Helen Lee

Dr. Helen Lee

Dr. Helen Lee is an associate professor of anesthesiology and the director of the Guaranteed Professional Program Admissions for Medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.

Lee is a clinician scientist whose research focuses on disparities at the intersection of medicine and dentistry. Dr. Lee’s prior work outlined the need for systems-level reform to address safety outcomes after a child receives anesthesia for dental treatment and the impact of Medicaid policies on health care utilization. Currently, she is studying various social determinants of oral health, from the community to household levels.

Lee received a seven-year, $4.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research to develop and test an intervention that supports parents as they modify their child’s oral health behaviors (sugar intake and tooth brushing) after dental surgery under general anesthesia. This work is innovative in its approach to oral health promotion, which Dr. Lee presented at a 2024 National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine workshop.