Clinical Practice
Attending Physician, Harborview Medical Center
(Medical Intensive Care Unit)
Research Interests
Use of natural language processing (NLP), deep-learning models, and large language models (LLMs) to measure and characterize documentation of serious illness communication in the electronic health record
Effectiveness and implementation of communication-priming interventions to prompt high-quality serious illness communication between clinicians, patients, and families
Implementation of palliative care best-practices in acute care settings for patients with chronic life-limiting illness
Mechanisms for goal-discordant intensive care delivered to patients near the end of life
Research Training & Support
2022-2027: Principal Investigator, NIH K23 Career Development Award (HL161503)
2019-2022: K12 Scholar, UW Implementation Science Training Program (HL137940)
2018-2019: F32 Fellow, NIH Individual NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship (HL142211)
2016-2017: T32 Fellow, UW Palliative Care Research Fellowship (HL125195)
Education & Clinical Training
2019: Fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
2019: M.S., Epidemiology, University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, WA
2014: Residency in Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
2011: M.D., University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
2006: B.S., Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Journal Articles
Also listed at My NCBI BibliographyLee RY, Li KS, Sibley J, Cohen T, Lober WB, O'Brien J, LeDuc N, Mallon Andrews K, Ungar A, Walsh J, Nielsen EL, Dotolo DG, Kross EK. A modular pipeline for natural language processing-screened human abstraction of a pragmatic trial outcome from electronic health records. Clinical Trials. 2026; in press. PMID: 41680079. [Original research]
Lee RY, Li KS, Sibley J, Cohen T, Lober WB, Dotolo DG, Kross EK. Assessment of a zero-shot large language model in measuring documented goals-of-care discussions. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2026;71(1):134-143. PMID: 41061943. [Original research]
Lee RY, Uyeda AM, Li KS, Sibley J, Cohen T, Lober WB, Dotolo DG, Engelberg RA, Kross EK. Performance of predefined search patterns for identifying documented goals-of-care discussions in inpatient electronic health records. Journal of Palliative Medicine. 2025;28(7):952-959. PMID: 40183120. [Original research]
Rink DE, Abramson R, Johnson NJ, Lee RY. Diagnostic confounders in brain death: a woman with unexplained coma and brainstem areflexia. Annals of the American Thoracic Society. 2024;21(8):1204-1208. PMID: 39087892. [Case report]
Pollack LR, Nomitch JT, Downey L, Paul SR, Reed MJ, Uyeda AM, Kiker WA, Dotolo DG, Dzeng E, Lee RY, Engelberg RA, Kross EK. Mechanical ventilation in older adults with dementia: opportunities to promote goal-concordant care. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2024;68(2):142-152. PMID: 38685288. [Original research]
Pollack LR, Downey L, Nomitch JT, Lee RY, Engelberg RA, Weiss N, Kross EK, Khandelwal N. Factors associated with costly hospital care among patients with dementia and acute respiratory failure. Annals of the American Thoracic Society. 2024;21(6):907-915. PMID: 38323911. [Original research]
Curtis JR, Lee RY, Brumback LC, Kross EK, Downey L, Torrence J, LeDuc N, Mallon Andrews K, Im J, Heywood J, Brown CE, Sibley J, Lober WB, Cohen T, Weiner BJ, Khandelwal N, Abedini NC, Engelberg RA. Intervention to promote communication about goals of care for hospitalized patients with serious illness: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2023;329(23):2028-2037. PMID: 37210665. [Original research]
Lee RY, Kross EK, Torrence J, Li KS, Sibley J, Cohen T, Lober WB, Engelberg RA, Curtis JR. Assessment of natural language processing of electronic health records to measure goals-of-care discussions as a clinical trial outcome. JAMA Network Open. 2023;6(3):e231204. PMID: 36862411. [Original research]
Uyeda AM, Lee RY, Pollack LR, Paul SR, Downey L, Brumback LC, Engelberg RA, Sibley J, Lober WB, Cohen T, Torrence J, Kross EK, Curtis JR. Predictors of documented goals-of-care discussion for hospitalized patients with chronic illness. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2023;65(3):233-241. PMID: 36423800. [Original research]
