The Department of Emergency Medicine is pleased to welcome Sangil Lee, MD, who recently joined Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) from the University of Iowa. Drawn by the institution’s strong research infrastructure in geriatrics and its expanding focus on geriatric emergency medicine, Dr. Lee saw WCM as an ideal environment to advance his work on cognitive health and acute care. The move also marks a personal milestone, allowing him to reunite with his family, who had relocated to New York City ahead of him.
A Distinctive Background in Family and Emergency Medicine
Dr. Lee’s medical career began in family medicine, where he completed his initial residency training and practiced clinically for several years. When he later returned to Japan, the structure of the local health system required him to care for both hospitalized patients and those arriving in the emergency department. Those experiences reawakened his interest in acute care medicine. He realized how much he valued the pace, complexity, and diagnostic challenge of emergency medicine and ultimately pursued additional training to become dual‑boarded in both specialties.
This blended clinical foundation continues to shape his work today. He notes that many older adults present with symptoms that diverge from classic textbook descriptions, particularly when they are acutely ill. The need to understand these nuanced presentations drew him toward geriatric emergency medicine and, eventually, toward the research questions that now define his career.
A Decade of Research on Delirium and Modifiable Risk Factors
For more than ten years, Dr. Lee has focused his research on delirium, a sudden and serious disturbance in mental function that is common in older adults, especially those receiving acute care. While historically associated with intensive care units, delirium occurs across all clinical settings, including the emergency department. Dr. Lee emphasizes that the ED is a particularly important environment for understanding delirium, given the growing national trend of prolonged ED boarding as hospitals face capacity challenges.
Much of his work aims to identify modifiable risk factors that could help clinicians better detect, predict, and ultimately prevent delirium. This includes using innovative devices capable of measuring brain activity to identify early markers of cognitive dysfunction, as well as developing emergency department–based models to assess which patients may be at greatest risk. He has also studied the relationship between prolonged ED stays and delirium incidence, noting that extended time spent waiting for an inpatient bed — sometimes eight hours or more — may significantly increase a patient’s likelihood of developing delirium.
Dr. Lee describes this research as a series of steps. The first is understanding which factors clinicians can realistically modify. The next is designing interventions that can be tested within the emergency care environment. His goal is to build an evidence base that can guide practical, scalable solutions to improve cognitive outcomes for older adults.
Service, Community, and a Broader Perspective
Before leaving Iowa, Dr. Lee was repeatedly recognized for his excellence as both a clinician and an educator. His honors include the 2017 Excellence in Clinical Coaching Award from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Graduate Medical Education program and the 2017 Bedside Teacher of the Year Award from the University of Iowa Department of Emergency Medicine. Earlier in his career, he also received the 2013 Outstanding Research Award from the University of Iowa Emergency Medicine Residency, reflecting his early commitment to advancing knowledge in emergency care.
Outside of his academic work, Dr. Lee serves as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves, a role he views as both personally meaningful and professionally enriching. Having spent part of his upbringing in Japan, including time near U.S. military communities in Okinawa, he developed a lasting respect for the military’s global presence and the people who serve within it. His involvement with the Reserves allows him to contribute to medical efforts while gaining a deeper understanding of the military community.
He also places a strong emphasis on cultural and community engagement. While in Iowa, he served as director and supplemental teacher at a Japanese community school, helping children maintain fluency in language, math, and social sciences, a role that deepened his commitment to community‑driven educational work.
Looking Ahead at Weill Cornell Medicine
At Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Lee is eager to expand research collaborations and develop new approaches to understanding and preventing delirium among older adults. He is especially interested in exploring how changes in emergency department workflow, patient movement, or care processes might reduce the risk of cognitive impairment during acute illness.
“We owe our older patients the highest level of care,” he says. “If we can recognize delirium earlier — or prevent it entirely — we can improve not only their hospital experience but their long‑term cognitive health.”
