Burton W. Lee, MD

BA, University of California Los Angeles

MD, Harvard Medical School

Clinical Effectiveness, Harvard School of Public Health

Evidence Based Health Care, Oxford University

Dr. Lee received his B.A. from University of California Los Angeles and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He subsequently trained in internal medicine and then pulmonary critical care medicine, both at Massachusetts General Hospital. He also trained in Clinical Effectiveness and Evidence Based Health Care at the Harvard School of Public Health and Oxford University, respectively.

Throughout his unique career, Dr. Lee has worked tirelessly as a clinician-educator and has made numerous contributions to the education and training of medical students, residents, and fellows both in the U.S. and in Sub Saharan Africa. Early in his career, he served in various leadership roles at Medstar Washington Hospital Center including as the Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit, Director of the Pulmonary Critical Care and Critical Care Fellowship Programs, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University. He developed several innovative educational initiatives such as co-founding of the DC-Baltimore Critical Care Education Consortium and creation of the year-long Fundamentals of Mechanical Ventilation Preceptorial Course for fellows.

Dr. Lee has also championed medical educational efforts globally, especially in resource-limited countries. From 2010 to 2016, he worked at Kijabe Hospital, helping to develop a context-appropriate approach to critical care in resource-limited settings and he co-founded the Emergency Critical Care Clinical Officer Program (ECCCO), the first of its kind in Sub Saharan Africa. He is an author and co-editor of the 5th edition of the Handbook of Medicine – A Manual for Practitioners in Low Resource Settings. He teaches annually and currently serves as the Academic Dean of the International Continuing Medical Education Conference.

Upon his return to the US in 2016, Dr. Lee served as a Professor of Medicine at University of Pittsburgh, where he was a director of several medical student courses including the second-year pulmonary physiology course, the fourth-year ICU Clerkship, and the Scientific Literacy & Numeracy elective. He also created the Medical Education Laboratory Think Tank in the Division of Pulmonary Allergy and Critical Care Medicine to encourage and mentor young medical educators at University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Lee was recruited to the NIH in 2020 and he is excited to focus his efforts on his areas of passion, medical education and global health. He is continuing to study how physicians develop (and potentially lose) mastery of medical knowledge and skills, especially for complex concepts such as mechanical ventilation and scientific numeracy. He also serves as an Associate Editor for ATS Scholar, an education-research focused journal for the American Thoracic Society. Through the Global Critical Care Consortium, he is currently working to develop a collaboration among academic medical centers in the US to support critical care practice, training and research in low-middle income countries.

• J. H. Gaskin Excellence in Teaching Award, Medstar Washington Hospital Center - Internal Medicine Residency, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
• Merit in Authorship Award, American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 2004
• James A. Curtin Outstanding Clinical Educator, Medstar Washington Hospital Center - Internal Medicine Residency, 2007, 2010, 2014
• Master Teacher Award, National Institute of Health, Department of Critical Care Medicine, 2009
• Sol Katz Teaching Award, American College of Physicians, DC Chapter, 2011
• Educator of the Year, Christian Medical Association, 2018
• John W. Kreit Outstanding Educator Award, Pulmonary Allergy Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 2018
• Outstanding Subspecialty Teaching Attending Award, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 2019

Journal Articles

Shah NG, Seam N, Woods CJ, Fessler HE, Goyal M, McAreavey D, Lee BW for the DC-Baltimore Critical Care Educational Consortium. A Longitudinal Regional Educational Model for Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellows Emphasizing Small Group and Simulation-Based Learning. Ann Am Thorac Soc 2016 Apr; 13(4): 469-74. PubMed PMID 26845063.

Slusher TM, Zamora TG, Appiah D, Stanke JU, Strand MA, Lee BW, Richardson SB, Keating EM, Siddappa AM, Olusanya BO. Burden of severe neonatal jaundice: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Paediatrics Open 2017; 1:e000105. doi:10.1136/ bmjpo-2017-000105. PubMed PMID 29637134.

Alviar CL, Miller PE, McAreavey D, Lee BW, Soble J, Solomon MA, Morrow DA. A guide to mechanical ventilation in the cardiac intensive care unit: Perspectives from the American College of Cardiology - Critical Care Cardiology Working Group. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2018; 72(13): 1532-53. PubMed PMID 30236315.

Papali A, Diaz JV, Carter EJ, Ferreira JC, Fowler R, Gebremariam TH, Gordon SB, Lee BW, Murthy S, Riviello ED, West TE, Adhikari NKJ. Academic careers in global pulmonary and critical care medicine. Journal of Global Health 2020; 10(1): 010313. PMID 32257140.

Acho M, Lee AC, Lee BW. Ventilators for Non-Intensivists: Basic Ventilator Parameters. ATS Scholar 2020; 1(2): 194.

Acho M, Lee AC, Lee BW. Ventilators for Non-Intensivists: Basic Modes & Breath Types. ATS Scholar 2020; 1(2): 195-196.

Acho M, Lee AC, Lee BW. Ventilators for Non-Intensivists: Reasonable Initial Ventilator Settings for ARDS Patients. ATS Scholar 2020; 1(2): 197-198.

Acho M, Lee AC, Lee BW. Ventilators for Non-Intensivists: Monitoring Initial Ventilator Settings in ARDS Patients. ATS Scholar 2020; 1(3): 331-2.

Acho M, Lee AC, Lee BW. Ventilators for Non-Intensivists: Troubleshooting Elevations in Plateau Pressures. ATS Scholar 2020; 1(4): 498-9.

Brotherton BJ, Mbugua E, Halestrap P, Lee BW. COVID-19 and the Need for Global Critical Care Training: Why Ventilators Alone Are Not the Answer. ATS Scholar 2021; 2(1) Ahead of Print.

Seam N, Kriner E, Woods C, Shah N, Acho M, McCurdy M, Mikita J, Ahari J, Sun J, Bell T, Lee BW. Impact of Novel Multi-institutional Curriculum on Critical Care Fellow Ventilator Knowledge. ATS Scholar 2021; 2(1): Ahead of Print.

Maximous S, Brotherton BJ, Achilleos A, Akrami KM, Barros LM, Cobb N, Misango D, Papali A, Park C, Shetty VU, Schultz MJ, Taran S, Lee BW. Pragmatic Recommendations for the Management of COVID-19 Patients with Shock in Low and Middle Income Countries. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Health 2021; 104(3S): 72-86. PMID: 33350378.

Shetty VU, Brotherton BJ, Achilleos A, Akrami KM, Barros LM, Checkley W, Cobb N, Maximous S, Misango D, Park C, Taran S, Lee BW. Pragmatic Recommendations for Therapeutics of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in Low and Middle Income Countries. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Health 2021; 104(3S): 48-59. PMID: 33377451.

Books

Quick Consult Manual of Evidenced Based Medicine. Lee BW, Hsu S, & Stasior D editors. (1997). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA.

The Handbook of Medicine - A Manual for Practitioners in Low Resource Settings. 5th Edition. Palmer D, Wolf C, & Lee BW, editors. (2018). CMDA Bristol, TN.

Visit PubMed.gov for a full list of Dr. Lee's publications.