Julia Lee currently holds the position of Executive Director for Education and Research at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), concurrently serving as the Executive Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives at the Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia (UTEC) in Peru. In her tenure from 2005 to 2014, Julia was a professor in the Harvard Department of Astronomy. At UTEC, her role involves re-envisioning the university’s curriculum and research initiatives. Julia collaborates with faculty, NGOs, and industrialists to develop strategic Centers at UTEC, focusing on research areas such as Water (launched in 2017) and upcoming initiatives in Energy and Mining. Julia’s international activities extend to overseeing programs for Harvard SEAS. Pedagogically, she has directed efforts to integrate engineering, humanism, and innovation into UTEC’s core curriculum, addressing global issues and emphasizing the impact of the Peruvian economy on the environment. This includes raising awareness of issues related to deforestation, water, soil, and atmospheric contamination. Her contributions also involve co-leading initiatives for a science-focused Masters program in preventative art conservation to cultivate local expertise in the handling and treatment of ancient artifacts in Peru and South America. Additionally, Julia leads a group of international universities and industries developing a collaborative degree/certification program focused on Global Challenges, set to launch in late 2018. Julia C. Lee is recognized for her significant contributions to astrophysics. She co-authored the discovery paper for cosmic acceleration, attributed to dark energy, which earned her the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize, and the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. She has served on science advisory committees for X-ray satellite missions for NASA, ESA, and JAXA, and on the executive committee for US High Energy Astrophysics.

Sophie is the Founder and CEO of Nabta Health, a hybrid healthcare platform for women enabling the accelerated detection, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic diseases in women in emerging markets.

Prior to founding Nabta, Sophie worked as a technology consultant for Accenture, and then launched a number of impact startups, including myZindagi (a doctor-finding platform in Pakistan) and Le Plastics (a waste-plastics-to-roads company in Sierra Leone).

Sophie founded the 2022 Female Angels movement to bring gender parity to the early-stage investment landscape by identifying and publicly listing 2,022 female angel investors for MENA by the end of 2022. Sophie’s lifetime ambition is to empower all women to effectively manage their health.