Curtis JR, Lee RY, Brumback LC, Kross EK, Downey L, Torrance J, Heywood J, LeDuc N, Mallon Andrews K, Im J, Weiner BJ, Khandelwal N, Abedini NC, Engelberg RA. Improving communication about goals of care for hospitalized patients with serious illness: study protocol for two complementary randomized trials. Contemporary Clinical Trials. 2022;120:106879. PMID: 35963531. [Original research]
McDermott CL, Coats H, Bernacki GM, Blakeney EA, Brown CE, Lau N, Lee RY, Modes ME, Steineck A, Steiner JM, Taylor MR, Kross EK. What does it mean to be an excellent mentor? J. Randall "Randy" Curtis' living legacy. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2022;63(6):e657-e659. PMID: 35595383. [Editorial]
Lee RY, Kross EK, Downey L, Paul SR, Heywood J, Nielsen EL, Okimoto K, Brumback LC, Merel SE, Engelberg RA, Curtis JR. Efficacy of a communication-priming intervention on documented goals-of-care discussions in hospitalized patients with serious illness: a pilot randomized trial. JAMA Network Open. 2022;5(4):e225088. PMID: 35363271. [Original research]
Uyeda AM, Curtis JR, Engelberg RA, Brumback LC, Guo Y, Sibley J, Lober WB, Cohen T, Torrence J, Heywood J, Paul SR, Kross EK, Lee RY. Mixed-methods evaluation of three natural language processing modeling approaches for measuring documented goals-of-care discussions in the electronic health record. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2022;63(6):e713-e723. PMID: 35182715. [Original research]
Vranas KC, Plinke W, Bourne D, Kansagara D, Lee RY, Kross EK, Slatore CG, Sullivan DR. The influence of POLST on treatment intensity at the end of life: a systematic review. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2021;69(12):3661-3674. PMID: 34549418. [Systematic review]
Lee RY, Brumback LC, Lober WB, Sibley J, Nielsen EL, Treece PD, Kross EK, Loggers ET, Fausto JA, Lindvall C, Engelberg RA, Curtis JR. Identifying goals of care conversations in the electronic health record using natural language processing and machine learning. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2021;61(1):136-142. PMID: 32858164. [Original research]
Modes ME, Lee RY, Curtis JR. Outcomes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in patients with COVID-19: limited data, but further reason for action. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2021;181(2):281-282. PMID: 32986100. [Editorial]
Lee RY, Modes ME, Sathitratanacheewin S, Engelberg RA, Curtis JR, Kross EK. Conflicting orders in Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment forms. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2020;68(12):2903-2908. PMID: 32936447. [Original research]
Steiner JM, Morse C, Lee RY, Curtis JR, Engelberg RA. Sensitivity and specificity of a machine learning algorithm to identify goals-of-care documentation for adults with congenital heart disease at the end of life. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2020;60(3):e33-e36. PMID: 32599151. [Original research]
Lee RY, Brumback LC, Sathitratanacheewin S, Lober WB, Modes ME, Lynch YT, Ambrose CI, Sibley J, Vranas KC, Sullivan DR, Engelberg RA, Curtis JR, Kross EK. Association of Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment with ICU admission among patients hospitalized near the end of life. JAMA. 2020;323(10):950-960. PMID: 32062674. [Original research]
Vranas KC, Lin AL, Zive D, Tolle SW, Halpern SD, Slatore CG, Newgard C, Lee RY, Kross EK, Sullivan DR. The association of Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment with intensity of treatment among patients presenting to the emergency department. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2020;75(2):171-180. PMID: 31248675. [Original research]
Schwede M, Lee RY, Zhuo H, Kangelaris KN, Jauregui A, Vessel K, Belzer A, Deiss T, Matthay MA, Liu KD, Calfee CS. Clinician recognition of the acute respiratory distress syndrome: risk factors for under-recognition and trends over time. Critical Care Medicine. 2020;48(6):830-837. PMID: 32317598. [Original research]
