IN REMEMBRANCE : Julie Lee , MD 05 / 07 / 1956-9 / 02 / 2024
* Reprinted with permission from Dr . Burns and the Kentucky Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons .
I would like to share my memories of Julie Lee , MD , with members of our society regarding the many contributions that she made , both for patients and our profession , through her many years of involvement in advocacy .
I first became aware of Julie ’ s passion for protecting patients by her involvement with our fight against Senate Bill 110 in 2011 which allowed optometrists in Kentucky to perform laser eye surgery and to use scalpels to remove eyelid lesions with minimal , if any , training . Kentucky was only the second state in the country to pass this dangerous legislation . At the time , I had not been involved with advocacy at any level on behalf of patients or our profession . I watched how involved Julie became after this legislation passed and I traveled with Julie to Frankfort with both the KMA and the Kentucky Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons ( KAEPS ) to watch the political process firsthand . It was reassuring to be in a legislator ’ s office with someone who could speak to them with the passion and tenacity that Julie could . I knew after watching her work that I was going to become involved in advocacy .
Julie preceded Carl Baker as the President of KAEPS from 2014 to 2016 . I followed Carl as the President from 2018 to 2020 . During Julie ’ s tenure as President , KAEPS was going through a transition from our long-standing Executive Director to a new ED , which created many challenges for the organization including significant financial difficulties . Through Julie ’ s strong leadership , our organization came through these challenges with flying colors . By the time I became President in 2018 , both Julie and Carl had righted the ship and my two years as President were smooth sailing ! I learned from Julie the leadership skills which I needed to succeed as the head of our organization . In addition , she was awarded the Advocate of the Year award at the 2023 KAEPS Annual Meeting for her tireless efforts in the area of advocacy for our field .
Additionally , Julie was very involved in advocacy at the national level through her time as a member of the Council of the American Academy of Ophthalmology ( AAO ) and also by attending the annual AAO Congressional Advocacy Day each April . I attended several of the advocacy days with Julie as we met with Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul and Representative John Yarmuth to advocate for both improving patient care , and for improving the practice of medicine by making changes to Medicare . Once again , Julie had a very eloquent way of talking to our legislators and explaining complex topics in very understandable terms . I was always trying to watch and learn her methods , which allowed our legislators to understand the many problems our field faced .
Finally , I will miss the times that I had together with Julie in which we shared stories of our trips together to Frankfort and D . C , and also about our practices . We were dinosaurs in a sense because we both had solo private practices for many years . I now have had a partner , David Strickland , for about four years and Julie recently sold her practice to a larger group . We worked at the same surgery center , Dupont Surgery Center , and were both members of the Board of Governors of the center . Having Julie ’ s insight and recommendations during our board meetings was invaluable and she will be greatly missed going forward . I have recently seen several of her patients in my office during her absence and there is one constant that they all have : they all loved Julie ! In fact , a couple of weeks ago , an elderly gentleman who was Julie ’ s patient for many years , whom I was seeing for the first time , began crying because he truly missed seeing her . I believe that story sums up the memories we should all keep of Julie Lee , MD .
-Frank Burns , MD
Dr . Lee was a GLMS member for 36 years .
20 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE