Ohio State Appoints Lee As First Woman to Lead Department of Urology

Dr. Cheryl Taylore Lee will be chair of the Medical Center’s Department of Urology, one of only a handful of women to ever chair departments of urology in the U.S. She’ll also be appointed the Dorothy M. Davis Chair in Cancer Research. 

Lee, a tenured professor of urology and an expert in outcomes research and comparative studies, joins Ohio State from the University of Michigan, where she was the Dr. Robert H. and Eva M. Moyad Research Professor of Urology. As a member of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, she cared primarily for patients with bladder cancer.

“We’re excited to welcome Cheryl to the Medical Center. Her expertise offers great depth and perspective to our efforts in the areas of women and men’s health,” said Dr. Sheldon Retchin, executive vice president of health sciences and CEO of Ohio State Wexner Medical Center.

Lee has served as principal investigator, co-principal investigator, site principal investigator or co-investigator for 50 clinical research trials supported by a broad range of funders including the National Institutes of Health. Her work focuses on strategies to improve patient outcomes and quality of life after surgical treatments. She recently completed a study evaluating the impairments experienced by patients with bladder cancer who had radical surgery.

Lee is an avid patient advocate serving on the boards of directors of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) and the American Cancer Society, Lakeshore Division. She has served the BCAN as chair and as president of its Scientific Advisory Board. She has also presided over the National Medical Association’s R. Frank Jones Urological Society and is a past member of the board of directors of the Society of Urological Oncology. 

Lee, also a teacher and mentor, is active in educating urologists and urologic trainees through her role as a UM Fellowship Director of Urologic Oncology and through several national roles as an oral board examiner of the American Board of Urology, as a member of the Education Council of the American Urological Association (AUA), as a long-time postgraduate course director for the AUA, and as a previous member of numerous committees aimed at improved training and assessments of urologic residents. 

Lee received her medical degree from Albany Medical College, completed a residency at the University of Michigan Hospitals and a fellowship in urologic oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.