'''Roger Irving Lee''' (August 12, 1881 – October 28, 1965) was an American [[medical doctor]] who was president of the [[American College of Physicians]] (1941), [[Massachusetts Medical Society]] (1943–1944), and the [[American Medical Association]] (1945–1946).
==Early life== Lee was born on August 12, 1881 in [[Peabody, Massachusetts]] to William Thomas and Mary (Farnsworth) Lee.<ref name="RCP" /> He graduated from [[Harvard College]] in 1902 and [[Harvard Medical School]] in 1905. He served as a medical house officer at [[Massachusetts General Hospital]] for sixteen months, then opened a private practice in the [[Back Bay]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Dr Lee In Command Of Base Hospital 5 |work=The Boston Globe |date=May 3, 1918}}</ref> In 1913, he co-authored a scientific paper, on the [[coagulation]] of blood, with [[Paul Dudley White]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thom |first1=D. A. |title=Coagulation Time Of The Blood In Epeliptics |journal=Illinois Medical Journal |date=October 1914 |pages=382-383 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Illinois_Medical_Journal/iFA9AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Lee-White+coagulation+time+%22Roger+I.+Lee%22+%221913%22&pg=PA383&printsec=frontcover |access-date=28 December 2025}}</ref>
==World War I== From July 10, 1915 to September 1, 1915, Lee was a member of the [[Harvard Surgical Unit]]. He was commissioned a temporary honorary major in the [[Royal Army Medical Corps]] and assigned to [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]] General Hospital No 22.<ref name="Resign" /> He was later commissioned a [[Major (United States)|Major]] in the [[United States Army Reserve|Medical Reserve Corps]]. He was called to active duty on May 5, 1917 and assigned to [[American Base Hospital No. 5]] as its chief medical officer. In March 1918, he was appointed commanding officer of the hospital. On June 19, 1918, he was promoted to [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|Lieutenant colonel]]. On September 6, he was transferred to the [[United States Army Central|Third Army]] Headquarters and designated a consultant in medicine. He was cited by General [[John J. Pershing]] "for exceptionally meritorious and conspicuous services as the Consultant in Surgery, Third Corps, A. E. F." He returned to the United States on February 9, 1919.<ref name="Resign" />
==Career== In 1914, Lee became the Henry K. Oliver professor of hygiene at Harvard.<ref name="Fellow" /> He was a member of the [[Secret Court of 1920]], an ''ad hoc'' disciplinary tribunal of five administrators at Harvard University formed to investigate charges of homosexual activity among the student population.<ref>[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/11/21/the-secret-court-of-1920-at/ Amit R. Paley, "The Secret Court of 1920, Part I" November 21, 2002], accessed December 17, 2009</ref> In 1921, he chaired the special committee that planned the new [[Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health|Harvard School of Public Health]], which led him to be called the "Father" of the school. He served as acting dean from 1922 to 1923 while during David L. Edsall was in Europe for educational surveys.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-08-07 |title=School leadership – Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health |url=https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/about/our-history/school-leadership/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241209015923/https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/about/our-history/school-leadership/ |archive-date=2024-12-09 |access-date=2024-12-25 |language=en-US}}</ref> From 1921 to 1934, he was a member of the public health council of Massachusetts.<ref name="Obituary" /> Lee was elected a fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1923, the American College of Physicians in 1928, and the [[Royal College of Physicians]] in 1942.<ref>{{cite web |title=Roger Irving Lee |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/roger-irving-lee |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |access-date=28 December 2025}}</ref><ref name="RCP">{{cite web |title=Roger Irving Lee |url=https://history.rcp.ac.uk/inspiring-physicians/roger-irving-lee |website=Royal College of Physicians |access-date=28 December 2025}}</ref>
In 1924, Lee resigned his professorship to return to private practice.<ref name="Resign">{{cite news |title=Dr Roger I. Lee Of Harvard To Resign |work=The Boston Globe |date=February 14, 1924}}</ref> He resumed his work at Massachusetts General Hospital, rising to the position of associate chief of the medical service.<ref name="Globe 1931" /> He became known was one of the country's leading [[diagnostician]]s.<ref name="Fellow" />
