MinJae Lee

• PhD in Biostatistics
• Professor (Associate) at Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health- University of Texas Southwestern

BACKGROUND The severity of post paralysis facial synkinesis typically worsens after onset, but its progression over time is not well characterized. This study examines the time course of synkinesis progression. METHODS Patients with a diagnosis of facial synkinesis presenting between 2010 and 2024 were assessed through photographic and videographi...

TPS4623 Background: Patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) may not be candidates for cisplatin-based chemotherapy based on their comorbidities and clinical status. Based on EV-103 cohort H, patients with localized, cisplatin ineligible MIBC respond well to enfortumab vedotin (EV), with 36% pathologic complete responses (pCRs). Radiatio...

Research on the relationship between resistin levels, metabolic health, and obesity has produced inconsistent findings across different ethnic groups, making it unclear whether lower resistin levels are associated with these conditions in Mexican-Americans. This cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between resistin, metabolic health,...

Health behaviors such as physical activity (PA) are socially influenced, such that individuals from shared social networks or living environments may exhibit similar habits. This cross-sectional study examined associations of social support, social control, and family member stage of change with moderate-to-vigorous self-reported and objective PA i...

Objectives Factors associated with peripheral arthritis and enthesitis, especially Achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis, were examined in a longitudinal cohort of 1075 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (also known as radiographic axial spondyloarthritis). Methods Patients were derived from the Prospective Study of Outcomes in Ankylosi...

Background In the United States, many residents and fellows lack confidence in their ability to confidentially counsel adolescents regarding sexual health topics. Little is known about how personal and professional experiences may affect medical residents’ and fellows’ confidence in counselling adolescents about sexual health services. Methods We...

Fibrosis Biomarkers in Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Liver Disease: A Useful Tool for Screening

BACKGROUND There is a lack of studies exploring factors influencing synkinesis severity. This study aims to identify factors that may contribute to variations in severity of facial synkinesis. METHODS Patients with a diagnosis of facial synkinesis presenting between 2009 and 2024 were reviewed. The synkinesis score of the eFACE Facial Nerve Clinic...

Introduction Awareness, access, and use of clinical and direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests has increased in recent years with documented disparities in these services. We provide updated data on test awareness and use, and report novel data on motivations and methods for accessing genetic tests. Methods Nationally representative data from the...

Study objectives: Determine whether preterm-born adolescents and adults have sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), as documented by abnormal overnight oximetry. Methods: This single-center cross-sectional study prospectively enrolled adolescents and adults born moderately to extremely preterm (≤32 weeks gestation or <1500 grams birth weight) or full...

This randomized controlled trial compares outcomes of telephone versus in‐person genetic counseling service models in underserved, bilingual patient populations referred for cancer genetic counseling. Between 2022 and 2023, a two‐arm (telephone vs. in‐person genetic counseling) prospective, randomized controlled study with 201 participants was cond...

Background The value of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) screening is defined by the balance of benefits from early tumor detection vs harms due to false positive results. We evaluated the value of a mailed outreach strategy for HCC screening in patients with cirrhosis. Methods We conducted a multi-center pragmatic randomized clinical trial comparin...

Introduction People with cystic fibrosis (CF) are living longer and healthier lives with a growing number considering and pursuing parenthood. The decision of whether to become a parent is complex for people with CF, and CF is a major factor in reproductive decision-making. Unfortunately, in people with CF who become parents, there are no prospecti...

Introduction: Little research on the association of neighborhood environment with physical activity in resource-poor communities has been done. This study assessed changes in perceptions of the neighborhood environment and the association between those perceptions and physical activity in Mexican Americans on the Texas-Mexico border in an area whe...

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is plagued by failures across the cancer care continuum, leading to frequent late-stage diagnoses and high mortality. We evaluated the effectiveness of mailed outreach invitations plus patient navigation to promote HCC screening process completion in patients with cirrhosis. Methods Between April 2018 and...

