BIRWCH - Bruce A. Lessey, PhD, MD  

BRUCE A. LESSEY, PhD, MD
 
 
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
BIRCWH Project Director 
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
CB #7570, UNC-Chapel Hill 
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7570
Phone:  (919) 966-5288
FAX:  (919) 966-5214
E-Mail:  lessey@med.unc.edu
Web Page:   www.med.unc.edu/obgyn/direct/lessey.htm


Bruce A. Lessey, Ph.D., M.D. is an established clinician and a well-funded basic science investigator whose primary appointment is as Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  Dr. Lessey received his Ph.D. at Colorado State University in 1980, and his MD at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 1984.   He completed residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke University Medical Center and subspecialty fellowship training in Reproductive Endocrinology at the University of Pennsylvania.  He then spent four years as an Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania before joining the Obstetrics and Gynecology faculty at UNC.  Dr. Lessey is currently a member of the NIH-sponsored National Cooperative Program on Markers of Uterine Receptivity for Blastocyst Implantation.  He is also a member of UNC's NIH-sponsored U54 Center.

Dr. Lessey is a leader in the field of integrins and the endometrium.  He has research interests in implantation, endometrial proteins, and steroid receptor mechanisms of action.  His 1992 paper in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, which was the first study to describe endometrial integrins, is considered a sentinel article on the subject.  He continues to investigate the role of marker proteins in endometrial function, and maintains an active clinical practice in infertility, with special interests in endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), unexplained infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss.  Lessey has served on the NIH Reproductive Endocrinology Study Section, and is currently on the Editorial Boards of Biology of Reproduction and the Journal of Reproductive Immunology.  He is also a member of UNC's GCRC Scientific Advisory Committee.

Since his arrival at UNC, Dr. Lessey has been deeply involved in the mentoring of fellows and junior faculty members within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  Dr. Lessey's laboratory is the central research facility within the Department and attracts medical students, residents, and trainees from all four of UNC's ACOG-approved fellowship programs.  Over the past six years, he has played a key role in the training of eight Reproductive Endocrinology and Maternal-Fetal Medicine fellows, all of whom have applied for and received a wide variety of grants for both basic and clinical research in the field of Reproductive Medicine.  He has also been involved in molding the career paths of four medical students, two of whom won a Summer Fellowship Research Award from the Endocrine Society.  Each of the other two students received UNC's prestigious Holderness Research Award.  Several residents have elected to work with Dr. Lessey on their individual research projects.  One of these residents was awarded this year's Poster Prize at the recent meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in Toronto.

Dr. Lessey has learned first-hand the value of mentorship.  His own career was fostered by a mentored training experience at the University of Pennsylvania where he studied with Jerome F. Strauss III, M.D., Ph.D.  During this training period, with 75% of this time protected for research, Dr. Lessey received mentoring from Dr. Strauss in research techniques, the publication of research results, and grantsmanship.  This experience greatly facilitated Dr. Lessey's transition from a postdoctral fellow to an independent investigator.   Further, Dr. Strauss's mentorship enabled Dr. Lessey to establish an appropriate balance between academic research and clinical practice.   Dr. Lessey is thus ideally suited to direct the BIRCWH Program as it brings together a broad spectrum of Women's Health research projects.