with increased risk for ALS

    Andrew C. Elden;Hyung Jun Kim;Michael P. Hart;Alice S. Chen-Plotkin

  • Neuropathologic diagnostic and nosologic criteria for frontotemporal lobar degeneration: consensus of the Consortium for Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration

    Nigel J. Cairns;Eileen H. Bigio;Ian R A Mackenzie;Manuela Neumann

  • Neuronal α-Synucleinopathy with Severe Movement Disorder in Mice Expressing A53T Human α-Synuclein

    Benoit I. Giasson;John E. Duda;John E. Duda;Shawn M. Quinn;Bin Zhang

  • Synucleins Are Developmentally Expressed, and α-Synuclein Regulates the Size of the Presynaptic Vesicular Pool in Primary Hippocampal Neurons

    Diane D. Murphy;Susan M. Rueter;John Q. Trojanowski;Virginia M.-Y. Lee

  • A Hydrophobic Stretch of 12 Amino Acid Residues in the Middle of α-Synuclein Is Essential for Filament Assembly

    Benoit I. Giasson;Ian V.J. Murray;John Q. Trojanowski;Virginia M.-Y. Lee

  • Mutation-Specific Functional Impairments in Distinct Tau Isoforms of Hereditary FTDP-17

    Ming Hong;Victoria Zhukareva;Vanessa Vogelsberg-Ragaglia;Zbigniew Wszolek

  • Initiation and synergistic fibrillization of tau and alpha-synuclein.

    Benoit I. Giasson;Mark S. Forman;Mark S. Forman;Makoto Higuchi;Makoto Higuchi;Lawrence I. Golbe;Lawrence I. Golbe

Frequent Co-Authors

John Q. Trojanowski
John Q. Trojanowski University of Pennsylvania
Murray Grossman
Murray Grossman University of Pennsylvania
Vivianna M. Van Deerlin
Vivianna M. Van Deerlin University of Pennsylvania
Steven E. Arnold
Steven E. Arnold Harvard University
Kurt R. Brunden
Kurt R. Brunden University of Pennsylvania
Benoit I. Giasson
Benoit I. Giasson University of Florida
David J. Irwin
David J. Irwin University of Pennsylvania
Sharon X. Xie
Sharon X. Xie University of Pennsylvania
Leslie M. Shaw
Leslie M. Shaw University of Pennsylvania
Christopher M. Clark
Christopher M. Clark University of Pennsylvania

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