Background Approximately 85% of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) have exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) with 10% requiring supplemental nighttime enteral tube feedings. Administration of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) with nighttime feedings is fraught with challenges. RELiZORB (Alcresta Therapeutics, Inc), an in‐line lipase c...

Background: The overall value of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) screening is defined by the balance of benefits and harms. Studies have only reported physical harms with none describing financial harms. Methods: We conducted a multi-center pragmatic randomized clinical trial of HCC screening outreach among 2872 patients with cirrhosis from March...

Objective: Poor nutrition in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) has been associated with lower lung function and increased morbidity and mortality. Conversely, better nutritional status has been associated with improved pulmonary function and fewer CF-associated complications. There is no consensus regarding appetite stimulant therapy in patients...

Background: The value of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance is determined by the balance between benefits and harms; however, no studies have enumerated psychological harms. Methods: We fielded surveys measuring psychological harms to patients with cirrhosis in a multi-center randomized trial of HCC surveillance outreach. All patients w...

Exposure to ethnic discrimination has been conceptualized as a sociocultural stressor that is associated with lower self-rated health. However, this association remains understudied among Hispanics and less is known about constructs that may mitigate the effects of ethnic discrimination on self-rated health. Accordingly, this study aimed to (a) exa...

Background: There is a well described sex-disparity in outcomes of individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF), with females faring worse than males. Given the dramatic improvement in overall health of people with CF using CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulator therapy, elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ETI), the sex-disparity in CF war...

Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic differences were shown to have an influence on child fruit and vegetable intake. This study examined the associations between parent and child fruit and vegetable intake and the home nutrition environment among Hispanic/Latino and African American families. Through a cross-sectional study design, self-reported survey...

Introduction: Following availability of the highly effective cystic fibrosis (CF) transmembrane conductance regulator modulator, elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor, there was a near doubling of pregnancies reported in the United States (US) in people with CF. We sought to determine health impacts of planned (PP) versus unplanned pregnancies (UP). M...

Introduction SLC6A1-related disorder is a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder that is caused by loss of function variants in the SLC6A1 gene. Solute Carrier Family 6 Member 1 (SLC6A1) gene encodes for gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporter type 1 (GAT1), which is responsible for reuptake of GABA from the synaptic cleft. Tight regulation of GABA...

Low-income children and families do not meet the recommendations for fruit and vegetable (FV) intake. This study aimed to assess the association between FV shopping behavior and child FV intake through a cross-sectional study design analyzing self-reported surveys (n = 6074) from adult-child dyads of Hispanic/Latino and African American participant...

Introduction: The success of highly effective modulator therapy (HEMT) has led to consideration of simpler regimens for people with CF (PwCF) with opportunities to modify burdensome regimens. Despite the intuitive appeal of discontinuing chronic therapies no longer necessary, this process should be pursued systematically to ensure safety, adherenc...

Objectives This study helps to fill the existing research gap related to participant engagement in behavioural interventions and diabetes management. We examined type 2 diabetes control over time among Mexican Americans by level of engagement in a chronic care management (CCM) program that included community health worker (CHW)-delivered multilevel...

To investigate additive and interactive associations of food allergies with three glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes in relation to ASD and ASD severity in Jamaican children. Using data from 344 1:1 age- and sex-matched ASD cases and typically developing controls, we assessed additive and interactive associations of food allergies with polymorph...

Background: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) combined with elevations in cardiac biomarkers reflecting myocardial injury and neurohormonal stress (malignant LVH) is associated with a high risk for heart failure and death. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the impact of intensive systolic blood pressure (SBP) control on the pre...

Introduction Poor outcomes in glioma patients indicate a need to determine prognostic indicators of survival to better guide patient specific treatment options. While preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR) have been suggested as prognostic systemic inflammation m...

Background As people with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) live longer, extra-pulmonary complications such as CF-related bone disease (CFBD) are becoming increasingly important. The etiology of CFBD is poorly understood but is likely multifactorial. Bones undergo continuous remodeling via pathways including RANK (receptor activator of NF-κB)/sRANKL (soluble li...

