Biography
Dr. Lee grew up in northwest Iowa, moving with her family to northern California in her teens when her father, a minister, was transferred. She returned to the Midwest for college at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri where she received her BA in Biology. With a nurse for a mother, she was always interested in health and helping others, but it was during college that she became an Emergency Medical Technician volunteer and really developed a passion for medicine. She then returned to California for medical school at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she stayed for her internship at Kaiser. Her passion for general surgery led her next to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, CA where she was very well trained in a diverse array of general surgical disease processes and procedures by a core group of amazing surgeons with expertise in general surgery, trauma, minimally invasive surgery, colorectal surgery, pediatric surgery, thoracic surgery, vascular surgery, and even gynecologic and urologic malignancies. With this diverse exposure, she settled on Minimally Invasive Surgery as the specialty for which she had the greatest passion. She was also recognized as having exceptional skill in this field. She then proceeded to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California for a year of fellowship training in advanced Minimally Invasive Surgery with recognized leaders in the field of Laparoscopic and Bariatric surgery. Her dream to start a practice in Minimally Invasive Surgery, concentrating on excellent patient care, is being realized in Northwest Tucson, Arizona.
Dr. Lee is involved at Oro Valley Hospital on multiple committees, including Chairwoman of the General Surgery Department and Director of Bariatric Surgery. In keeping with her committment to overall patient care and safety issues, she participates actively on the Bariatric safety Task Force which guides weight loss surgery policy for nation-wide Community Health Systems (CHS) hospitals. To serve the community, she is also a member of Rotary International service organization, Oro Valley Chapter.
Dr. Lee has been blessed to have the support of her husband of over 10 years, Ivan Lee. They enjoy hiking and jogging with their dog. Dr. Lee also enjoys reading fiction and skiing.
She is proficient in Spanish.
Awards
Eric Cohen Memorial Award—University of Southern California (1999). Given to honor the ideals and embodiment of humanism in medicine.
SLS Outstanding Laparoendoscopic Resident Surgeon Award—Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital (2006).
Cedars Sinai Outstanding Physician Award—Cedars Sinai (2006). Given by the nurses to honor chosen physicians.
Memberships
- Fellow in the American College of Surgeons
- Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons, Candidate Member
- Association of Women Surgeons
- American Society for Bariatric Surgeons, Candidate Member
- Arizona Medical Association
- Tucson Surgical Society
- Tucson Society of Women Physicians
Publications and Presentations
- Review of Dotrecogin Alpha-activated (Xigris) therapy in 100 surgical and non-surgical patients with severe sepsis. Sarah J. Lee, MD, Benedict Taylor, MD, and Kenneth Waxman, MD. Poster presentation at Pacific Coast Surgical Association February 18, 2007, Kohala Coast, Hawaii.
- Minimally Invasive Surgery for Cancer. In Surgical Oncology: Multidisciplinary Approach to Difficult Problems, 2nd Edition. Silberman AW, Silberman H, eds. Sarah J. Lee, MD, Yuchiro Ito, MD, Edward H. Phillips, MD. In publication.
- Second Course of Recombinant Human Activated Protein C Delivered to Severely Septic Patient Following Recent Surgery. Sarah J. Lee, MD, Rob Schuster, MD, Matthew Bindewald, MD, Greg Greaney, MD, Kenneth Waxman, MD. J Trauma Crit Care 2006, Nov.
- Treatment of Bleeding in Severe Hemorrhagic Pancreatitis with Recombinant Factor VIIa. Rob Schuster, MD, Sarah J. Lee, MD, Donald Rink, MD. American Surgeon 2003 Nov:69(11)
- Sepsis. Sarah J. Lee, MD. 2004 Annual Trauma Symposium. Santa Barbara, California
- Knowledge Regarding Osteoporosis Prevention. Sarah J. Lee, MD, Lyndee Knox, PhD, Kathernine Schlaerth, MD. 2000 Society of Teachers of Family Medicine National Conference.