Psychiatry, Burnout, Well-Being, Suicide, Pharmacogenomics

Professor of Clinical Pharmacy
Associate Dean for Assessment and Accreditation
Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Lee’s specialty area is psychiatric pharmacy and she is a Board-Certified Psychiatric Pharmacist. She is currently the Residency Program Director of the PGY2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency at UC San Diego. Dr. Lee’s research program involves the effective utilization of psychotropic medications within diverse patient populations, establishing innovative psychiatric practice models and assessment and prevention of burnout and suicide among students and professionals. She practices in the General Psychiatry clinic at UCSD with emphasis on mood and anxiety disorders and adult ADHD. She established the first pharmacist-run outpatient psychiatric clinic at UC San Diego and practices under a Collaborative Practice. She has also served as the Director of the PharmGenEd™ Training for Health Professional Schools.
Dr. Lee served as an expert consultant to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, MedImpact HealthCare Systems, Inc., and California Mental Health Care Management Program. Dr. Lee has published in numerous peer- reviewed journals and textbooks and is currently an Editor for Pharmacotherapy Principles and Practice textbook. Dr. Lee is involved professionally in organizations such as American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists (CPNP).
Education: B.S. in Biology (1996) UCLA; Pharm.D. (2000) UCSF; Master of Advanced Study in Clinical Research (M.A.S.) (2012) UCSD; ASHP- Accredited Residency in Pharmacy Practice and Fellowship in Behavioral Health Sciences (2000- 2003) UCSF; Board Certification in Psychiatric Pharmacy (re-certified 2018) (BCPP).
Awards and Honors: Awarded 2019-2020 Faculty of Year by Class of (2020); Received Award of Excellence in Scholarship in Experiential Education from American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, (2020); Awarded Best Collaborative Scholarship Award from American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Assessment Special Interest Group, (2019 and 2020); Selected for Faculty Leadership Academy, UCSD, (2021); Selected to Harvard Macy Institute: A Systems Approach to Assessment in Health Professions Education, (2018); Selected to inaugural IPEC Interprofessional Deans Leadership Program, (2017); Fellow, ACCP (2011), Rho Chi Honor Society (2004); Phi Lambda Sigma Leadership Society (2000).
Leadership Experience: Associate Dean for Assessment and Accreditation (2014 – present); Director, PGY2 Residency in Psychiatric Pharmacy (2012 – present); Chair, Specialty Council for Psychiatric Pharmacy, Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (2019-2020); Vice- Chair of Specialty Council for Psychiatric Pharmacy, Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties, (2018-2019); Co-Chair of Networking and Mentoring Committee of Assessment SIG, AACP (2021-2022); Vice-Chair, Professional Affairs Task Force, CPNP (2021-2022)
- Therapeutics (SPPS 212C, SPPS 212A)
- Pharmacogenomics (SPPS 219)
- Special Topics in Psychiatry Elective (SPPS 286)
- Drug Development and Product Management (Masters Degree)
- Effective use of psychotropic medications among patients with severe mental illness.
- Established Pharmacist-Psychiatrist Collaborative MTM, Adult ADHD and General Psychiatry clinics at UC San Diego.
- Evaluate shared curriculum in applications of pharmacogenomics (PharmGenEd™).
- Lee KC, et al (2018). Factors associated with cultures of assessment at US schools and colleges of pharmacy. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning. (2):129-138
- Hefazi E, Boggie D, Huynh T, Lee K. (2019). Influence of psychotropic medications on readmission rates of patients receiving a pharmacist discharge medication reconciliation. J Pharmacy Practice. 34(5):741-745.
- Lee KC, Fairman KA, El-Ibiary SY. (2019). Item analysis of emotional exhaustion in pharmacy practice faculty. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 12(5):504-507.
- Hefazi E, Lee KC. (2020). Association of appropriate lithium monitoring and clinical outcomes in an outpatient psychiatric setting. Psychiatry Research. 285:112764.
- Mnatzaganian CL, Atayee RS, Namba JM, Brandl K, Lee KC. (2020). The effect of sleep quality, sleep components, and environmental sleep factors on core curriculum exam scores among pharmacy students. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 12(2):119-126.
- Davidson JE, Proudfoot J, Lee K, Terterian G, Zisook S. (2020). A longitudinal analysis of nurse suicide in the United States (2005-2016) with recommendations for action. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing 17(1):6-15.
- Lee KC, Kim E, Kim J, Malcolm B, Kuo GM, Bird A, Feifel D. (2020). Development of an innovative adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder clinic. Ment Health Clin 30;10(5):296-300.
- Silvia RJ, Lee KC, Bostwick JR, Cobb CD, Goldstone LW, Moore TD, Payne GH, Ho JL. (2020). Assessment of the current practice of psychiatric pharmacists in the United States. Ment Health Clin [Internet]. 10(6):346-53.
- Lee KC, Silvia RJ, Cobb CD, Moore TD, Payne GH. (2021). Survey of prescriptive authority among psychiatric pharmacists in the United States. Ment Health Clin 11(2):64-69.