Congratulations to Jennifer Lee, M.D., former assistant professor of emergency medicine at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences, who was recently appointed Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Resources by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. In her new role, Lee hopes to continue to be a resource for GW medical students, residents, and fellows and explore educational policy opportunities for them in Virginia.
At GW, Lee also had an appointment in the Department of Health Policy at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. She directed the Emergency Medicine Health Policy Fellowship Program, where she taught and mentored medical students in health policy. Her research focused on the impact of health reform on emergency department utilization and how medical schools can train socially conscious physicians.
Lee previously served as a White House Fellow in the Office of Secretary Eric Shinseki at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and as a special assistant to the Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Health at the Veterans Health Administration. In 2008, she was appointed to the Virginia Board of Medicine by Governor Tim Kaine. She also served as a health policy fellow for Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) on the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
Lee served on the board of the Arlington Free Clinic, where she volunteered and chaired a health reform planning committee. She also co-chaired the Northern Virginia Access to Health Care Consortium, a coalition of safety net providers that advocates for the uninsured. Additionally, Lee was board chair of the Hepatitis B Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating liver disease caused by hepatitis B.
Lee completed her residency training in emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received her medical degree from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and her bachelor's in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University.
