Karen Lee
The Key Roles of Community and Building Design in Protecting and Promoting Health
November 20, 2013
12 PM | Room R160
Medical Rehabilitation Building
Bannatyne Campus
University of Manitoba
and
6 PM | CENTRE SPACE
John A. Russell Building
Fort Garry Campus
University of Manitoba
Dr. Karen Lee lives in NYC. She teaches on the built environment and health at the Pratt Institute in New York, and is also Adjunct Professor at the Schools of Public Health at the University of Toronto
and the University of Alberta (also a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Non-Communicable Disease Policy) in Canada. She is also Senior Advisor on Built Environment & Healthy Housing at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Dr. Lee
has been the lead for the NYC Health Dept in its work with 12 city agencies and non-government partners, in the development of the award-winning Active Design Guidelines, published in January 2010. She and her staff at the NYC Health Dept work with
the American Institute Architects New York Chapter to organize the annual Fit City conferences since 2006. Since the publication of the Active Design Guidelines, Dr. Lee’s team has developed and implemented trainings on Active Design for architects
and planners as well as community groups and residents, and has worked with city agencies and private sector partners on developing and implementing Active Design policies and practices in NYC and 15 other U.S. cities. Dr. Lee is also co-author on the recently
released publications Active Design Supplement: Promoting Safety, and Active Design: Affordable Designs for Affordable Housing presenting low-cost and cost-neutral Active Design strategies to address the epidemics of obesity and related chronic
diseases. Dr. Lee was also involved in the development and publication of the recent NYC Health Department publication Active Design: Guide for Community Groups. Dr. Lee also consults to and advises cities and organizations in Canada, Australia,
Asia, Europe and Latin America as well as World Health Organization offices on issues related to the built environment and chronic diseases. Before coming to NYC, Dr. Lee was with the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) where she worked in the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.