Lee Honored by Obstetric Medicine Societies

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Richard V. Lee, M.D., professor of medicine, obstetrics and pediatrics in the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has received the C.G. Barnes Award from the International Society of Obstetric Medicine in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field.

Also, the North American Society of Obstetric Medicine has announced the establishment of a lecture in Lee's name to be delivered at the annual meeting of the society.

Lee is renowned in the field of obstetric medicine, which concentrates on treatment of disease, infection and complications during pregnancy. His honor by the international society is particularly apt: His subspecialty is geographic medicine, which studies and treats diseases endemic to specific -- usually isolated -- regions of the world.

A founding member of the International Society of Obstetric Medicine, Lee has traveled widely carrying out his research, clinical and teaching activities. His work has covered a broad range of issues, including international health, the complexities of managing medical complications of pregnancy and the health status of geographically isolated human populations.

He maintains an active research program, studying the health of the Rendille tribe of Northern Kenya; the Kayapo, Parakana and Apalai tribes of Brazil, and the Ladakh people of Northwestern Himalaya. The Medical Trek Program at UB, which he developed, gives a variety of students the opportunity to participate in field work with these native groups.

Under the auspices of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Lee also has provided care and medical educational programs for refugees in Thailand and Cambodia, and he has consulted for the World Health Organization's Collaborating Center for Health in Housing, based in Buffalo.

For more than 20 years Lee has organized conferences and workshops on obstetric medicine for the American College of Physicians, and has recruited and trained young clinicians in the field throughout the U.S. and Canada. He said he considers that accomplishment the best reward for a career in a branch of medicine that was not well recognized during the lifetime of C.G. Barnes, who established the specialty.

Lee holds bachelor's and medical degrees from Yale University, and did his residency and postdoctoral training at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is secretary of the board of trustees of the Yale-China Association and maintains academic interchanges with medical schools in Hong Kong, Changsha (Hunan Province) and Beijing.

He is a resident of Orchard Park.