K.J. Lee

This generous gift will equip generations of otolaryngologists with the tools they need to lead and serve their practices, teams, colleagues, and patients with confidence and acumen. It is an investment in the future of our profession and an extraordinary legacy that we are honored to uphold.”

–Rahul K. Shah, MD, MBA, AAO-HNS/F Executive Vice President and CEO

His Story

A Life Spent Bridging Medicine and Leadership

Dr. Lee arrived in the United States from Malaysia at 17, intending to become a nuclear physicist. At Harvard, his focus shifted to pre-med, and he went on to Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. As a teenager, recurring ear infections had left him with facial paralysis—giving him an early, visceral understanding of what it means to be a patient in need. That experience, paired with two mentors at Columbia, drew him into otolaryngology.

He completed his residency under Harold F. Schuknecht, MD, at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and in 1967 attended his first AAO–HNSF Annual Meeting on a modest travel grant—the start of a relationship with the Academy spanning more than five decades.

Building the Business of Better Care

Military service during the Vietnam War era brought Dr. Lee to Madigan General Hospital in Tacoma, Washington, where he helped build a residency program from the ground up. Afterward, he joined the private practice of Howard W. Smith, MD, in New Haven, Connecticut—a partnership that carried him to retirement in 2012.

Long before “practice management” was a common phrase, Dr. Lee championed bringing hearing, vestibular, and allergy care together into a single, well-run practice, coming to see patient care and practice operations as deeply intertwined. In 1971 he published the first edition of K.J. Lee’s Essential Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, now in its 13th edition and one of the most widely read references in the field.

A Voice for the Global Specialty

Dr. Lee served three years on the AAO–HNS Board of Directors, three terms as Secretary–Treasurer, and was elected President for 2001–2002—taking office in the aftermath of September 11 and pursuing an agenda of member value, scope protection, and a unified specialty voice.

His influence reached the global community as the Academy’s Coordinator of International Affairs and International Editor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Hall of Distinction in 2021 and has received three Presidential Citations over a career spent teaching, mentoring, and building lasting institutions.

K.J. is more than a giant in our field of otolaryngology head and neck surgery, he is very much an embodiment of the field itself. He is an institution. He stands for quality and education. In that educational role, he has educated generations. On a personal level, K.J. and his gracious wife, Linda, have been lifelong mentors and friends. Despite the busy schedule he keeps, he always has time for a call and time to offer advice. I have trusted his counsel through my career.”

–Gregory W. Randolph, MD