Timmy Lee, M.D., MSPH, will serve as the next division director for the UAB Division of Nephrology, effective July 1, 2025. A renowned kidney scientist and vice chair for research in the Department of Medicine, Dr. Lee brings a wealth of experience and leadership to this important role. He will build on the division’s strong foundation and lead more than 180 staff, faculty and trainees to provide life-changing care for patients with kidney disease, train nephrologists and kidney scientists to transform the future of medicine, and pursue groundbreaking discoveries that improve kidney health.
Lee is the holder of the Hilda B. Anderson Endowed Chair in Nephrology and has capably led in numerous roles at UAB including Associate Director of Interventional Nephrology, Associate Nephrology Fellowship Director, Associate Director of the UAB Nephrology Research Training Center, and Associate Director of the UAB Kidney Undergraduate Research Experience (KURE) program. He has also served our nation’s veterans as Section Chief of Nephrology and Director of the Hemodialysis Program at the Birmingham VA Medical Center.
For his contributions to medicine and science, Lee has earned widespread recognition and prestigious honors. Most recently, he won the 2025 Richard Marchase Award for Interdisciplinary Research, a university-wide distinction reserved for investigators whose exceptional collaboration strengthens the culture of inquiry at UAB. He has also successfully secured extramural funding throughout his career, including NIH R01 awards, National Kidney Foundation awards, VA Merit awards, investigator-initiated awards from industry, and the ASN Carl W. Gottschalk Research Scholar grant.
With robust programs in both clinical and translational research, Lee has been involved in hemodialysis vascular access investigation since 2002. His clinical research focus is on large population epidemiological studies and clinical trials in dialysis vascular access. His translational research focuses on understanding the pathophysiology of vascular access stenosis. In these investigations, Lee uses histologic, genomic, and advanced imaging techniques in models of arteriovenous fistula disfunction, spanning rodent, porcine, and human studies.
His work has resulted in numerous publications in high-profile journals, including the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. He has authored more than 95 original articles, as well as invited reviews and editorials.
Lee graduated from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine followed by a fellowship in Nephrology at UAB. He received his MSPH from UAB in 2007. In August 2007, Lee was appointed as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati, with promotion to the rank of Associate Professor in September 2012. In 2013, he was recruited to UAB as an Associate Professor of Medicine and became a full Professor with tenure in 2018.
Lee succeeds Orlando Gutiérrez, M.D., MMSc, who was appointed to leadership roles last March as senior associate dean for clinical and translational research in the Heersink School of Medicine, director and contact principal investigator of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and associate vice president of medicine and biomedical research for UAB.