A local woman has been selected as a fellow of one of America's most prestigious medical organizations.
The University of Texas at Tyler announced that Dr. Shih-Yu “Sylvia” Lee has been selected as an Academy Fellow by the American Academy of Nursing.
Lee was selected by a committee of her peers for her contributions to nursing and their impact on health.
“Induction into the Academy is a significant milestone in a nurse leader’s career, and we are extremely proud of Dr. Lee,” said Dr. Barbara Haas, associate dean of the UT Tyler College of Nursing and Health Sciences. “With this recognition, her accomplishments in the field of nursing are honored by those within the nursing discipline. Academy Fellows are selected based on their impressive contribution to increase access, reduce cost and improve quality through nursing theory, practice and science.”
Lee’s broad research expertise is in stress-related symptoms management among women across the lifespan.
“Sleep, in particular the lack thereof, can create significant stress for women,” said Dr. Lee, UT Tyler Jacqueline M. Braithwaite Professor of Nursing. “The objective of my research is to establish self-sustainable interventions through the promotion of sleep to improve physical and mental health for women.”
Her focus is on mothers with medically fragile infants, women with gynecological cancer and shift-work nurses in the United States and China. She was the first scholar to validate the use of bright light therapy to improve depressive symptomatology and sleep quality in postpartum African American mothers of infants in neonatal intensive care units.
This research, as well as other NICU-related research, has improved the nursing care of mothers and their medically fragile children nationally and internationally.
Lee received her Associate Degree in Nursing from National Taipei Nursing College, Bachelor of Nursing degree from University of Florida and Master of Nursing degree and Ph.D. from the University of California – San Francisco.
The Academy's more than 2,700 members, known as Fellows, are nursing's most accomplished leaders in education management, practice and research. Fellows include association executives; university presidents, chancellors, and deans; state and federal political appointees; hospital chief executives and vice presidents for nursing; nurse consultants; researchers; and entrepreneurs.
