Liver expert Lee receives high honor from Columbia
Dr. William M. Lee, a world-renowned liver specialist and faculty member since 1990, has been honored by the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Alumni Association in recognition of his outstanding body of accomplishments.
Alumni of the medical school, recently renamed the Columbia University Roy and Diana Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons following a $250 million gift from Dr. P. Roy Vagelos and Mrs. Diana Vagelos, selected Dr. Lee to receive the association’s 2018 Gold Medal for Excellence in Clinical Medicine, which represents the highest honor the group can bestow. Dr. Lee will be recognized May 12 during Columbia’s alumni reunion weekend.
Dr. Lee is a Professor of Internal Medicine who holds the Meredith Mosle Chair in Liver Disease in his honor at the Medical Center. He has led or has been the principal investigator at UTSW for several National Institutes of Health investigations, often through the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
These investigations over the years have improved patient care and saved lives by giving physicians worldwide a clearer picture of what acute liver failure (ALF) looks like and how best to treat it – as well as how acetaminophen poisoning became the No. 1 cause of ALF in the United States, dwarfing such causes as hepatitis and other drug poisonings.
After graduating from Amherst College, he received his medical education and training at Columbia University, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, and King’s College Hospital in London before embarking upon a career in academic medicine. Dr. Lee’s clinical research and patient care has focused on all forms of hepatitis, as well as causes of inflammation and damage to the liver.
Dr. Lee has received numerous honors during his storied career, including most recently the 2014 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Distinguished Clinician Educator/Mentor Award, given to “outstanding clinicians and educators who have made momentous contributions” to the field.