Clemson University faculty members Kylie Rock and Jeoung Soo Lee will work closely with Prisma Health over the next year on advancements to hypertension management and treatment for neurological injuries, respectively.
Rock and Lee have been selected as the newest Clemson University School of Health Research (CUSHR) Faculty Fellows. Faculty Fellows are faculty members embedded in a Prisma Health System department for the 2026 academic year to produce health-related research. Through this program, Faculty Fellows shift their focus from regular teaching duties to a comprehensive health research agenda that fosters collaboration between Clemson and Prisma Health, said Windsor Sherrill, Clemson University associate vice president for health research.
Rock, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, leads a research team focused on the effects of toxins on reproductive and developmental health. She is partnering with Amy Crockett, M.D., of the Prisma Health OB-GYN department to study how fetal sex influences the abundance and activity of placental transport proteins. During her 2026 fellowship, Rock plans to collaborate with the Prisma Health informatics team to analyze data from a diverse patient population, focusing on information from sex-specific responses to pharmaceutical treatments. She will examine how certain antihypertensive medications affect placental drug transport in a sex-specific manner—extending her ongoing work with Dr. Crockett. This research could reveal previously unrecognized patterns in fetal pharmacologic response, potentially informing more effective, sex-specific treatment strategies for managing hypertension during pregnancy.
Lee, the John Witherspoon Gilpin MD ‘82 Distinguished Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, is a nationally recognized leader in translational drug delivery for neurotrauma. Lee actively leads research at the Clemson University Biomedical Engineering Innovation Campus (CUBEInC) in the Drug Design, Development and Delivery 4D Laboratory. In her lab, Lee leads many projects focused on innovating the spectrum of care for patients experiencing neurological injuries. Namely, she led the discovery of a patented cationic amphiphilic co-polymer, which is currently being investigated for its use in targeted drug delivery to treat spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury. During her 2026 fellowship, Lee plans to collaborate with Prisma Health leaders to develop more specialized care for those experiencing neurotrauma. By observing patient care in emergency medicine, spine surgery and rehabilitation settings, she aims to align her research with real-world clinical challenges. This hands-on collaboration is expected to further refine and accelerate the impact of her pioneering therapies in neurotrauma care.
The CUSHR Faculty Fellows program launched in 2018, providing a unique pathway for Clemson researchers to collaborate with Prisma clinicians on applied research that directly benefits patient care. Including Rock and Lee, 14 Clemson faculty members have served as CUSHR Faculty Fellows since the program’s inception. Learn more about the program and past CUSHR Faculty Fellows here.
