Dr. Joyce Lee, health sciences clinical professor in the UC Irvine School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, was named by the Susan & Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences Faculty Assembly as a recipient of their inaugural Clinical Team Research Award!
The Clinical Team Research Award was created to honor interdisciplinary teams of faculty from multiple schools within the College of Health Sciences who have exemplified how such collaboration has led to clinical research endeavors that ultimately improve the health of patients.
The award is in recognition of Dr. Lee’s work in UCI Health Family Health Centers, alongside Dr. José Mayorga, who is a joint faculty member of the School of Medicine and School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Vanessa Rodriguez, FNP, of the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing. UCI Health Family Health Center, located in Santa Ana and Anaheim, is the oldest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Orange County. It is a place where healthcare professionals from throughout the College of Health Sciences work together to care for more than 25,000 patients annually who are low income, uninsured, mostly monolingual Spanish, or otherwise medically underserved.
“The award focused on the ongoing clinical impact of an interdisciplinary remote patient monitoring program established during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic that utilized digital devices to monitor blood pressure and glucose readings while providing a safe and convenient environment for medically underserved patients with uncontrolled chronic diseases in Orange County, with the goal to maintain quality care with timely access and management,” shared Dr. Lee. “Since the implementation of the service, there has been an 8% improvement in uncontrolled hypertension rates in the past two years. In a quality improvement study, we found that none of the patients had an ER visit, compared to 11% of their case-control peers during the study period. Adding to the timely improvement in diabetes outcomes, the team’s work was also recognized through invited talks and presentations at state, national, and international levels.”
The collective work spearheaded by Dr. Lee, Dr. Mayorga, and Vanessa Rodriguez, FNP is evident of the interdisciplinary collaboration that is a preeminent value of the College of Health Sciences’ mission. Through teamwork among the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Medicine, Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, and Program in Public Health, faculty are able to collaborate closely with those in other disciplines, while students gain real-world experience of interdisciplinary healthcare settings and patients receive the best care possible.
“This award is enormous because it’s thrice as meaningful, celebrating the impact of teamwork among the three schools. I am so honored to be part of it,” said Dr. Lee. “I want to thank the Faculty Assembly for establishing this award to highlight the impact of modern practice on clinical research and place interdisciplinary collaboration as the prime in advancing the health of patients and communities.”
The 2024 awardees were recognized at a ceremony on April 10th. For more information about this year’s winners, visit this page.
