Yi-Chia Lee

Dr. Lee is a gastroenterologist in National Taiwan University Hospital, professor of internal medicine, and jointly appointed professor of the Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine and Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine of NTU. He is current the deputy director of Department of Medical Research in NTUH, with the responsibilities of clinical trials, real-world evidence, and big data science. The overriding theme throughout his researches is the gastric cancer screening and prevention, with emphasis on the elucidation of disease natural course, risk factor identification, and the design, implementation, and evaluation of the preventive programs. For example, Helicobacter pylori is the primary cause of stomach cancer; however, acceptance of the hypothesis that eradication of H. pylori could both prevent and reduce the incidence of stomach cancer is slow. It is because there is lacking of evidences concerning the long-term benefits and risks. Another obstacle is the lack of methods to implement this strategy on a policy level. Dr. Lee’s major achievement is the design of the stomach cancer prevention program by answering the questions about whether it is preventable and if so, how to implement the program. Novel approaches have been developed, including the mass eradication method, the two-in-one method, and the index case method, tailored to the population differences in the cancer risk, environment, socioeconomic status, lifestyle, and health care resource. Not only confirmed the long-term benefits, several theoretical risks of adverse consequences were elucidated. As a result, this healthcare strategy has demonstrated successful multi-location rollout in Taiwan, which is accompanied by the reduction in stomach cancer incidence.