Lerou received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical School and completed his residency and chief residency in Pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital, followed by a clinical fellowship in the Harvard Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program. 

He completed postdoctoral training in the George Daley Laboratory at Boston Children's Hospital, during which time he studied stem cell biology. Lerou's research is focused on using stem cells to better understand how genetic disorders and prematurity affect a child's development over the course of his or her lifetime and to ultimately develop new treatment strategies. Currently his lab is using tracheal aspirate-derived lung progenitor cells to study bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a chronic lung disease that is one of the most common complications of premature birth, and congenital diaphragmatic hernia. 

Lerou joined MGHfC in October 1, 2015. Prior to that he was on faculty at Brigham & Women's Hospital NICU for 10 years, where he also served as medical director from 2014-2015.