Philip R Lee

Dr. Philip R. Lee is a Senior Scholar in the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and Professor Emeritus of Social Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He has been a member of the UCSF faculty since 1969. He retired in 1993 and resumed active Emeritus status in 1997. From July 1993 through January 1997, he served as Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Before going to Washington, Dr. Lee served as Director of the Institute for Health Policy Studies, which he founded with Lewis Butler, JD at UCSF in 1972. He served as chancellor of UCSF from 1969 to 1972. Prior to joining the UCSF faculty he was Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare from 1965 to 1969, and was Director of Health Services in the Agency for International Development from 1963 to 1965. A native of San Francisco, Dr. Lee received his M.D. from Stanford in 1948 and an M.S. from the University of Minnesota in 1955. He is the author or co-author of over145 articles in the health field, and he has co-authored or edited numerous books. Dr. Lee’s research and teaching endeavors in the field of health policy have focused on physician payment, prescription drugs, reproductive health policy, health manpower, AIDS-related issues, and diversity in medical education. Throughout his career he has served (officially and unofficially) as advisor and mentor for countless fellows and students who have gone on to important positions in government, academia and the private sector.