Mary R. Lee, M.D.

Research Interests

Dr. Mary Lee received her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1989. She completed residency in internal medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and subsequently completed a psychiatric residency at George Washington University. Dr. Lee is board certified in psychiatry, internal medicine and addiction medicine. She joined the CPN laboratory in November of 2012. Her research has focused on the effect of intranasal oxytocin on drug craving, reward learning, and emotional processing in drug dependent and schizophrenic patients. In addition, she has investigated the neurobehavioral effects of genetic polymorphisms, COMT and OPRM, on reward processing in smokers and drug users. Her current research is on the role of oxytocin in alcohol and drug use disorders. She was the PI of a translational and clinical project studying the role of oxytocin in alcohol use disorder for which she received a NIH Bench-to-Bedside (B2B) Award by the Office of Behavioral & Social Sciences Research (OBSSR). She is collaborating with George Mason University on a project funded by the Department of Defense aimed at investigating the role of oxytocin in long-term bonding. In 2018, Dr. Lee was presented with the NIAAA Clinical Service Award.