Part of UT Health San Antonio

Part of UT Health San Antonio

You are here

Moonju Lee

Contact

210-567-5964

leem9@uthscsa.edu

Moonju Lee, PhD, RN

Assistant Professor/Clinical

I am an Assistant Professor/Clinical at the UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing with 18 years of clinical experience in the oncology, bone marrow transplant, and neonatal intensive units. My research and teaching areas focus on health disparities, health literacy, healthcare service utilization, community engagement, and capacity building among the underserved populations, especially Hispanics, refugees, and Korean immigrants. As an undergraduate and graduate faculty, I am teaching Research and EBP, Population focused Health, Health Assessment, and Advanced Nursing Seminar, and working with the DNP student as the committee chair. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I have volunteered from the drive-through testing site to the vaccine clinics, presented the COVID-19 Pandemic issues at the national and international organizations, and kept sharing up-to-date COVID-19 and vaccine information with the socially and linguistically isolated underserved populations through the media and community partners. I serve the Dean’s Council of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as a member and curriculum subcommittee chair, and the several University level Committees as a member. Currently, I have several leadership roles at the professional health organizations. Since 2019, I was appointed to the Oversea Council Member and Policy Committee co-chair of the US-Houston Chapter of the National Unification Advisory Council of the Republic of Korea. 

  • Professional Background

    Education

    • 2013 - Doctor of Philosophy - Nursing, Health Disparities in Cancer Prevention - University of Arizona, College of Nursing
    • 2003 - Master of Science in Nursing - Community & Public Health Nursing Leadership - University of Virginia, School of Nursing
    • 1994 - Bachelor of Science in Nurisng - Nursing - Ewha Womans University, School of Nursing

    Highlights

    Licensures and Certifications 

    • Registered Nurse (Texas)
    • Certification, UTeach, UT Health San Antonio
    • Certification, BCFS HHS EMD Emergency Medical Shelter

    Honors and Awards

    • 2021, Best 25 Nurses of South Central Texas 
    • 2015, Carol A. Lindeman Award for a New Researcher 

    Appointments

    • 2020 - present - Assistant Professor/Clinical - UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2015 - 2020 - Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track - UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing

  • Instruction & Training

    • 2021, NURS 4227 Population Focused Health: Clinical Application, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2021, NURS 3273 Health Assessment & Promotion: Clinical Application, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2021, NURS 4217 Population Focused Health: Clinical Application, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2021, NURS 3375 Nursing Research & EBP, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2021, NURS 3110 Health Assessment: Clinical Application Lab, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2021, NURS 7111     Advanced Nursing Seminar, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2020, NURS 4217 Population Focused Health: Clinical Application , UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2020, NURS 3375 Nursing Research and EBP, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2020, NURS 3110     Health Assessment: Clinical Application Lab, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing

  • Research & Grants

    Grants

    Currently Funded:  

    • 2020 – 2021 Funder: Global Korean Nursing Foundation (GKNF) Research Grant, $10,000. Title: A program development to improve nursing capacity for patients with emerging infectious diseases. Role: Co-Investigator (PI: Sunjoo Kang) 

    Completed Research/Projects:  

    • 2019 – 2020, Funder: UT Health School of Nursing, Nursing Advisory Council (NAC) Research Grant, $12,000. Title: A biobehavioral approach to identifying factors of blood pressure in Korean American with hypertension and exploring salt sensitivity. Role: Co-Investigator (PI: Jisook Ko) 
    • 2018 – 2019, Funder: UT Health School of Nursing, Nursing Advisory Council (NAC) Research Grant, $10,000. Title: Building Community Capacity and Engagement in the San Antonio Korean American Community. Role: PI (PI: Moonju Lee) 
    • 2018, Funder: Texas Women’s University.Title: Korean American Health Promotion Pilot Project: Examining Factors Influential to Health Care Access and Health Promotion Management of Korean Americans. Role: Co-PI (PI: Mikyoung Lee)  

