Sulggi Lee

Sulggi Lee, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) within the Department of Medicine, Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine. She also serves as an attending physician at San Francisco General Hospital's inpatient infectious diseases and HIV consult service and the Ward 86 HIV Clinic. Her educational background includes a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University (1998), an M.D./Ph.D. in Medicine and Genetic Epidemiology from the University of Southern California (2007), internal medicine residency at Stanford Hospital (2010), and infectious diseases fellowship at UCSF (2013).

Dr. Lee's research focuses on HIV pathogenesis, host immune responses, and mechanisms of viral persistence. She leads multiple cohorts including the UCSF Treat Acute HIV, EMRLHD, and CHIRP studies. Her work combines high-throughput genetic/immunologic assays with clinical trial data to study drug responses and biomarkers of disease progression. Recent articles highlight her contributions to understanding HIV reservoir dynamics, immune dysregulation during chronic ART, and host responses to SARS-CoV-2.

Her awards include UCSF CFAR's Excellence in Translational Science Award (2018) and leadership roles in the CFAR Bioinformatics Core and amfAR HIV Cure Institute. Dr. Lee has secured NIH funding for studies on IL-1β/IL-6 signaling in HIV inflammation and methamphetamine's impact on HIV persistence. She co-founded the UCSF Single Cell Sequencing Group to advance genomic analysis of infectious diseases.

Grant activities include NIAID R01 (mechanisms of systemic inflammation in treated HIV) and NIDA R61/R33 (methamphetamine's role in HIV persistence). Her work spans clinical care, translational research, and global health, with over 80 peer-reviewed publications and extensive mentorship of trainees in HIV and infectious disease research.