Introduction Five-fraction stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SAbR) regimens are frequently used to treat centrally located early-stage NSCLC or disease in proximity of the chest wall as a means of optimizing tumor control and reducing treatment toxicity. However, increasing these SAbR regimens to 5 fractions may reduce tumor control outcomes. We...

Cholesterol efflux (CE) is a major athero-protective function of high density lipoproteins (HDL). HDL is a heterogeneous mixture of lipoproteins that contain apoA1, the prime protein of HDL, and may contain one or more of >200 other proteins. These other proteins cluster on subpopulations of HDL particles to form HDL subspecies. It is not entirely...

This study evaluated the dissemination and implementation of a culturally tailored community-wide campaign (CWC), Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! (TSSC), to augment fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption and physical activity (PA) engagement among low-income Latinos of Mexican descent living along the U.S.-Mexico Border in Texas. TSSC used longitudinal communit...

Chronic inflammatory back pain (CIBP) occurs in up to one‐third of those with chronic back pain. Criteria for diagnosis of inflammatory back pain include an onset below 50 years. Using the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data for 2009–2010, we showed that 3% of adults aged 50–69 years have features of CIBP with onset on or after...

Purpose To develop and validate a new tissue-based biomarker that improves prediction of outcomes in localized prostate cancer by quantifying the host response to tumor. Materials and Methods We use digital image analysis and machine learning to develop a biomarker of the prostate stroma called quantitative reactive stroma (qRS). qRS is a measure...

Background People with cystic fibrosis (CF) are living longer, healthier lives. A growing number are considering parenthood. There is a substantial knowledge gap regarding the health impacts of parenthood on people with CF. Methods Using data from the United Kingdom CF registry from 2015 to 2019, we evaluated the impact of having a child on percen...

Purpose Hispanic/Latino adults on the Texas-Mexico border have high rates of chronic disease. Neighborhoods can influence health, though there is a limited research on neighborhood environment and health in Hispanics/Latinos. The purpose of this study was to assess the relation of neighborhood environment with health variables in Hispanic/Latino ad...

To examine temporal trends of NICU admissions in the U.S. by race/ethnicity, we conducted a retrospective cohort analysis using natality files provided by the National Center for Health Statistics at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A total of 38,011,843 births in 2008–2018 were included. Crude and risk-adjusted NICU admission r...

Aims Links between resistin, insulin resistance (IR), and resistin-stimulated cytokine signaling remain unknown in Mexican-Americans. A Mexican-American cohort was examined to determine (1) relationships between circulating resistin and IR, (2) resistin’s associations with cytokines and demographic and anthropometric variables, and (3) similar meas...

Public health impacts can be achieved when evidence-based interventions are implemented to those most in need. Too often implementation never or slowly occurs. The community-wide campaign intervention Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! has evidence of improving health outcomes related to chronic disease among low-income, Latinos. Using the RE-AIM Framework, this...

Informing end-stage kidney disease patients about kidney transplantation options increases the likelihood of kidney transplant waiting list (WL) enrollment and live donor kidney transplant (LDKT) receipt. Patients in for-profit dialysis centers have lower rates of WL enrollment and LDKT receipt. This study examined if the ownership status of dialys...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The use of forceps for removal of non-diminutive polyps is associated with incomplete resection compared to snare polypectomy. However, few studies have characterized the frequency of forceps polypectomy for non-diminutive polyps or identified strategies to improve this practice. To address this gap, we estimated prevalence and...

SURF1 (surfeit locus protein 1)-related Leigh syndrome is an early onset neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by reduction in complex IV activity, resulting in disrupted mitochondrial function. Currently, there are no treatment options available. To test our hypothesis that AAV9/hSURF1 gene replacement therapy can provide a potentially meaning...

Objectives Little is known with certainty about the natural history of spinal disease progression in Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). Our objective was to discover if there were distinct patterns of change in vertebral involvement over time and to study associated clinical factors. Methods Data were analyzed from the Prospective Study of Outcomes in A...

