As a young child, B. Lee Green witnessed first-hand the devastating impact of poor health on his family. He often tells the story of his grandmother who suffered severely from diabetes. Because of the severity of the diabetes his grandmother had to have both legs amputated. During this time Lee was involved in the caretaking of his grandmother and to this day he is guided by those memories. There is a quote that says – “statistics are real people with the tears wiped away”. As Lee investigates issues related to health disparities in this country he continues to keep the image of his grandmother front and center. This prevents him from looking at data as just data but as real people behind every single data point.
Lee is the Vice President of Diversity, Public Relations and Strategic Communications and is a Senior Member of the Health Outcomes and Behavior Program at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL.
He also serves as the primary administrator for the Florida Health Equity Research Institute (HERI). He is recognized for his work in the area of cancer health disparities with particular interest in education, knowledge and awareness among minority populations. His interest also includes community based participatory research as well as minority participation in clinical trials and research studies.
At Moffitt, Dr. Green is responsible for ensuring that the Cancer Center is responsive to diversity issues. His role includes addressing issues such as awareness and education of cancer prevention and control, community outreach activities, cultural competency, equity and inclusion issues, developing strong partnerships with community organizations, and providing support for other key initiatives. The vision is to create a culture of diversity and inclusion as the Cancer Center strives to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer. In February of 2014 Dr. Green assumed the role of Vice President for Public Relations and Strategic Communications. In that role, Dr. Green is responsible for the institutional strategy for both internal and external communications. This involves fostering a positive reputation and image of the Cancer Center among the community we serve.
Dr. Green (Co-PI, 2009-2015) was awarded a NIH – NCMHD P20 grant designed to build the infrastructure to conduct health disparities research, education, training, and community engagement. The P20 grant is collaboration with USF and the Tampa Bay community. As a collaborator on many health disparities research projects, Dr. Green focused on enhancing theoretical models and methods for community-based health promotion and disease prevention among underrepresented populations. He has assisted investigators in conceptualizing community organization theory, models, and methods. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Green’s research has focused upon health promotion and disease prevention in minority communities. He has been a member of many extramurally-supported investigative teams examining issues related to health promotion and disease prevention among minority populations.
Dr. Green has held faculty positions at Valdosta State University, the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Texas A&M University.