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Tara Sander Lee, Ph.D.

Senior Fellow and Director of Life Sciences

Tara 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.

Latest Research & News

  • A Visual Aid to Viral Infection and Vaccine Production | June 15, 2020

    This is Issue 1 in CLI’s On Science. To view this report as a PDF, see: A Visual Aid to Viral Infection and Vaccine Production   Updated November 2020   Introduction 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 […]

  • Pro-Life Topics for Lawmakers Regarding Coronavirus | March 25, 2020

    This is Issue 43 in CLI’s On Point Series. To view this report as a PDF, see: On Point 43 Pro-Life Topics for Lawmakers Regarding Coronavirus.   Abortion advocates have found a new ally—COVID-19.   During this intensely stressful time, the vast majority of Americans are focused on protecting their health and the health of […]

  • Update: COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates and Abortion-Derived Cell Lines | September 30, 2020

    To view this chart as a PDF, see: COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates and Abortion-Derived Cell Lines   Updated June 2, 2021   Accurate information about the development and production of COVID-19 vaccines is essential, especially because many proposed candidates use newer molecular technologies for production of a viral vaccine. One concern regarding the ethical assessment of […]

  • The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Ethics of Triage | March 26, 2020

    by R. J. Snell, Ph.D. This paper can be viewed as a pdf here: The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Ethics of Triage   As the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Italy, many hospitals are overwhelmed with patients, necessitating difficult triage decisions that can seem like choosing who lives and who dies. In the United States, already […]

  • Written Testimony of Tara Sander Lee, Ph.D., on Prohibiting Prenatal Discrimination | October 15, 2021

    In October  2021, Dr. Tara Sander Lee, Senior Fellow and Director of Life Sciences at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, testified in front of the Wisconsin Legislature, in both the House and Senate, on Assembly Bill 595 and Senate Bill 593 concerning prohibiting abortion solely based on the “race, color, national origin, ancestry, or sex of […]

  • CLI Comment: HHS Proposed Rule Fetal Tissue Regulations | April 16, 2021

    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.   Policy changes brought an immediate halt to federal contracts that trafficked organs […]

  • Written Testimony of Dr. Tara Sander Lee on South Dakota’s HB 1110 to Prohibit Abortions due to Down Syndrome | March 11, 2021

    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”

  • What you need to know about the COVID-19 vaccines | December 8, 2020

    Last updated June 2, 2021   Most COVID-19 Vaccines Do Not Use Fetal Cells for Production; Several Used Abortion-Derived Cell Lines in Testing; Experts Urge All Vaccine Developers to Use Noncontroversial Alternatives   View short chart View full chart Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) has published a new chart (en español) detailing whether the eight leading […]

  • CLI Responds to Misinformation Regarding President Trump’s COVID-19 Treatment | October 6, 2020

    A statement from David Prentice, Ph.D., and Tara Sander Lee, Ph.D., of the Charlotte Lozier Institute:   “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 […]

  • A Policy and Funding Evaluation Of Human Fetal Tissue Research | September 11, 2020

    This is Issue 2 in CLI’s On Science. To view this report as a PDF, see: A Policy and Funding Evaluation Of Human Fetal Tissue Research   Background The body parts of preborn babies that die through the act of elective abortion are harvested and sold to desiring scientists for experimentation.  These acts are heinous, […]

  • Protected: Science and Ethics of Using Aborted Human Fetuses in Medical Research | July 23, 2020

    There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

  • Designing Babies: Science, Ethics, and Policies of a Post-Genomic Era | July 20, 2020

    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 […]

  • Muestra de la infección viral y la producción de vacunas | June 15, 2020

    Como resultado de la rápida propagación del nuevo coronavirus, técnicamente conocido como SARS-CoV-2, los gobiernos de Estados Unidos y de otros paises han pasado por varios intentos fallidos en la producción de una vacuna efectiva contra esta enfermedad que se transmite tan rápidamente.  Ha surgido una selección de candidatos para esta vacuna  y se encuentran en distintas etapas de desarrollo y de prueba.  Al mismo tiempo, se han manifestado otras preguntas acerca de la manera en la cual estas vacunas son producidas; inlcuyendo los procesos sobre los cuales millones de americanos tienen objeciones en material moral.  Hoy en día, la variedad de medios utilizados para producir vacunas es inmensa; en algunos casos son éticament lícitas, mientras que en otros los procedimientos que utilizan son questionables.  Para ayudar a la comprensión de estos modos de producción, ofrecemos una guía básica respecto a la ciencia involucrada.

  • Saving Babies, One Surgery at a Time | March 29, 2019

    Recently, more news articles are reporting how mothers in the United Kingdom have undergone groundbreaking fetal surgery while pregnant to repair defects in their babies before birth.[1] The common thread in all these stories is that these babies were diagnosed prenatally with spina bifida, a severe congenital disorder in which the spinal column does not […]

  • Written Testimony of Tara Sander Lee, Ph.D., in Support of Ethical Alternatives to Aborted Fetal Tissue Research | December 20, 2018

    On Thursday, December 13, 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Healthcare, Benefits, and Administrative Rules and Government Operations for the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on “Exploring Alternatives to Fetal Tissue Research.” The hearing was called as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services re-evaluates funding for research using […]

  • Minnesota Court Rules in Favor of University’s Use of Aborted Fetal Tissue for Research | September 4, 2018

        The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled in opposition of Pro-life Action Ministries, legally represented by Thomas More Society, which filed a lawsuit in 2016 against the University of Minnesota for its unlawful use of aborted human fetal tissue in research.  Pro-life Action Ministries alleged that the University of Minnesota was procuring and […]