Vivian Lee

Vivian S. Lee (born September 1966) is an American radiologist and health care/health technology executive.

A U.S. Presidential Scholar and National Merit Scholar, Lee graduated from Norman High School, in Norman, Oklahoma in 1983.

Lee graduated from Radcliffe College of Harvard University magna cum laude in 1986 before receiving a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Balliol College, Oxford where she received a doctorate in medical engineering.

She then earned an M.D. with honors from Harvard Medical School and subsequently completed a residency in diagnostic radiology at Duke University and a fellowship in MRI at NYU Medical Center.

She served on the board of trustees from 2002 to 2010, president 2008–2009, and as Scientific Program Chair for 2005 Annual ISMRM meeting.

During her tenure, the ISMRM increased financial reserves, enhanced clinician membership and supported sustainability efforts through new "virtual" meetings.

She was elected Fellow of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) in 2006 and served as the president in 2008–2009.

For her scientific discoveries, she was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the National Academy of Medicine.

In 2006, she completed a Master of Business Administration degree at NYU's Stern School of Business, graduating as valedictorian.

A popular lecturer who has received multiple teaching awards, Lee authored a textbook entitled Cardiovascular MRI: Physical Principles to Practical Protocols (Lippincott 2006).

During her 5-year tenure as vice-chair for research in radiology, Lee helped build a research administrative infrastructure that enabled the department, previously unranked in NIH research funding, to reach the top 20.

During that time, NYU Langone was also the first U.S. site to install a whole body 7 Tesla MRI scanner.

In 2007, Lee became the inaugural vice dean for science, chief scientific officer and senior vice-president, serving as a member of NYU's executive leadership team.

Initiatives as chief scientific officer included establishing a new philanthropically-funded Neurosciences Institute and a new NIH-funded Center for Translational Science Institute (CTSI), upgrading core facilities, educational initiatives in grantsmanship, and establishment of a new Center for Health Informatics and Bioinformatics and a new department of statistics and epidemiology.

During her four-year tenure, NYU's ranking among NIH-funded schools of medicine increased from No. 36 to No. 26, and continued to rise thereafter.

While at NYU, Lee held a number of leadership positions in the ISMRM, the preeminent professional organization of clinical and research MR scientists.

From 2011 to 2017, Lee served as senior vice-president for health sciences, dean of the school of medicine, and the CEO of University of Utah Health.

Lee was responsible for an academic health sciences complex that includes five major schools (School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, and Colleges of Nursing, Pharmacy and Health) and a health care system comprising four hospitals, dozens of clinical and research specialty centers, a network of 12 Salt Lake City-area health centers, a regional affiliate network of 19 partner facilities, a health plan, and over 1,400 board-certified physicians.

In 2012, the University of Utah become the first health system in the country to post patient reviews online.

She later delivered the commencement speech for the class of 2017.

Funded initially while an MRI fellow and subsequently by the NIH, Lee's initial work developed methods to measure kidney glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and perfusion, noninvasively using ultra-low dose gadolinium-contrast enhanced MRI.

These techniques were applied to the improved diagnosis of renovascular disease, renal transplant dysfunction, and renal function in cirrhosis.

Extensions of this work include the use of MR methods to measure tissue hypoxia and tubular function.

While a part of the NYU MRI research team, Lee contributed to multiple advances in clinical body MRI, including pioneering 3D (volumetric) liver imaging for routine clinical care and for improved detection of hepatocellular carcinoma, improved methods for assessing vascular disease with 3D gadolinium-enhanced MR angiography and venography, and improved surgical planning for living related transplant donor planning in liver and kidney transplantation.

As the director of Cardiothoracic MR imaging at NYU, Lee developed new MR methods for fast cardiac imaging and for improved detection of myocardial infarcts.

Subsequently, Lee's NIH funded research focused on the development of non-contrast-enhanced methods for vascular MR imaging, and functional calf muscle studies that assess exercise-induced "stress-rest" performance in patients with suspected peripheral vascular disease.

Under her leadership, the University of Utah established a new School of Dentistry, the first new academic dental school in the nation in over 25 years, graduating its first class in 2017.

Lee led University of Utah Health to recognition for its health care delivery system innovations that enable higher quality at lower costs and with higher patient satisfaction, as well as successful strategies of faculty development and mentorship.

From 2018-2022, she was founding President of Health Platforms at Verily (Alphabet), launching and growing a number of successful health technology companies.

Among her leadership roles in academic medicine, Lee served as the CEO of University of Utah Health, dean of the University of Utah School of Medicine and senior vice-president for health sciences of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

And before that as the inaugural chief scientific officer and vice dean for science at NYU Langone Medical Center.

She is also a member of the scientific advisory boards of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and previously served on the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Health Incentives & Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) External Advisory Board, and on the Defense Health Board of the Department of Defense.

She serves as Editor-at-Large for New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst.

Lee has studied the management and improvement of health care, with an emphasis on data measurement and feedback to create learning health systems and her work has demonstrated the virtuous cycle of improved patient-centeredness, higher quality with better outcomes, and lower costs.

She is married to international legal scholar Benedict Kingsbury.

Lee also serves on the board of directors of the American Association of Rhodes Scholars and the Commonwealth Fund, and is also a director of Zions Bancorporation.

In 2019, she was named No. 11 in Modern Healthcare's 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare and is a frequent speaker at national and international meetings on the applications of big data, AI, and technology in healthcare, leadership and managing change, health equity, and on climate change and health system resilience.

Raised in Norman, Oklahoma and trained in biomedical engineering and medicine, Lee established an NIH-funded research program in magnetic resonance imaging at NYU.

An Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School and senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Lee is the author of the book, The Long Fix: Solving America's Health Care Crisis with Strategies That Work for Everyone (W.W. Norton, 2020).

Lee is also a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.