Yu-Po Lee

Biography

Yu-Po Lee, M.D., is Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UC Irvine Medical Center. A board-certified orthopaedic surgeon with subspecialty training in spine surgery, Lee completed a spine fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic in 2005 and an orthopaedic surgery residency at UCLA. He previously served as Associate Clinical Professor at UCSD Department of Orthopaedic Surgery from 2005 to 2015, where he directed the Spine Fellowship Program and the Spine Surgery Clinical Trials Program.

Lee's research has focused on bone biology, spinal fusion techniques, and minimally invasive spine surgery. His early work examined gene therapy approaches for bone repair using bone morphogenetic proteins and investigated the mechanisms of prostate cancer metastases to bone. His clinical research has addressed complications in spine surgery, including studies on surgical site infections, the use of antibiotic powders, and outcomes in patients with various comorbidities. He has also contributed to biomechanical studies evaluating spinal fixation techniques and instrumentation.

Lee has authored over 85 peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters on topics including lateral interbody fusion, vertebral augmentation, and inflammatory disorders of the spine. He serves as editor for Contemporary Spine Surgery and has contributed chapters to multiple editions of standard orthopaedic textbooks including Rothman and Simeone's The Spine and the AAOS Orthopaedic Knowledge Update series. He is a member of the North American Spine Society, the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery.

Education

• B.S. in Physiological Science, University of California at Los Angeles, 1993
• M.D., UCLA School of Medicine, 1998

Distinctions

• Charles H. Herndon Residency Research Award, 2001