Cardiovascular nurse scientist Christopher Lee, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, likes to call his data-driven research approach 鈥渂iobehavioral profiling.鈥� Combining symptom science with exploring both the patient鈥檚 self-care behavior and the relationship between the patient and informal caregiver, he looks 鈥渋nto and beyond鈥� patients suffering from heart disease.
Lee, who joined the Connell School听in January 2018 as associate dean听for research and director of the Office of听Nursing Research (ONR), comes to Boston听College after seven years at Oregon Health听& Science University (OHSU), where hewas most recently the Carol A. Lindeman听Distinguished Professor. At OHSU, a听leader in women鈥檚 health, he published听10 papers examining gender differences听in heart disease. In general, larger hearts听are worse for men, smaller hearts worse听for women.
With grants from the National听Institutes of Health and the National听Institute of Nursing Research, Lee led a听team of colleagues at OHSU and across听the country in several studies on how the听installment of a left ventricular assist听device(LVAD)鈥攁 pump used for patients听with end-stage heart failure鈥攁ffects both听physical and psychological symptoms. In听one study, Lee鈥檚 team examined 64听bridge-surgery patients (who would听eventually receive heart transplants) and听22 destination-surgery patients (ineligible听for transplants) before and then one,听three, and six months after LVAD implantation.
As Lee reported in the June 2017听Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, by far听the greatest benefits for both bridge and听destination patients appear within the听first 30 days of installment, earlier than听previously thought.
Lee also investigates patients鈥� self-management听of heart disease. 鈥淲hat are听patients doing for themselves during the听99.99 percent of the time they鈥檙e not in a听physician or NP鈥檚 office?鈥� And he听examines how relationships between听patients and their informal caregivers鈥攕uch as spouses and adult children鈥攃an affect symptoms. (The most successful situation, Lee has found, is when both patient and caregiver willfully manage the illness, and the spouse treats caregiving less as a strain and more as a 鈥渓abor of love.鈥�) Lee鈥檚 work has earned him the 2016 Prot茅g茅 Award from the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research, the 2014 Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) Nursing Leadership Award, and the 2013 American Heart Association (AHA) Marie Cowan Promising Young Investigator Award. In addition to being a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, Lee is a Fellow of HFSA and AHA.
The Scituate, Massachusetts, native says his arrival at the Connell School 鈥渇eels like a homecoming. I still have family here, and I never lost the accent.鈥� After high school, he attended the University of New Hampshire, 鈥渕ostly because of their cycling club,鈥� he jokes. But as a student EMT, he became fascinated to find out what happened after he handed off patients 鈥渢o really skilled, really confident nurses.鈥� After earning a bachelor鈥檚 degree in nursing, he spent seven years as a bedside nurse in Massachusetts health care facilities, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Lahey Hospital & Medical Center. Then, while earning his nurse practitioner degree and Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, he 鈥渃aught the research bug,鈥� he recalls, studying under Professor听Barbara Riegel, a leading researcher in adult heart failure (with whom Lee has since co-authored 34 articles); Nancy Tkacs, a neuroendocrine physiologist; and heart-failure physician Kenneth Margulies.
At OHSU, Lee taught biostatistics to Ph.D. students, which he may continue to do at the Connell School. He鈥檚 also interested in teaching and 鈥渇inding ways to make undergraduates more inspired and have more opportunities to engage in research. It鈥檚 important to be exposed to research early.鈥�
Lee is a 鈥渂orn mentor,鈥� says Sean Clarke, associate dean for Undergraduate Programs, who met Lee in an NIH study session when Clarke was an undergraduate at Penn. 鈥淗e鈥檚 great at figuring out what people need to transform their ideas into research and publications. And he鈥檚 had a great run at nailing down funding, which will help get science going on the ground for students at all levels.鈥�
In his roles as ONR director and a mentor to faculty researchers, Lee hopes to encourage more interdisciplinary inquiry across the Connell School, in particular cardiovascular research. Heart disease is still the leading cause of death in the United States, claiming some 610,000 lives a year, more than all cancers combined. But more and more, Lee notes, today鈥檚 patients 鈥渉ave cardiovascular disease and diabetes and high blood pressure and rheumatoid arthritis. Treatment is increasingly complicated.鈥� Nurses need 鈥渕ore information and skills to master than ever.鈥� 鈻�
鈥擝y Zachary Jason
Photograph: Lee Pellegrini