Center Leadership

Don Rockey, M.D.Program Director and Principal Investigator

Don C. Rockey, M.D.

Dr. Rockey joined MUSC in 2012 as Chair of the Department of Medicine. Previously, he was Division Chief of Liver and Digestive Diseases at UT-Southwestern in Dallas and, prior to that, Director of the multidisciplinary Duke Liver Center. Dr. Rockey is a physician-scientist with NIDDK funding for >25 years, including F32, K08, and R01 support since 1992. His basic research focuses on the liver as a model to study cell and molecular aspects of wound healing, including in vivomodels of liver injury, fibrogenesis and the hepatic wound healing response. Dr. Rockey also focuses on the molecular pathogenesis of portal hypertension, based on the postulate that portal hypertension is not only caused by fibrogenesis in the liver and thus is associated with typical structural changes, but that endothelial dysfunction specifically contributes to the increased intrahepatic resistance typical of most forms of portal hypertension.

Stephen Duncan, DPhil

Associate Director

Stephen A. Duncan, DPhil

Dr. Duncan joined MUSC in 2015 as Chair of the Department of Regenerative Medicine & Cell Biology. His research focuses on the use of mouse models and stem cells to understand the contribution of transcription factors toward embryonic development and diseases of the liver. His laboratory has used knockout mice and mouse embryonic stem cells to garner understanding of molecular pathways that control hepatogenesis and liver function during normal homeostasis as well as liver injury. More recently, Dr. Duncan’s laboratory has been using cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to study hepatocyte differentiation and to model and potentially treat metabolic liver disease. NIDDK has funded Dr. Duncan’s research continuously for >20 years, he has had leadership roles in several programmatic efforts, and he has published more than 100 original research manuscripts.

Portrait of Kyu-Ho Lee

Center Manager

Kyu-Ho Lee, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Lee received his M.D., Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Following residency and post-doctoral fellowship training at Children’s Hospital, Boston, Dr Lee joined the Department of Pediatrics and the Darby Children's Research Institute in 2006. During his tenure there, he served as the Program Manager and Director of Translational Development for the DCRI. Through his clinical and research efforts, which focused on iron sulfur metabolism in heart development and preeclampsia, he brings a wealth of scientific and medical expertise to the DDRCC. In his primary role as the inaugural MUSC DDRCC Center Manager, he performs critical leadership activities for the center, providing structure and organization for our cores, especially our administrative core.  He also provides essential support for many of our programs including our enrichment program, our pilot program, and our advisory boards. He also assists with the oversight of several critical elements of the COBRE in Digestive and Liver Disease (CDLD, P20).