In 1930, Lee was elected to the [[Harvard Board of Overseers]].<ref name="Bartlett" /> The following year, he and [[Grenville Clark]] were elected [[President and Fellows of Harvard College|Fellows of Harvard College]] (also known as the Harvard Corporation), succeeding [[William Lawrence (bishop)|William Lawrence]] and John F. Moors.<ref name="Fellow">{{cite news |title=Lee and Clark New Fellows At Harvard |work=The Boston Globe |date=May 22, 1931}}</ref> As a fellow, Lee helped guide Havard through the [[Great Depression]], [[World War II]], and the [[McCarthyism|Second Red Scare]].<ref name="Bartlett" /> In 1933, he, Clark, Kenneth Ballard Murdock, and [[James B. Conant]] were reported by ''[[The New York Times]]'' to be the leading candidates to succeed [[A. Lawrence Lowell]] as [[President of Harvard University]].<ref>{{cite news |title=New Harvard Head Is Expected Today |work=The New York Times |date=May 8, 1933}}</ref> On May 8, 1933, the fellows announced that they had elected Conant as the next president.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hershberg |first=James G. |url=https://archive.org/details/jamesbconantharv0000hers |title=James B. Conant: Harvard to Hiroshima and the Making of the Nuclear Age |publisher=Knopf |year=1993 |isbn=0-394-57966-6 |location=New York |oclc=27678159 |author-link=James Hershberg |url-access=registration}}</ref> Lee was a fellow when the corporation elected Conant's successor, [[Nathan Pusey]].<ref name="Bartlett" /> Lee retired from the Harvard Corporation in 1954.<ref name="Bartlett">{{cite news |last1=Bartlett |first1=K. S. |title=Old Harvard Corp Worked Through Lunch, Says Dr. Lee: Retiring Board Member Recalls 32 Years of Service to University |work=The Boston Globe |date=May 31, 1954}}</ref>
On April 4, 1940, Lee was elected president of the American College of Physicians for the year 1941.<ref>{{cite news |title=Boston Doctors, Lee and Aub, Prominent at Cleveland Convention |work=The Boston Globe |date=April 5, 1940}}</ref> From 1943 to 1944, he was president of the [[Massachusetts Medical Society]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Past Presidents of the Massachusetts Medical Society |url=https://www.massmed.org/Governance-and-Leadership/MMS-Officers/Past-Presidents-of-the-Massachusetts-Medical-Society/ |website=Massachusetts Medical Society |access-date=25 December 2025}}</ref> He was president of the [[American Medical Association]] from 1945 to 1946 and was a leader in the fight against the [[Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill]], which sought to institute a system of national health insurance in the United States.<ref name="Obituary" />
Lee authored four books – ''Health and Disease'' (1917), ''The Happy Doctor'' (1956), ''A Doctor Speaks His Mind'' (1958), and ''Letters from Roger I. Lee'' (1962).<ref name="Obituary" />
==Personal life and death== On February 26, 1919, Lee married Ella Lowell Lyman in [[King's Chapel]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Miss Ella Lowell Lyman Bride Of Lieut Col R. I. Lee |work=The Boston Globe |date=February 27, 1919}}</ref> They had three sons – Roger Jr., Arthur, and William.<ref name="Globe 1931">{{cite news |title=Didn't Know A Single Student When He Entered Harvard |work=The Boston Globe |date=May 24, 1931}}</ref> Lee died October 28, 1965 at his home in [[Brookline, Massachusetts]].<ref name="Obituary">{{cite news |title=Dr. Roger Lee, 84, Ex-Head of A.M.A. |work=The New York Times |date=October 30, 1965}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{American Medical Association presidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Roger I.}} [[Category:1881 births]] [[Category:1965 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]] [[Category:20th-century American medical doctors]] [[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] [[Category:Fellows of the American College of Physicians]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians]] [[Category:Harvard College alumni]] [[Category:Harvard Medical School alumni]] [[Category:Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health faculty]] [[Category:Massachusetts General Hospital people]] [[Category:People from Brookline, Massachusetts]] [[Category:People from Peabody, Massachusetts]] [[Category:Medical doctors from Massachusetts]] [[Category:Presidents of the American Medical Association]] [[Category:United States Army Medical Corps officers]] [[Category:United States Army personnel of World War I]]