
Helen Lee
Helen Lee, M.D.
Primary Affiliation: Equity, Justice, and Human Flourishing Working Group
Department of Anesthesiology, College of Medicine | University of Illinois Chicago
Skill Highlights
Pediatric Anesthesiology
Assessment of oral health behaviors
Evaluating safety of caries-related treatments
Policy Expertise
Featured Work
Milestones
EXPERIENCE &
BACKGROUND

ABOUT
As a pediatric anesthesiologist, Dr. Lee’s clinical experiences place her in a unique position to inform research and interventions on surgical patients. Through clinical observations, she became interested in understanding the factors that contribute to poor oral health outcomes for pediatric patients. Childhood caries is a largely preventable disease process and use of operating rooms and associated resources can be an expensive, inefficient use of scarce resources. Her work outlines the limitations of health systems (e.g. emergency departments) and policies (access to preventive dental care or community water fluoridation) to improve a population’s oral health status. Pediatric dental surgeries represent great financial burden to Medicaid programs, with estimates for surgical procedures in hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers alone to be approximately $450 million per year.
Dr. Lee’s research focuses on the intersection of medicine and dentistry to assess inequities in the following areas:
- Developing and Testing Interventions to Change Oral Health Outcomes in High-Risk Children;
- Parental stress, parenting style, and caregiver support are critical factors in predicting children’s brushing;
- Pediatric Dental Sedation Safety: Risk Factors and Ethical Implications;
- Emergency department (ED) visits represent the intersection of inadequate access to timely, appropriate dental care and tertiary medicine; and
- Determining Factors that Influence Utilization of Services Within the Pediatric Dental Surgical Population
2008 – American Board of Anesthesiology Board Certified Consultant in Anesthesiology
2016 – American Board of Anesthesiology Board Certified in Pediatric Anesthesiology
2017 – PALS, ACLS/BLS certification
2019 – American Board of Anesthesiology Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology
Committee on Research, Society for Pediatric Anesthesia
Strategic Planning Group, Society for Pediatric Anesthesia.
Steering Committee, Women’s Empowerment in Leadership Initiative (WELI), Society for
Pediatric Anesthesia.
Site Director of Anesthesiology, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry
Committee on Admissions, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago
1997 – B.A., Wellesley College
1999 – M.P.H., Boston University
2003 – M.D., University of North Dakota
Engagement
Johns Hopkins
Visiting Speaker on “Social Determinants of Oral Health in Children.” Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Johns Hopkins. Baltimore, MD, May 7, 2021
Johns Hopkins
Case Western/MetroHealth
Visiting Professor: “Improving Outcomes for Surgical Patients.” Department of Anesthesiology, Case Western/MetroHealth. Cleveland, OH. March 16, 2021
Case Western/MetroHealth
Society for Pediatric Anesthesia
Panel Moderator: What Would SPA Members Do-Clinical Panel. Society for Pediatric Anesthesia. February 2021
Society for Pediatric Anesthesia
American Society of Anesthesiology Conference
Panel presenter at the “Perioperative Implications of Anesthetic Induced Neuroinflammation.” American Society of Anesthesiology Conference in San Francisco California; October 2009
American Society of Anesthesiology Conference
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
Speaker at the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee’s Equitable Professional Advancement Workshop on Fostering Diverse and Inclusive Professional Development in Pediatric Anesthesia: “Barriers to Professional Success for Women and Underrepresented Minorities in Medicine.” Society for Pediatric Anesthesia, February 2021
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
Recent Publications
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HONORS & AWARDS



