Eric Lee
Studied at University of Pennsylvania
Works at Shared Vision
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About Eric
Hello! My name is Eric, and I recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where I studied biochemistry and biophysics. I also just matriculated into Harvard Medical School for my MD, but I chose to take a year off to work on my community health organization in Philadelphia. Having just been through the whole process without taking any gap years, I know how intense it is to be a student and embark on a high-energy but ultimately rewarding path at the same time. If you’d like some feedback on telling your personal story, I’d love to connect!
Why do I coach?
I love reading people’s stories and really being surprised each time by how complex each individual is. Communication is very important to me as a student and scientist, and it’s a skill that I strive to help my peers enhance in academic settings and everyday life. Coaching is my way of learning more about people, offering my thoughts on what makes people unique, and helping people improve communication to various audiences (admissions committees too!).
Work Experience
Co-founder
Shared Vision
April 2026 - Present
With the help of the University of Pennsylvania's President's Engagement Prize, I co-founded Shared Vision with two classmates at Penn. We aim to extend quality eye care to underserved populations in Philadelphia. Toward this aim, we will provide screenings for the four leading causes of blindness through a mobile vision clinic, coordinate care and social services for individuals needing vision-related treatment, and educate the public about preventable eye diseases. https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/empowering-unhoused-patients-through-comprehensive-eye-care
Chair
Shelter Health Outreach Program (SHOP) at UPenn
July 2024 - May 2026
I conduct health outreach initiatives consisting of blood pressure monitoring and referrals to free primary care and dental clinics for guests in homeless shelters in Philadelphia and explore policy solutions to bridge gaps in healthcare access. Our committee's most recent projects include distributing Narcan to four partner sites to prevent overdoses, launching a study (Institutional Review Board approval pending) to understand barriers to receiving vision healthcare in Philadelphia among the city's homeless population, and launching community eye health clinics in Philadelphia's homeless shelters.
Student Intern
Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations
March 2024 - Present
I compiled data on investments, land, and cash loans granted by health systems around the United States in support of affordable housing development. Recognizing that health systems play key roles in rehabilitating their host communities and using entities in my compiled list as case studies, I am writing a white paper to advocate for Philadelphia's own health systems to invest in affordable housing development to reduce the city's overall healthcare costs.
President
Project Lucid
March 2024 - October 2025
I joined the organizing team for the first National Research Conference at Penn, which hosted 250 undergraduates from institutions across the U.S. as well as renowned Penn faculty, in March 2024. Our event featured poster sessions that connected student researchers across disciplines, career and communication workshops that introduced students across the country to Penn's unique resources, and a flagship research communication challenge judged by panels of Penn professors. As the current president of the conference, I look forward to scaling our sponsorships from both the university and external industries, increasing access to our event, and developing partnerships with local institutions to enlarge our event capacity and sponsor more discipline-specific activities.
Undergraduate Researcher
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
January 2023 - Present
I research gene therapies in the Peranteau Lab, which investigates genetic diseases in young children such as Hurler's syndrome and tyrosinemia and focuses on improving delivery of gene therapies through vectors like adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) and lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). My past work has involved investigating the efficacy of adenine base editors in correcting a mutation that results in spinal muscular atrophy in neonatal mouse models, using LNLP-delivered CRISPR/Cas9 to excise pathogenic trinucleotide repeats from neurons in mouse models of Friedreich's ataxia, and writing a review on differences in fetal and adult biology that facilitate differences in LNP delivery. I am currently working on a project to deliver CRISPRoff to muscle tissue as a proof of concept for conducting epigenetic knockdowns as a therapeutic strategy to treat congenital myopathies.
Eric was also given offers to work at
University of California, Berkeley
Duke Health
University of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Mellon University
Dartmouth
Education
Harvard Medical School
MD
2026 - 2035
Admitted into the Class of 2030 (incoming 2026) at Harvard's Pathways MD Program, but matriculating in 2027 to launch my nonprofit, Shared Vision (https://www.linkedin.com/company/shared-vision-upenn/?viewAsMember=true). Prospective MD-PhD Affiliate.
University of Pennsylvania
Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science, Biochemistry and Biophysics (majors) + Statistics and Data Science, Statistics and Data Science (minor), Chemistry (MS)
2022 - 2026
Activities and Societies: Co-Founder of Shared Vision (awarded $100k), Research at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Penn Student Government, Chinese Students' Association, Vagelos Molecular Life Sciences, Phi Beta Kappa Relevant Classes: General Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Cell Biology, Biophysics, Biochemistry, Computational Neuroscience, Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, Quantum Mechanics, Probability, Data Mining, English, Health Care Reform
Mountain Lakes High School
High School Diploma
2018 - 2022
Activities and societies: Student Government, Theater, Cross Country, Winter Swim, Spring Track, Chamber Music, Speech and Debate, Science Olympiad - Class President (2020 - 2022) - Valedictorian of the Class of 2022 (GPA: 4.898/4.0) - Varsity runner in cross country team (2018 - 2019) - Cast member of Theater Department (2019 - 2022) - President of Environmental Club (2022) - Editor-in-Chief of High School Newspaper (2022)
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