Joe Lee is a genetic epidemiologist. The main goal of his research is to identify and characterize genetic and non-genetic factors that may modify the risk of Alzheimer disease and other age-related diseases. He also studies the biology of aging. To this end, he applies multiple approaches to different populations to address these scientific questions.  

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To identify genetic modifiers, he and colleagues examine families that carry a founder mutation in Puerto Rico as well as adults with Down syndrome.  

 

To identify genetic factors that may contribute to healthy aging, he and colleagues study a cohort of families with multiple members that live to extremely old age.  

 

To understand how genetic and environmental factors affect the aging process, he is currently examining the genome and the metabolome of Kazakhs living in Kazakhstan. He will expand this study to Kazakhs in China and Mongolia to determine how different environments modify phenotypic measurements. He also collaborates with scientists in Korea, China, and Kazakhstan to examine ethnic Koreans in these countries. ​