Chuan-Pu Lee
(1931 – 2016)
Dr. Chuan-Pu Lee is a distinguished professor in biochemistry at Wayne State University (WSU) and an internationally-respected scientist for her knowledge of bioenergetics: the study of how energy is produced in the body.
Dr. Lee has made major contributions to our understanding of how the powerhouse of the cell converts food and oxygen into usable chemical form. Her work has led to explanations of how energy-producing mechanisms are related to diseases, such as Reye’s Syndrome, brain injury, and some neuromuscular diseases. Dr. Lee’s research has been supported by funding agencies such as the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association of America. Her contributions to biochemistry and cell biology have elicited wide international recognition. She has been invited to numerous national and international conferences as a speaker and/or chairperson. She also has served as author and/or editor of many articles in international scientific journals or monographs. Dr. Lee has authored more than 200 publications.
Among her many awards and recognitions are: a life tenure of docentship in the physiological chemistry at the University of Stockholm (1965); the degree of honorary doctor of philosophy at the University of Stockholm on the occasion of the university’s 100th anniversary (1978); and as a contributor to Volume 1000 of Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, among about 50 scientists, including 11 Nobel laureates (1990). Dr. Lee has received invitations from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to submit nominations for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry since 1982. Since 1991, Dr. Lee has been appointed as an honorary advisor for the National Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Technology, Academia Sinca (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Beijing, China.
Dr. Lee is an outstanding academic leader. At WSU, she was elected to the Academy of Scholars in 1979 and served twice as president (1983-1984 and 1987-1988). Dr. Lee received the Board of Governors Recognition Award in 1980; the Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award (one single award/year) in 1982; the Board of Governors Distinguished Graduate Faculty Fellowship Award in 1986-1988; the WSU School of Medicine Lawrence Weiner Award in 1992; and the WSU College Teaching Award in 1998. Dr. Lee has been appointed as Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry at Wayne State University since 1990.