Charlie ChangWon Lee

About Charlie ChangWon Lee

Charlie ChangWon Lee, MD, MBA, is a biotechnology investor at Caligan Partners in NYC. Prior to Caligan, Charlie worked on the private and public investment teams at Foresite Capital and Blackstone Life Sciences, in addition to advising three early-stage biotech companies in Kendall Square/MIT as a consultant.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Charlie grew up in a Korean American community in Northern New Jersey. From an early age, he witnessed the generosity of individuals who helped his family adapt to their new life and the brilliance of his public school teachers, who fostered his early interest in the sciences. While at Harvard University, he also discovered a passion for medicine and chemistry. Working with Professor Dennis Kasper at Brigham and Women's Hospital, he spent his undergraduate years exploring the wonders of bacterial genomics and structural chemistry, culminating in a senior thesis that earned the Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize.

Charlie graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College and earned his MD from Harvard Medical School in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program, as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is the author of over 15 publications in leading journals, including Nature, JAMA, JAMA Oncology, and Health Affairs, and advocate for Asian American leadership in medicine and business.