Dr. Mark Lee is an associate professor in the biology department at Spelman and is committed to STEM education for underrepresented groups, especially women scientists. After earning a degree in chemistry from Morris Brown College, Lee attended Clark Atlanta University to complete his Ph.D. in biochemistry while conducting research at Morehouse School of Medicine. He continued his career as a scientist at Emory University School of Medicine in the Winship Cancer Center (1996-1999) before joining the research faculty in the pathology and laboratory medicine department (1999-2002) where his basic science research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Lee joined the Spelman biology department in 2002, and he served as chair from 2009 – 2016. In the science education community at large, Lee has collaborated with the Emory Fellowships in Research and Science Teaching (FIRST) Program, Albany State University, Michigan State University, Atlanta Public Schools, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), New York University Faculty Resource Network, Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network, Stanford Asilomar Conference for Online Education, and the National Academies Summer Institutes for Science Education. His science education research is currently funded by the National Science Foundation, and he is a member of the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

In 2020, he joined the third class of the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education fellowship. PULSE, which was launched in 2012 by the National Science Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the National Institute for General Medical Sciences, works to help college professors improve the study of life sciences at colleges throughout the United States.