Jennifer S. Lee

Office of U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, 18th Congressional District

September 21, 2018
TouroCOM Middletown's Jennifer Lee spent her summer at the office of Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney.

Residents of Middletown who called their Congressman’s office might have been surprised at the identity of the person on the other end of the line: OMS II Jennifer S. Lee. For the first summer of her medical school experience, Lee was a Summer Fellow for U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, who represents Middletown along with parts of the Hudson Valley.

“I worked under Congressman Maloney’s Director of Constituent Services,” explained Lee. “I had seen the D.C. offices working on policy issues during my participation in D.O. Day on Capitol Hill. However, I had no idea until this summer what district offices did. They do extensive outreach in the community and assist individuals in navigating government agencies to access services. It was a good opportunity to help our neighbors.”

The unlikely first-year fellowship for Lee is a result of the unusual route she took to medical school and her even more out-of-the-box goals for her medical career. Lee graduated from Cornell University with an interdisciplinary degree in ‘Biology and Society.’ After graduation, she began working at Memorial Sloan Kettering as a Research Study Assistant.

“The physician I worked with would examine the patient to see if a cancer treatment worked; my job was to follow up to see if there were any side-effects,” said Lee. “I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to be a doctor, so the hospital environment was a make-or-break opportunity for me to finalize that decision.”

While working at Memorial Sloan Kettering, Lee applied to Hunter College in New York City to fulfill her requirements for medical school. Along the way, she picked up a second bachelor’s degree in political science.

“I don’t know if I ever stopped to question whether science was the direction I wanted. I attended Stuyvesant, which is a math and science high school, and then went straight to Cornell’s biology department. Hunter College was my first-time immersing myself in something new.

“Political science initially terrified me,” continued Lee. “One of the biggest differences is, in science class, you’re never using the ‘I’ pronoun. It’s never about you; it’s about the raw data and what you can prove. In political science, our first assignment was giving our personal opinions and recommendations based on a reading. I had never been asked to do that before and I was hooked.”

After graduating with her second bachelor’s, Lee debated between pursuing medical school or law school. “I was torn for a while,” said Lee, “But I decided medical school was where I wanted to be.”

Still, she said that her understanding of political science has enriched her medical school experience.

“A lot of government policies are detrimental to patient care and that goes back to the fact that the politicians who create policies are mostly attorneys and lack firsthand experience in healthcare,” Lee stated. “There isn’t enough understanding across the aisle because physicians work long hours and don’t have enough free time to engage in the policy arena. There is a growing need for physicians who can translate medicine into the language of legislators.”

At TouroCOM Middletown, Lee joined the school’s chapter of the Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA), the largest student-led advocacy group for osteopathic medical students and the exclusive student affiliate of the AOA. She is serving as the National Liaison Officer (NLO), and is primarily responsible for organizing and coordinating campus participation in national advocacy efforts both within SOMA and with Congress. As summer approached, Lee realized that having a better understanding of the policy process would help her be a more effective NLO for her SOMA chapter and a stronger advocate overall.

“I wanted something where I could grow as a person, so I looked up legislators around TouroCOM and Congressman Maloney’s office was happy to have a medical student on board,” said Lee.

As part of her fellowship, Lee met with constituent groups across a variety of issues, ranging from local small business concerns to gun control reform to oversight of medical facilities.

“Coming from the city, it was very different to see the challenges that a rural community faces,” she said. “I also learned that the District and D.C. Offices work together to help the community from two different sides. The District Office helps constituents navigate government offices and access services on the more immediate day-to-day level. This inspires new policy proposals at the D.C. Office for more lasting change.”

During her fellowship, Lee was also able to begin her own research project into the suicide rates of medical students and physicians.

“The rate of suicide in the medical profession is incredibly high,” stated Lee. “Medical students talk online about how burnt out they feel, but they are afraid to seek treatment since they worry it will affect their ability to get their medical license.”

Most states require medical students and physicians to disclose if they have sought mental health treatment, even if it was in the past and has been successfully resolved.

“The licensing board is attempting to protect patients, which is necessary, but it’s a problem if doctors are in crisis and don’t seek treatment,” said Lee.  

Lee said her goal is to change the requirement. (Both the AOA and the AMA have already spoken out against the requirement and researchers have pointed out how it may run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act.)

“It’s really been interesting to see how things work in the legislative branch of government,” Lee concluded about her fellowship. “I can use what I learned to become a better advocate for my fellow students and my future patients. One of my mentors warned me that for all the good doctors can do, you can only help one patient at a time and that’s the patient in front of you. If you want to help more than one patient, you need to go into public health or public policy. I believe that this is the next phase of what it means to be a physician.”