Dean Rimer: Intent to appoint Lee as chair of health policy and management

August 24, 2015

Dr. Daniel Lee

Dean Barbara K. Rimer has announced her intention to appoint Shoou-Yih (Daniel) Lee, PhD, as the new chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. The decision is pending approval by the UNC board of trustees.

Lee currently works as a professor of health management and policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. His new role as chair means a return to the Gillings School, however, where he served as first assistant, then associate, professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management from 2001 to 2010. He has continued to serve as an adjunct faculty member at UNC since that time.

Lee received a master’s degree in public health from National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan and a doctoral degree in health services organization and policy from the University of Michigan. He is a medical sociologist and an expert in health services research.

His primary areas of expertise focus on organizational change, organizational structure and performance, governance and community health accountability. He also has made significant contributions to health literacy research through instrument development and by calling attention to, and empirically demonstrating, the importance of social contexts in shaping individual medical decision-making.

Lee is an experienced survey and secondary data researcher and is versed in large-scale data management and advanced statistical methods. He has received awards and recognition from several regional, national and international organizations.

In addition to publishing more than 100 peer-reviewed articles in top-ranked journals, Lee has held and co-held grants from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, National Cancer Institute, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Nursing Research, GlaxoSmithKline Corporation and the Pfizer Foundation.

In accepting the appointment, Lee said, “I left my UNC home five years ago because I couldn’t deny myself the honor to fill my mentor’s faculty position at my alma mater. I couldn’t be happier or more excited about the opportunity to return home now. I look forward to working with the outstanding health policy and management faculty, capable staff, exceptional students, and accomplished and loyal alumni to bring out the best of the department.”

Outside the office, Lee is a self-taught gourmet chef who specializes in Chinese cuisine. The pot stickers he makes are “out of this world,” according to many of his UNC colleagues and former students.

Lee has also acquired an interesting nickname over the years. He is known as “KFC Buddha” for his admitted guilty pleasure of take-out fried chicken, combined with his philosophy in life: “things” happen, and they are best handled with calmness, resilience and curiosity.

Jonathan Oberlander, PhD, the new chair of UNC’s Department of Social Medicine and a health policy and management faculty member at the Gillings School, shared his thoughts on Lee’s return.

“You never say no to an invitation to Daniel’s house for a meal. Incredible food aside, his wife, Celeste, is an amazing person and great friend. I know I speak for many in welcoming Daniel and Celeste back to Chapel Hill with tremendous enthusiasm and unbridled joy.”

Added Lee, “I have learned that each day should be filled with contemplation, exercise, new explorations, good friends and colleagues, laughter and – of course – a bucket of KFC.”

Interim chair Sandra Greene, DrPH, Professor of the Practice, will serve as associate chair of the department beginning Sept. 1.