Exploring the Background and Contributions of Dr. Daniel Lee at UCLA
This article delves into the backgrounds and contributions of two distinguished individuals named Dr. Daniel Lee associated with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA): Dr. Daniel Lee, a Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Dr. C.Y. Daniel Lee, an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Dr. Daniel Lee (Obstetrics and Gynecology)
Dr. Daniel Lee (he/him) is a Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is committed to providing comprehensive and individualized care to meet the unique needs of each patient.
Patient Experiences and Expertise
Numerous patients have expressed their gratitude and satisfaction with Dr. Lee's care. One patient described Dr. Lee as kind and always willing to make time for her, especially when she was anxious about undergoing her first surgery, a myomectomy. Dr. Lee's fresh perspective and knowledge instilled confidence in her decision to proceed with the surgery. The procedure was a success, with Dr. Lee and his team removing over 20 fibroids. The patient was happy to report a return to normalcy and her first normal menstrual cycle after the surgery.
Another patient emphasized that Dr. Lee listened carefully to her needs from the beginning and took action to address them, ensuring she received the best possible care. He thoroughly explained the surgical procedure, giving her the opportunity to confirm her understanding right before the surgery. This patient found Dr. Lee to be knowledgeable, approachable, and dedicated to providing the right care to meet her goals, always involving her in the decision-making process by presenting different options.
One patient expressed her gratitude to Dr. Daniel Lee, praising his efficiency, professionalism, kindness, and compassionate nature. She appreciated that he took the time to listen to her concerns about previous experiences and thoroughly reviewed her delivery options and associated risk factors. Despite the fast-paced environment of the medical center, Dr. Lee remained patient and attentive to her concerns. He also performed a comprehensive C-section surgery and removed a keloid from a previous C-section.
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These testimonials highlight Dr. Lee's dedication to patient care, his expertise in surgical procedures, and his ability to create a comfortable and trusting environment for his patients.
Dr. C.Y. Daniel Lee (Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences)
Dr. C.Y. Daniel Lee is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Academic Background and Research Focus
He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from National Taiwan University in Taiwan. After completing his military service, he pursued doctoral education at Case Western Reserve University, where he studied the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease in Dr. Gary Landreth's laboratory, earning his Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 2012. He conducted his postdoctoral training with Dr. X. William Yang at UCLA, utilizing human genomic mouse models to investigate Huntington’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. He joined the UCLA faculty in 2019.
Current Research
His current research focuses on integrating mouse genetics, systems biology, and cell biology to understand the role and regulation of microglial function in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease.
UCLA Department of Family Medicine: A Hub of Expertise
To provide context for Dr. Daniel Lee's work at UCLA, it's helpful to consider the broader Department of Family Medicine and its esteemed faculty.
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Key Figures in the Department
Dr. Gerardo Moreno: Associate Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Family Medicine, and Director of UCLA PRIME-LA (Program in Medical Education) which focuses on Leadership and Advocacy for underserved communities. He received his medical degree from the University of California Los Angeles, and completed his residency training in Family Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. He received a Masters of Science in Health Services from the UCLA School of Public Health and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation Clinical Scholars Program at UCLA. Currently, he is the principal investigator of a multi-year evaluation of a novel primary care coverage program for low-income uninsured and undocumented patients receiving care in 23 community health centers across 21 California counties. Dr. Moreno co-directs the Community Liaison Core for the NIH/NIA funded UCLA Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR)/Center for Health Improvement for Minority Elders (CHIME). He was the 2015-2017 James C. Puffer M.D./ABFM Anniversary Fellow at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and is a past recipient of a National Institute of Aging (NIA-NIH) Paul B. Beeson Career Development Award in Aging (K23). Dr. Moreno has published clinical guidelines on diabetes among older adults and studies that have increased our understanding of health disparities and the social determinants of health, and has published on other important issues addressing physician workforce diversity, family medicine, primary care and medical education. He served as an associate editor for the Annals of Family Medicine and now serves on the journal’s Board of Directors.
Dr. Denise Sur: A Clinical Professor and Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Family Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine. She is also the Residency Program Director for the UCLA-Santa Monica Family Medicine Residency program. Dr. Sur received her BA from UC Berkeley in Biology and her MD from UC Davis. After teaching for the family medicine residency at UMass, Dr. Sur joined the family medicine faculty at UCLA in 1991, where she has practiced and taught full-spectrum family medicine to our family medicine residents and UCLA medical students for over 30 years. Dr. Sur has been a long-standing member of multiple department and UCLA-Santa Monica hospital committees including Chairman of hospital’s Dept of Family Medicine, Credentials, and Medical Staff Executive Committee as well as our academic department’s Promotion’s Committee. Dr. Dr. Sur has published numerous articles and chapters in multiple areas of family medicine including Immunizations in Pregnancy, Evaluation of Fever of Unidentified Source in Young Children, Breast Cancer, Allergic and Non-Allergic Rhinitis, Pharmacologic and Non-Pharmacologic Treatment of Obesity, and Use of Antibiotics in the Treatment of Upper Respiratory Infections.