Objective Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Obesity is a well-established risk factor for CRC, and fetal or developmental origins of obesity may underlie its effect on cancer in adulthood. We examined associations of maternal obesity, pregnancy weight gain, and birth weight and CRC in adult offspring. De...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is responsible for 31% of all deaths worldwide. Among CVD risk factors are age, race, increased systolic blood pressure (BP), and dyslipidemia. Both BP and blood lipids levels change with age, with a dose-dependent relationship between the cumulative exposure to hyperlipidemia and the risk of CVD. We performed an exome...

Using data from 266 age- and sex-matched pairs of Jamaican children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) controls (2–8 years), we investigated whether glutathione S-transferase theta 1 (GSTT1) modifies the association between blood manganese concentrations (BMC) and ASD. After adjusting conditional logistic regression m...

Objective We sought to explore the relationship between changes in repeated mobility measures and spinal structural progression in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) over time. Methods We studied patients with AS from the PSOAS (Prospective Study of Outcomes in AS) cohort and performed longitudinal multivariable regression modeling to asses...

Background Evidence-based programs are slow to disseminate to create public health impact. Mexican Americans have low uptake of the modifiable healthy behaviors of fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption and physical activity (PA). This study analyzed the dissemination and implementation of an evidence-based community-wide campaign (CWC), Tu Salud ¡Si...

Objective We sought to test the hypothesis that Polygenic Risk Scores (PRSs) have strong capacity to discriminate cases of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) from healthy controls and individuals in the community with chronic back pain. Methods PRSs were developed and validated in individuals of European and East Asian ethnicity, using data from genome-w...

Background: Limited information exists on how the family unit aids or impedes physical activity (PA) engagement within Hispanic populations. This qualitative study explored family-level influences on PA in dyads of adult Hispanic family members (eg, parent-adult child, siblings, spouses). Methods: In-person interviews and brief surveys were cond...

Background Exposure to many environmental chemicals, including metals, often does not occur in isolation, hence requires assessment of the associations between exposure to mixtures of chemicals and human health. Objectives To investigate associations of a metal mixture of lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn), and alu...

Background/Purpose First-degree relatives (FDRs) of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) may be at high risk of spondyloarthritis. We examined the frequency, characteristics of chronic back pain (CBP), associated features, persistence of symptoms, and HLA-B27 allele frequency in FDRs of AS patients, also comparing those FDRs with participants...

Objective Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) increase blood pressure and potentially cardiovascular burden, which may limit their use in ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Our objective was to determine the association of NSAID use with incident hypertension in a longitudinal AS cohort. Methods Adults with AS were enrolled in a prospective coh...

ABSTRACT Opportunistic infections (OIs) are the primary cause of HIV-related morbidity and mortality. To reduce the risk, the ART eligibility criteria were revised to start treatment before advanced disease onset. We evaluated the effect of 2014 HIV clinical guideline changes in Uganda on opportunistic infections and survival among Youth Living wit...

Background: Nerves are key factors in prostate cancer (PCa) progression. Here, we propose that neuropeptide Y (NPY) nerves are key regulators of cancer-nerve interaction. Methods: We used in vitro models for NPY inhibition studies and subsequent metabolomics, apoptotic and migration assays, and nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB) translocati...

Mode of delivery, preterm birth, and low birth weight (LBW) are hypothesized to be associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the offspring. Using data from 343 ASD cases (2–8 years) and their age- and sex-matched typically developing controls in Jamaica we investigated these hypotheses. Our statistical analyses revealed that the parish of r...

Background Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine (OC) pesticides are suspected to play a role in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Objectives To investigate associations of PCBs and OC pesticides with ASD in Jamaican children and explore possible interaction between PCBs or OC pesticides with glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes (GSTT...

Objective To compare disease characteristics, comorbidities, and medication utilization of 1141 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) with short (< 20 years) and long (≥ 20 years) disease duration enrolled in the Prospective Study of Outcomes in AS (PSOAS) study over three different periods of time and followed longitudinally.Methods Study visi...

