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Trained as a medical anthropologist, Simon Craddock Lee, Ph.D., M.P.H., joined the faculty in late 2008 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences. Prior to moving to Dallas, Dr. Lee was a Cancer Prevention Fellow in the ethics of prevention and public health at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), where he also served as Co-Chair of the Culture & Qualitative Research Interest Group, a scientific intramural association of the NIH.
In Dallas, Dr, Lee's research focuses on the culture and organization of cancer care delivery systems for underserved patients and communities. He conducts cancer disparities research as a member of the Population Sciences and Cancer Control group within the Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center. He is principal investigator of an implementation study expanding rural breast cancer screening and patient navigation in 17 rural counties in North Texas funded by a prevention grant from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). He is leading or contributing to studies to optimize cancer screening in both urban and rural underserved, as well as developing behavioral theory in social decision-making among patients with cancer. Active disease sites include lung, colorectal, breast and HPV/cervical cancers through research support from the NCI and American Cancer Society (ACS).
As an anthropologist, Dr. Lee is committed to integrating social science research perspectives across health science and medical education. At UT Southwestern, he contributes to culture/behavior and ethics curricula in the Medical School, in addition to formal advising on research design and qualitative methods through the post-doctoral Clinical Scholars Program. Dr. Lee is a member of the inaugural cohort of Leadership Emerging in Academic Departments (LEAD), the faculty leadership training program.
His doctoral fieldwork examined how cultural values shape health services delivery in a major not-for-profit Catholic hospital system. Dr. Lee continues to serve as a content expert in hospital governance and not-for-profit healthcare operations, especially organizational behavior and care coordination for the poor and underserved. Prior research in anthropology and ethics was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ), the Social Science Research Council, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Dr. Lee has reviewed for the NSF programs in Cultural Anthropology and in Ethics & Science, as well as NHLBI and NCI Special Emphasis panels at NIH.
Dr. Lee has held a leadership position in the American Anthropological Association since 2009 and is an elected Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology.