Dr. Lee: A Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He has been on the full-time faculty of the UCLA-Santa Monica Family Medicine Residency Program since 1994 and the Associate Program Director since 2015. Dr. Lee graduated from Baylor University with a BS in Physical Education in 1987 and he received his medical degree from the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical School in 1991. He completed his residency training at the UCLA-Santa Monica Family Medicine Residency Program in 1994. Additionally, Dr. Lee obtained a MA in Christian Apologetics from Biola University in 2002. In addition to practicing and teaching the full-scope of Family Medicine to residents and medical students, Dr. Lee holds several other positions at UCLA. He is the Associate Director of the Primary Care College for the 4th year medical students at UCLA. He is the faculty advisor for the Family Medicine Interest Group at the medical school. Dr. Lee is a long-standing member of the Pharmacy, Therapeutics, and Nutrition Committee and the Medical Staff Executive Committee at the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Lee has published numerous articles in primary care journals and textbooks. Furthermore, he occasionally does manuscript reviews for the American Family Physician journal and serves as an expert reviewer for the Medical Board of California. He enjoys many sports and he used to coach his son and daughter's various sports teams until they grew up. Of all sports, he enjoys playing tennis the most.
Dr. Plesa: Joined the UCLA Department of Family Medicine in June 2013. Born and raised in Southern California, she graduated from UCLA with a BS in psychobiology and a minor in Spanish. After working for a non-profit for two years, she attended medical school at Albany Medical College in New York. She returned to UCLA to complete her residency in Family Medicine. After graduating in 2012, she stayed on with the department to complete a PGY 4 Chief Resident year, during which time she focused on improving resident education by implementing simulation center training. Dr. Plesa enjoys working closely with medical students and serves as the MS3 Clerkship Director for UCLA Family Health Center. Her medical interests include women’s health, pediatrics and procedures.
Dr. Arthur "Art" Ohannessian: Joined the UCLA Dept of Family Medicine in 2011 after obtaining his medical degree from the UCSD School of Medicine and completing his Family Medicine residency training at UCLA. He is currently an Associate Professor in the UCLA Department of Family Medicine and the Associate Medical Director for Family and Women’s Services for the San Fernando Health Center Group, one of the largest comprehensive health centers operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. He is actively involved in teaching both residents and medical students. His professional interests include providing high quality primary care services to underserved populations and developing health policy through advocacy efforts at the local, state, and national level. Dr. Ohannessian is an active member of American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and has served in multiple leadership roles, including serving as the past President of the Los Angeles chapter of the AAFP, and as the District IV Director for the California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP).
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Dr. Bholat: The first Latina vice-chair of the UCLA Department of Family Medicine, Professor of Family Medicine and a graduate of the UC Irvine College of Medicine and the UCLA School of Public Health. In addition, she serves as the Public Health Commissioner for the 4th Supervisory District in LA County and received the LA County Department of Health Services Recognition of Service Award for “Excellent Leadership and Tremendous Dedication to Our Community and Patients.” With her interest in professional education and leadership, physician workforce and health care delivery systems for underserved and vulnerable populations, she serves as the Executive Director of the UCLA International Medical Graduate Program.
Dr. Neha D. Chande: Joined the UCLA Department of Family Medicine as a Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor in 2016. She has completed her residency in Family Medicine and fellowship in Preventive Medicine and Population Health at UCLA. Her clinical interests include practicing full-spectrum inpatient and outpatient Family Medicine, providing care to underserved communities, preventive medicine including provision of vaccines, public health, and global health. She also enjoys teaching residents and medical students in the clinical setting. Dr Chande is also on staff as attending at the department’s University Family Health Center and Mid Valley Comprehensive Health Center. Dr. Chande recently started a fellowship in AAFP Vaccine Science. Prior to arriving at UCLA, she attended the University of California, Berkeley where she earned her BA in Public Health after which she completed her Masters degree in Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received her medical training at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, VA, where she participated in a program focusing on primary care in underserved communities.
Dr. Wong: Joined the UCLA Department of Family Medicine in July 2018. She is from the Bay Area in Northern California, and graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Molecular and Cell Biology and a minor in Education. She then attended medical school at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and remained at UCLA for her residency in Family Medicine, during which time she developed her passion for medical student and resident education. After graduating in 2014, she stayed at UCLA Family Medicine to complete a PGY 4 Chief Resident year. Her clinical interests include full spectrum inpatient and outpatient Family Medicine, with a focus on women's health, adolescent medicine, and outpatient procedures. She currently working on developing a curriculum for the intern class and improving the resident research curriculum.
Dr. Gelberg: A family physician, health services researcher, and professor in UCLA’s Department of Family Medicine and School of Public Health. She is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, co-director of the UCLA Wireless Health Institute, and associate director of the UCLA Primary Care Research Fellowship. Her current research focuses on clinical trials to promote healthy lifestyle change in low income populations using leading behavior change methodologies supported by wireless technology. Over the past 2 decades, Dr. Gelberg has conducted community-based health services research to improve the health of our nation’s most vulnerable populations, and has developed the art and science of collecting data under the most difficult field conditions, including the shelters, meal programs, parks, streets, and busy community health centers of Los Angeles County. Dr. Gelberg has served as PI or Co-PI of more than 25 NIH funded grants, and has published over 100 articles and book chapters. She received the Academy Health 1995 Young Investigator Award and 1997 Article of the Year Award, 2001 Family Practice Excellence in Research Award from the California Academy of Family Physicians (first recipient), George F. Kneller Endowed Chair at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (first recipient), and 2009 Society of Teachers of Family Medicine’s Curtis Hames Award which honors individuals who through the course of their career, have contributed in a major, outstanding manner to the development of family medicine research.
