Who We Are

Dr. Yang Jae Lee (Jae Lee) is a psychiatrist and researcher who studies how communities can support people after mental health crises so that they recover, reconnect, and return to their lives. Clinically, he is an inpatient teaching attending at Harborview Medical Center, where he works with residents and medical students and where his clinical practice informs his research.

Since 2015, he has worked in the Busoga region of Uganda, where he co-founded Empower Through Health, a 501(c)(3) organization that integrates healthcare delivery, research, and education in rural Uganda, serving a catchment area of approximately 70,000 people and providing mental health services across a district of more than 400,000 individuals. As Executive Director and Chairperson, he leads interdisciplinary partnerships with local communities, clinicians, and government stakeholders to design, implement, and evaluate sustainable physical health, mental health, and education programs.

Dr. Lee’s research examines stigma reduction, pathways to care following mental health crises, and the integration of traditional and biomedical mental health systems. A central aim of this work is to understand how community structures can reduce stigma, support help-seeking, and create the conditions for recovery and social reconnection after crisis.

In parallel with his research, he directs the Global Health Experiential Fellowship, a predoctoral training program that pairs Ugandan and American students for immersive, community-based global health research in rural Uganda. The fellowship has trained over 200 alumni and serves as a platform for capacity building, cross-cultural collaboration, and academic mentorship.

Education

Psychiatry Residency, Yale University, 2021-2025
MD, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, 2017-2021
AB, Washington University in St. Louis, 2012-2016

Department Affiliations

Other Affiliations

Empower Through Health