September 15, 2011 — Clara Lee, MD, Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery, has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study patients’ decision-making process to undergo breast reconstruction surgery following mastectomy.
Dr. Lee has received a five-year grant of over $800,000 from the National Institutes of Health to study how patients decide to undergo breast reconstruction surgery after a mastectomy.
Lee, the director of research in plastic and reconstructive surgery, hopes to shed light on racial, socioeconomic, and geographic variance in women who choose breast reconstruction surgery. She also hopes to uncover some of the psychological factors influencing patient’s decisions.
Lee has been a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Care Center, where she was able to being some initial research on this project.
She will be mentored by researchers from UNC’s Lineberger Comprehensive Care Center, and the Fuqua School of Business and Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.