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MICHELLE LEE MD
NEW YORK DOCTOR WRITER
COMMUNITY ADVOCACY
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM: Welcome
After the fatal Atlanta shootings, Dr. Michelle Lee rallied over 100 NYC healthcare workers to create the first vaccinated white coat frontline in support of the AAPI community in the U.S. on 3/21/2021 in Manhattan's Chinatown. Was a speaker to over 3,000 community members in NYC on same stage as New York Senator Chuck Schumer, Presidential Andrew Yang, and BLM activist Nupol Kizolu. She was featured by Associated Press, Now This News, ABC7, Gothamist, ABC, NBC, Voices of America, LA times, Channel 20 News, Wellesley Magazine, Taipei Times.
Dr. Michelle Lee covered by New York Presbyterian Cornell-Columbia in Manhattan in "Perseverance and Pride: AAPI Healthcare Workers Get Personal About Racism" after creating the first white coat frontline to the AAPI community. She credits the White Coats for Black Lives Group she was part of as a Cornell Medical Student for inspiring her to advocate for her own community after seeing AAPIs being scapegoated with violence during COVID.
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Dr. Michelle Lee pictured left and interviewed in an Associated Press article on "Asian American health workers fighting coronavirus and racist attacks", which was featured on national ABC, NBC, Voices of America, LA times, Channel 20 News, international Taipei Times, and more.
Dr. Michelle Lee pictured left and interviewed in an Associated Press article on "Asian American health workers fighting coronavirus and racist attacks", which was featured on national ABC, NBC, Voices of America, LA times, Channel 20 News, international Taipei Times, and more.
Spoke to ABC 7 News about rising anti-asian sentiment in NYC as a native New Yorker and frontline worker on 3/21/21
Dr. Michelle Lee encouraged COVID vaccination for NYC in a East Side Stories video and raised awareness of the barriers the elderly and immigrants often face
Dr. Michelle Lee covered by New York Presbyterian Cornell in Manhattan in "Perseverance and Pride: AAPI Healthcare Workers Get Personal About Racism" holding a sign she made for a rally, "Racism is a Public Health Issue". She was also quoted on NPR morning radio as a "radiologist who believes racism is a public health issue" on a segment regarding anti-asian racism.
Dr. Michelle Lee has been invited as a virtual speaker at several national and hospital-wide diversity meetings, including New York Presbyterian Hospital of Cornell and Columbia, Mercer College of Medicine in Georgia (shortly after the Atlanta Georgia shootings), and Stony Brook University Medical Center to discuss anti-Asian racism, activism, and action items. She started a mentoring program pairing medical trainees with healthcare students.
Dr. Lee has spoken about AAPI issues and escalating anti-asian racism during COVID to ABC 7, Now This News (>100,000 views), Gothamist, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Health Matters, and East Side Stories. She has written articles on these topics for Stat News, Infatuation, Civil Eats, Salon, and Life & Thyme.
She is quoted in Gothamist, "We don't practice medicine in a bubble. Racism is an important public health issue, just as any medical problem that we're dealing with" and that the AAPI community "recognize that fighting anti-Asian hate means fighting for Black Lives Matter". On 4/27/21, she was referenced on NPR live air as a Manhattan radiologist who believes "racism is a public health issue".
Dr. Lee amplified Natty Jumreornvong, a Sinai Medical Student who was called "Chinese Virus" before beat on the way to the hospital in Feb 2020. Jumreornvong had gone to the local newspaper who declined to cover her hate crime. Dr. Lee became her professional, activist, and writing mentor, amplifying Jumreornvong's story on stage at the largest NYC AAPI peace rally (3/21/21) and allowing her to regain her dignity and narrative. Dr. Lee was also responsible for getting Jumreornvong's story through to ABC 7, Now This News, and Washington Post; Dr. Lee's amplification spurred internal change within Jumreorvong's hospital. Dr. Lee appeared in a Now This News segment with Jumreornvong that was viewed over 100,000 times.
Dr. Michelle Lee and fellow activists protesting anti-asian violence in Times Square, as pictured in New York Post
Dr. Michelle Lee has helped organize for several peaceful rallies around NYC and DC. She has advocated for the NYC AAPI community as a writer for almost a decade.
Dr. Michelle Lee in a 5/7/2021 Associated Press video speaking as an organizer for a rally against anti-Asian Hate
Dr. Michelle Lee was invited as a lecturer for NYP Hospital GME Diversity Taskforce AAPI's Heritage Month.
She also hosted discussion and spoke at Stony Brook University Hospital (New York) & Mercer College of Medicine (Georgia)
Dr. Lee wrote an NBC article "Six Things You Can Do To Help the AAPI Community" on 5/27/2021 interviewing Stop AAPI Hate.org's cofounder Dr. Russell Jeung.
Dr. Michelle Lee featured multiple times, including a November 2021 Wellesley Magazine Article on The Fight Against Anti-Asian Hate & The Fight Against Invisibility.
She was also featured in New York Hospital's Health Matters website which linked to her original Washington Post op-ed on AAPI women issues & Black-Asian solidarity.
Interviewed & Quoted in Time Magazine Article on Reflections on the Asian American Community A Year After the Atlanta Spa Shootings.
Interviewed and featured on a PBS WNET (4/28/2022) on a healthcare panel on the NYC COVID-19 frontline, mental health, healthcare w, and finding purpose in medicine during the pandemic.
See Live PBS Clips in Bio where I speak on mental health among medical trainees during COVID in NYC and the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community.
Invited to speak during AAPI heritage month for FIGS, a public U.S. Company in 2021 and 2022. Dr. Michelle Lee hosted an AAPI heritage month discussion with FIGS ambassadors that was streamed live on clubhouse on 2021. She also joined a conversation on AAPI heritage in healthcare in 2022 that was streamed live from FIGS on Instagram Live.
She also gave an FIGS Rounds for the company on her experiences on the COVID frontline.
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM: Recent Work
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