Brian K. Lee, MD

Clinical Biography

Brian K. Lee, MD, is a board-certified transplant nephrologist and the Medical Director of the Kidney Transplant Program within the Abdominal Transplant Center, the clinical partnership between Ascension Seton and UT Health Austin. He specializes in caring for adult and young adult patients with end-stage kidney disease who may be candidates for kidney transplantation. Additionally, Dr. Lee is a professor in the Dell Medical School Department of Internal Medicine at The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Lee earned his medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in Dublin, Ireland. He completed both his internship and residency in internal medicine, as well as a fellowship in nephrology and hypertension, at MetroHealth Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University. He also completed a fellowship in transplant nephrology at the University of California San Francisco and a fellowship in integrative medicine at The University of Arizona.

Dr. Lee previously served as Medical Director of the Living Kidney Donor Program at the University of California San Francisco, where his team performed evaluations to place patients on the kidney transplant waitlist, assessed prospective living donors, and ensured donor-recipient compatibility. His clinical interests include completing pre-surgical workups, providing postoperative care, following up with patients to manage immunosuppression and other potential complications, and evaluating patients for a second transplant if their kidneys fail after surgery. His research focuses on living donation, including barriers to donation, outcomes of transplants from living donors, strategies to optimize kidney function and longevity after transplantation. He also studies how to desensitize recipients (lower antibody levels) to lower their risk of a rapid, severe rejection of the transplanted organ. He is an active member of the American Society of Nephrology, the American Society of Transplantation, and the National Kidney Registry.

Dr. Lee is a transplant nephrologist with UT Health Austin.