Dr. Brown: Received his BA from the University of San Francisco and his MD from Howard University. After residency he stayed on as chief resident. Upon completion of his chief year he was hired as faculty. His areas of academic interest include endocrinology, mental-health related disorders, homeless health care, point-of-care ultrasound, and musculoskeletal injuries. In his free time he enjoys going to comedy shows, watching movies, playing ultimate frisbee, and volleyball.
Dr. Derjung Mimi Tarn: A Professor of Family Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Tarn obtained B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biological Sciences from Stanford University, and her medical degree from New York Medical College. She completed a Family Medicine residency at the University of Southern California-Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in 2002, where she was a Chief Resident during her last year. Following her residency training, Dr. Tarn went to UCLA for a National Research Service Award (NRSA) Primary Care Research fellowship. She also was a UCLA Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) program fellow, and during her research training obtained a Ph.D. Dr. Tarn’s research combines qualitative and quantitative skills to understand physician-patient communication about medications. She has developed tools to understand conversations about new and continued medications, and described a medication prescribing communication index. Her analyses have demonstrated deficiencies in the ways physicians and patients communicate when patients receive new prescriptions. These findings have led to Dr. Tarn’s endeavors to develop behavioral interventions to improve prescribing education. Currently Dr. Tarn is the Principal Investigator of an NIH R01 grant investigating patient disclosure of dietary supplement use during primary care office visits. Dr. Tarn received an Honorable Mention for the Society of Teachers in Family Medicine (STFM) Best Paper Award in 2008 and was recognized by the California Academy of Family Physicians as the 2010 Researcher of the Year.
Dr. Vigil: A Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery and serves as Chief of the Divisions of Primary Care Sports Medicine for these departments at UCLA. He is also the Associate Head Team Physician for the UCLA Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Dr. Vigil was a collegiate sprinter at Stanford, later earned his medical degree from Harvard, returned to California for his residency training in Family Medicine at Kaiser Permanente, then completed his Sports Medicine fellowship at UCLA. Dr. Vigil cares for Family Medicine and Sports Medicine patients of all ages, while supervising UCLA medical students, residents, and Sports Medicine Fellows. In addition to his patient care and teaching duties at UCLA, Dr. Vigil is the Medical Director of UCLA Health Sports Performance Powered by EXOS, a collaboration between UCLA Health and EXOS to provide training and nutrition programs for athletes to reach their peak performance. Dr. Vigil is also the Associate Head Team Physician and Director of Primary Care for the Los Angeles Lakers as part of a collaboration between the Lakers and UCLA Health. Outside of UCLA, Dr. Vigil has been a team physician for several USA Track & Field teams at international competitions including the World Championships, World Cup, Continental Cup and Pan American Games. He has also served as a physician at the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. Dr. Vigil's research interests include heat illness and dehydration, overuse injuries and pre-participation screening, and the use of musculoskeletal ultrasound in the treatment of sports-related injuries.
Dr. Duffaut: Joined UCLA as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery after completing his Sports Medicine specialty training with UCLA in 2016. He received his medical degree from the University of Southern California and completed his residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at LAC + USC Hospital. Dr. Duffaut earned his bachelor’s degree at UC San Diego where he played on the intercollegiate basketball team. He plans to further pursue research …
This overview of the UCLA Department of Family Medicine highlights the breadth of expertise and commitment to patient care and medical education within the institution.
Dr. C.Y. Daniel Lee: Personal Insights and Values
Dr. C.Y. Daniel Lee provides additional context about himself, his background, and his values.
Personal Background and Values
Originally from Seoul, he has lived in and been shaped by the cultural centers of Los Angeles and London. Having traveled to over 25 countries, he has broadened his perspective and appreciation of cultures. His values revolve around family, faith, and friendships. He is married to his best friend, who shares the same values. His wife, who was born in Shanghai, grew up in the Midwest and Bay Area. She is a Harvard graduate who worked in consulting before transitioning to the entertainment industry in Los Angeles. They reside in Santa Monica with their two children and enjoy spending time with friends over home-cooked meals. In his spare time, he enjoys backpacking, woodworking, and cooking Texas-style briskets.
Entrepreneurial Ventures
Beyond his roles as a husband, father, therapist, and scientist, Dr. Lee is also a product leader and entrepreneur. In 2022, he helped launch a startup in the mental health ed-tech space. As a co-founder, he spearheaded product development and pitched investors and VCs to a $20M valuation for a Series A fundraise. In 2024, their product received a prestigious award from Good Housekeeping for its innovative approach to socioemotional learning and social support.
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