Kim J, Engelberg RA, Downey L, Lee RY, Powelson E, Sibley J, Lober WB, Curtis JR, Khandelwal N. Predictors of advance care planning documentation in patients with underlying chronic illness who died from traumatic injury. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2019;58(5):857-863. PMID: 31349036. [Original research]
Modes ME, Engelberg RA, Downey L, Nielsen EL, Lee RY, Curtis JR, Kross EK. Toward understanding the relationship between prioritized values and preferences for cardiopulmonary resuscitation among seriously ill adults. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2019;58(4):567-577. PMID: 31228534. [Original research]
Khandelwal N, Long AC, Lee RY, McDermott CL, Engelberg RA, Curtis JR. Pragmatic methods to avoid intensive care unit admission when it does not align with patient and family goals. Lancet Respiratory Medicine. 2019;7(7):613-625. PMID: 31122895. [Review]
Lee RY, Engelberg RA, Curtis JR, Hough CL, Kross EK. Novel risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in family members of acute respiratory distress syndrome survivors. Critical Care Medicine. 2019;47(7):934-941. PMID: 30985448. [Original research]
Curtis JR, Sathitratanacheewin S, Starks H, Lee RY, Kross EK, Downey L, Sibley J, Lober W, Loggers ET, Fausto JA, Lindvall C, Engelberg RA. Using electronic health records for quality measurement and accountability in care of the seriously ill: opportunities and challenges. Journal of Palliative Medicine. 2018;21(S2):S52-S60. PMID: 29182487. [Original research]
Sathitratanacheewin S, Engelberg RA, Downey L, Lee RY, Fausto JA, Starks H, Dunlap B, Sibley J, Lober W, Loggers ET, Khandelwal N, Curtis JR. Temporal trends between 2010 and 2015 in intensity of care at end-of-life for patients with chronic illness: influence of age under versus over 65 years. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2018;55(1):75-81. PMID: 28887270. [Original research]
Pietrasik J, Sumerlin BS, Lee RY, Matyjaszewski K. Solution behavior of temperature-responsive molecular brushes prepared by ATRP. Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics. 2007;208(1):30-36. DOI: 10.1002/macp.200600442. [Original research]
Sumerlin BS, Tsarevsky NV, Louche G, Lee RY, Matyjaszewski K. Highly efficient "click" functionalization of poly(3-azidopropyl methacrylate) prepared by ATRP. Macromolecules. 2005;38(1):7540-7545. DOI: 10.1021/ma0511245. [Original research]
Other Research Works
Video: Lee RY. Association of Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment with ICU admission among patients hospitalized near the end of life. Plenary session presenter, 49th Critical Care Congress, Society of Critical Care Medicine; February 2020; Orlando, FL.
Codebook: Lee RY, Okimoto K, Treece PD, Nielsen EL, Heywood J, Paul SR, Kross EK, Engelberg RA, Curtis JR. Chart Abstractor Codebook for Project to Improve Communication in Serious Illness - Pilot Study (PICSI-P). Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence at UW Medicine. Available online. Published 2020. Updated May 18, 2020.
Book chapter: Howell KP, Barnes MR, Curtis JR, Engelberg RA, Lee RY, Lober WB, Sibley J, Cohen TA. Controlling for confounding variables: accounting for dataset bias in classifying patient-provider interactions. In: Shaban-Nejad A, Michalowski M, Buckeridge DL, eds. Studies in Computational Intelligence, Vol. 914. Explainable AI in Healthcare and Medicine: Building a Culture of Transparency and Accountability. New York: Springer International Publishing; 2021:271-282. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-53352-6_25.
Book chapter: Kross EK, Lee RY, Hough CL. ICU Survivors. In: Parsons PE, Wiener-Kronish JP, Stapleton RD, Berra L, eds. Critical Care Secrets. 6th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier; 2018:541-544.
Book chapter: Sumerlin BS, Tsarevsky NV, Gao H, Golas P, Louche G, Lee RY, Matyjaszewski K. Click functionalization of well-defined (co)polymers prepared by ATRP. In: Matyjaszewski K, ed. ACS Symposium Series, Vol. 944. Controlled/Living Radical Polymerization: From Synthesis to Materials. New York: Oxford University Press; 2006:140.
