Cortney Youens Lee
Dr. Cortney Youens Lee, AHS Class of 1996, attended Southwest Texas State University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in three years with a major in Biology and minor in Chemistry. She then completed medical school at Texas Tech University School of Medicine, earning recognition as a member of the national Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society as well as election as President of the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center Student Senate.
During her time at AISD, she received academic awards during all four years of high school, participated in band, served as majorette and rifle captain, was an active member of the tennis team, competed in one-act play and poetry interpretation, and was president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
She and her medical school classmate, Jimmy Lee, served as co-coordinators for a medical mission trip to Mexico. Following graduation, they married and moved to Lexington, Kentucky. Dr. Lee completed 5 years of General Surgery Residency at the University of Kentucky and was chosen for both Intern of the Year (shared with her husband) and Administrative Chief Resident. She returned to Texas to complete specialized fellowship training in Endocrine Surgery (surgery of the thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal glands) at Scott & White Clinic before joining faculty as an Endocrine Surgeon at the University of Kentucky in 2011.
Since then, she has risen through the academic ranks to Professor of Surgery, currently serving as Head of Endocrine Surgery. In addition to her job as a surgeon, she teaches both medical students and surgical residents. She serves as Clerkship Director for the College of Medicine, overseeing surgical education for University of Kentucky Medical Students on four different regional campuses throughout the state.
During her time at UK, Dr. Lee has received numerous teaching awards, and credits her mothers’ influence (who is a retired AISD teacher) with her success as an educator. In addition to her focus on medical education, Dr. Lee’s clinic has been recognized for achieving the top 25% in patient experience nationwide. While she wears many hats, her passion remains patient care: serving the patients of Kentucky.
Dr. Lee and her husband (an Abdominal Radiologist at UK) and are enjoying their 12th year as faculty at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. They have two children (Ashton 9th grade and Adalyn 4th grade). They are active members of their church, enjoy traveling with family and friends, and love watching their children play soccer and dance.