Objectives Although cross-sectional studies have shown that ankylosing spondylitis-specific factors correlate with depressive symptom severity, the association of these factors over time is unresolved. We examined the demographic and clinical factors associated with longitudinal depressive symptom severity in AS patients.Methods We analyzed sociode...

Purpose: Acute anterior uveitis (AAU) is a common intraocular inflammatory disease. AAU occurs in 30% to 50% of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and both conditions are strongly associated with human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27, implying a shared etiology. This study aims to apply genomewide association study (GWAS) to characterize the g...

Prostate cancer (PCa) progression is a complex eco-evolutionary process driven by the feedback between evolving tumour cell phenotypes and microenvironmentally driven selection. To better understand this relationship, we used a multiscale mathematical model that integrates data from biology and pathology on the microenvironmental regulation of PCa...

Introduction This randomized controlled trial investigated community-clinical intervention strategies for a Mexican American population who had not demonstrated control of their diabetes. We tested a control program (Salud y Vida 1.0) supporting diabetes management versus an enhanced version (Salud y Vida 2.0) for reductions in HbA1c at 12 months....

Evaluating the association between diseases and the longitudinal pattern of pharmacological therapy has become increasingly important. However, in many longitudinal studies, self-reported medication usage data collected at patients’ follow-up visits could be missing for various reasons. These pieces of missing or inaccurate/untenable information co...

Introduction: Hispanic populations are less likely that other ethnicities to meet physical activity guidelines. Community health worker (CHW) outreach is an effective delivery method for behavior change messages owing to shared culture, language, and life experience. This study examined the efficacy of a CHW-delivered intervention, Tu Salud ¡Si Cu...

Few studies have explicitly identified factors that explain an individual’s willingness to engage in community-based exercise for claudication. Identifying the unique characteristics of those inclined toward physical activity would inform interventions that encourage walking. We examined the utility of behavioral economics-related concepts in under...

The well-known hazards of repurposing data make Data Quality (DQ) assessment a vital step towards ensuring valid results regardless of analytical methods. However, there is no systematic process to implement DQ assessments for secondary uses of clinical data. This paper presents DataGauge, a systematic process for designing and implementing DQ asse...

Purpose Social support has been identified as a determinant of physical activity (PA), but research has been primarily cross-sectional, with mixed findings for different Hispanic subgroups and limited longitudinal research with Hispanics. The purpose of this study is to assess the longitudinal associations of social support with PA in Hispanics on...

Background: Because physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) are two distinct, interdependent behaviors, increases in PA may influence SB. As a limited number of SB interventions have been tested in Latino/Hispanic samples,. The purpose of this study is to assess if there was more PA and less SB in a Hispanic border community where there...

Physicians are recommended to screen and refer obese patients to weight management programs (WMPs). There are often limited referral options for physicians, though commercially-available WMPs could be a potential solution. The purpose of this study (Path to Health) was to evaluate the efficacy of health coaching to promote enrollment in commerciall...

A weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression has been used to assess the associations between environmental exposures and health outcomes. However, the currently available WQS approach, which is based on additive effects, does not allow exploring for potential interactions of exposures with other covariates in relation to a health outcome. In addition,...

Adipocytokines are hormones released from adipose cells. Their functions range from regulating hunger to regulating the metabolic effects of insulin. What role these hormones play in metabolic health and diabetes have not been studied in the Hispanic population. The present study examines associations between leptin, resistin and adiponectin levels...

Context.—: The combination of grading and staging is the basis of current standard of care for prediction for most cancers. D. F. Gleason created the current prostate cancer (PCa) grading system. This system has been modified several times. Molecular data have been added. Currently, all grading systems are cancer-cell based. Objective.—: To revi...

Objectives: Growing evidence shows that cardiovascular health (CVH) is associated with brain health. Little is known about this topic among older adults in Latin America, where the number of people living with dementia is rising. This study aimed to assess the longitudinal association between cardiovascular health and dementia in six Latin America...