
Tara Sander Lee, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow and Director of Life SciencesTara Sander Lee, Ph.D. is the Senior Fellow and Director of Life Sciences at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, an organization dedicated to policies and practices that protect the sanctity of human life. She is a scientist with 20 years’ experience in academic and clinical medicine with an emphasis on the cause of pediatric disease. She obtained a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Medical College of Wisconsin and fellowship training at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Sander Lee was an appointed faculty member at the Medical College of Wisconsin for over 15 years, where she directed a research lab investigating congenital heart disease in children and served as Scientific Director of Molecular Diagnostics at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.
Dr. Sander Lee is published in various medical journals and text books, including her recent co-authored manuscript in the journal Issues in Law and Medicine, “The Perinatal Revolution”. Dr. Sander Lee has been the primary investigator or co-investigator on several awarded grants, has been invited to present her work at national meetings, and has received recognition for her science and academic contributions with several awards, including Milwaukee Business Journal’s Forty under 40 Award and the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Outstanding Faculty Service Award. She also served as molecular pathology inspector for the College of American Pathologists and scientific consultant for various entities, including the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, and TAI Diagnostics.
Dr. Sander Lee is dedicated to promoting ethical advancements in healthcare and protecting human life, with special emphasis on perinatal and early postnatal periods. She has been invited to speak, give expert testimony, and provide scientific advice for several legislators, policymakers, and organizations. She has published op-eds and been interviewed by local and national media outlets, including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Cap Times, USA Today, Liberty Counsel-Faith and Freedom Radio, American Family News, Life Matters TV program, The Daily Signal, Live Action, ETWN News Nightly and ETWN Pro-Life segment.
Research Authored
A Handbook of Bioethical Considerations Regarding Nascent Human Beings and Their Cells (Handbook II)
The purpose of this handbook is to provide a useful reference guide to understanding ethical and moral implications for scientific experimentation involving nascent human beings and cells derived from nascent human beings. In particular, the attributes of nascent human beings and cells derived from them are presented in the context of their moral significance and bioethics considerations regarding the permissibility of their use in biomedical research.
Fact Sheet: The Growth of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Fetal Care Centers in the United States
Advancements in science and medicine over the past 50 years have paved the way for the “Perinatal Revolution”—recognizing the unborn child as a separate patient and offering life-saving care before birth.
Handbook of Nascent Human Beings: A Visual Aid for Understanding the Science and Experimentation
The purpose of this handbook is to provide a useful reference guide to understanding the biological nature and properties of nascent human beings and cells derived from nascent human beings.
Written Testimony of Tara Sander Lee, Ph.D., on Prohibiting Prenatal Discrimination
“We need to consider these young individuals as equally valued human lives. Eliminating young lives is not the answer to eliminating disease and disability once a risk of the disorder is identified. Destroying the patient is not curative medicine. Such acts become a modern-day form of eugenics.”
CLI Comment: HHS Proposed Rule Fetal Tissue Regulations
The trafficking of aborted baby body parts for research is barbaric. The Trump administration was dedicated to ending this practice and protecting the sanctity of human life. Grave injustices were exposed that exploited unborn children for experimentation, but were not fully remedied.
Written Testimony of Dr. Tara Sander Lee on South Dakota’s HB 1110 to Prohibit Abortions due to Down Syndrome
Dr. Tara Sander Lee testified on HB 1110, noting her scientific and clinical experience spanning 20 years, which includes expertise in molecular genetics and diagnostic testing. Dr. Sander Lee provided information on: the incidence of Down syndrome in the United States, methods of prenatal screening and testing, the high false-positive rate of incorrect reporting in standard screening tests, limitations with newer methods of non-invasive prenatal screening (NIPS or NIPT), and the “perinatal revolution”
CLI Responds to Misinformation Regarding President Trump’s COVID-19 Treatment
“Uninformed commentary has emerged this morning stating that President Trump has received a medication created with the use of human embryonic stem cells. CLI has reviewed the published information and our conclusion is straightforward: The president was not given any medicines to treat COVID-19 that involved the destruction of human life. No human embryonic stem cells or human fetal tissue were used to produce the treatments President Trump received--period.
A Policy and Funding Evaluation Of Human Fetal Tissue Research
Here we evaluate the actions and policy changes made by the Trump administration that have been taken since his term in office and analyze the current standing of federal funds used to support fetal tissue research. First, we give a brief overview of how federal tax dollars are used to fund medical research in the U.S.
Designing Babies: Science, Ethics, and Policies of a Post-Genomic Era
At the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity annual summer conference "Bioethics in Real Life,” Dr. David Prentice and Dr. Tara Sander Lee presented a workshop entitled Designing Babies: Science, Ethics, and Policies of a Post-Genomic Era. Scientific advancements in the fields of genetics, molecular diagnosis, and genetic engineering were introduced so that participants could better understand the benefits, risks, limitations, policies, and potential impact on society. The ethics were carefully evaluated and discussed.
A Visual Aid to Viral Infection and Vaccine Production
As a result of the rapid spread of the new coronavirus technically known as SARS-CoV-2, the United States and other governments have begun crash efforts to create an effective vaccine or vaccines against the illness at “warp speed.” An array of candidates for this vaccine have emerged and are in various stages of development and testing. At the same time, questions have emerged about the ways in which these vaccines, reflecting experience across the history of development of these preventives, are produced, including processes to which millions of Americans object on moral grounds. The variety of means used to produce vaccines today is immense, employing both ethically licit and questionable procedures. To assist in understanding these modes of production, we offer this primer on the basic science involved.