Staff Spotlight: Thomas Lee Jr.

Collaborative work is key to developing sustainable public health solutions and improving population health outcomes. This weekly series spotlights one SPH staff member who advances public health through collaborations within the field and across sectors.

Can you talk about your main responsibilities as academic program administrator for the Department of Global Health?

As the Global Health academic program administrator, I manage the day-to-day operations for the five Master of Public Health certificate programs administratively housed within the Department of Global Health. Those include 1) Global Health Program Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation, 2) Program Management, 3) Global Health, 4) Sex, Sexuality, and Gender, and 5) Pharmaceutical Development, Delivery, and Access.

I meet with current and perspective graduate students to describe and explain the program, policies, and requirements of respective certificate degree programs. Working closely with faculty and administration, I manage curriculum development, organize and co-lead the department annual education retreat, coordinate program communications, and work to foster student, alumni, and departmental culture by organizing certificate gatherings, academic seminars, and social events including a student-professor discussion on Covid-19 in early March 2020, a film screening and discussion with a Ugandan LGBTQIA+ human rights activist, and student field visits to local Pharmaceutical Companies.

Can you share how collaboration is integral to your role, and what are one or two collaborations that have been most meaningful to you? 

One collaboration I’m particularly excited about is the launch of our department’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. A year ago, my colleague Pawandeep Kaur and I advocated for the formation of a new committee that would give our department a better understanding of ourselves and those we serve while helping us to Think. Teach. Do. more innovatively as an equitable, conscious department. As co-chairs, we lead a core working group of faculty and staff who plan and implement 2-3 events a month events and promote SPH and BU D&I initiatives. Through a monthly dialogue series, we have worked to create an open, respectful, and collaborative opportunity for global health faculty and staff to learn from one another and grow in our collective understanding and commitment to a more diverse, and inclusive department. To date, we have discussed Teaching Beyond the Gender Binary in the University Classroom, How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi, Gendered Power on a World Scale, and How to Survive a Plague; the Store of How Activist and Scientist Tamed AIDS by David France.

As an SPH alum, what have you enjoyed most about becoming a staff member and continuing to work with the school?

As an alum of the School of Public Health, who studied in the Department of Global Health, I bring a great deal of empathy and personal experience as a student to my role. This insight allows me to advocate effectively for students and to look critically at ways to improve academic and extracurricular activities in our department. I really enjoy now working alongside numerous faculty who I previously took courses with, and I appreciated all global health faculty’s confidence in me and their willingness to continually innovate.

Lastly, above all else, it continues to motivate and humble me to work for an institution whose mission centers around the health and wellbeing of disadvantaged and underserved people worldwide. It makes my work all the more meaningful and I’m proud to be both an alum and staff member of BUSPH.

“Thomas has many critical leadership roles within the Department of Global Health. As the academic coordinator for five certificates, he is an incredible source of knowledge for both MPH students and faculty. One of his most extraordinary contributions to our community has been the Global Health Diversity and Inclusion Committee that he and Pawandeep Kaur started last summer. The conversations we have had in these meetings have been a game-changer in terms of building community, communication, knowledge, and skills in our department. Thomas is an empathetic listener and ally, a talented educator, and inspiring leader.”

Jennifer Beard, clinical associate professor of global health