  • Service

    School

    Student Mentees/Trainess

    • 2020 – 2021, Isabel Leija, DNP candidate, supervision of doctoral quality improvement project, 1 hour/week for 8 months as the DNP committee chair 
    • 2018 – 2020, JiEun Moon, BSN, guidance of career development, student applied the BSN-DNP program at UT Health SA in 2021 

    Institutional

    • 2020 - Present, UT Health San Antonio-University, International Relations Committee, Member 
    • 2020 - Present, UT Health San Antonio-University, Infection Policy and Education Committee, Member 
    • 2020 - Present, UT Health SA-School of Nursing, Dean’s Council: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Member & Curriculum Subcommittee, Chair 
    • 2020 - Present, UT Health SA-School of Nursing, Committee on International Program, Member 
    • 2019 - Present, UT Health San Antonio, Community Outreach and Engagement     
    • 2019 - Present, Mays Cancer Center, Internal Advisory Committee, Member    
    • 2018, UT Health SA-School of Nursing, Task Force of Mentoring Committee, Member 

    Service to the Profession

    • 2020 – Present,Membership Committee Chair, Global Korean Nursing Foundation (GKNF) (2-year term)
    • 2020 – Present, Social Media Chair, American Public Health Association (APHA), (1-year term) Caucus for Refugee and Immigrant Health   
    • 2020, Program Committee Chair, GKNF-USA: COVID-19 Task Force         
    • 2019 – Present, Board Member, Global Korean Nursing Foundation (GKNF)  
    • 2018 – 2020, Program Committee Member, American Public Health Association (APHA), Caucus for Refugee and Immigrant Health 

    Manuscript/Conference Abstract Reviews  

    • 2017 – Present, Abstract Reviewer, The Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, Caucus for Refugee and Immigrant Health 
    • 2016 – Present, Manuscript Reviewer, Journal of Transcultural Nursing  

    Professional Affiliations

    • 2018 – Present, Asian American Pacific Islander Nurses Association   
    • 2016 – Present, Council of Advancement of Nursing Science  
    • 2003 – Present,  Sigma Theta Tau International, Honor Society of Nursing   
    • 2003 – Present, American Public Health Association   

    Community

    Leadership 

    • 2019 - Present, National Unification Advisory Council - The Republic of Korea, Role: Oversees Council Member /Policy Planning Committee Co-Chair (US-Houston Chapter): The National Unification Advisory Council (NUAC) is a constitutional institution and presidential consultative body on the reunification of the Korean peninsula, formulating and implementing policies on demographic and peaceful unification through the consensus of political parties, professions, and the public. 

    Guest Speaker 

    • 2020, Effective Communication Skills with Health Care Providers K-Forum Wise, New Jersey (YouTube Live streaming) 
    • 2020, US Nursing Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic Ulsan University, School of Nursing, South Korea  

    Volunteer  

    2021, COVID Mobile Vaccination, SA Korean American Community UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing

    2020 – 2021, COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing

    2020, UT Health IPE: Flu Vaccination Refugee Clinic

    2020, COVID-19 Drive through Testing Site & Call Center Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC)

    2016 – Present, Health Education, San Antonio, TX, Korean American Association 

  • Publications

      Peer Reviewed Articles 

      • Lee, M., Lee, M. A. Ahn, H., Ko, J., Yon, E., Lee, J., Kim, M., Braden, C. J. (2021). Health Literacy and Access to Care on Cancer Screening among Korean Americans. Health Literacy Research and Practice (Accepted in December 2020) 
      • Song, H. J., Yoon, Y. T., Kim, S., Yang, M., & Lee, M. (2021). Association of depression with chewing and swallowing function among elderly vendors in a conventional market: preliminary research. Journal of the Korean Dysphagia Society, 11 (2) (In Press) 
      • Ko, J., Lee, M., Patel, D., Nguyen, V., & Wang, J. (2021). Factor associated with high predicted 24-hours urinary sodium excretion and the potential effect of a salt sensitivity biomarker in Korean American: A pilot study. Biological Research for Nursing (Accepted 2021) 
      • Salt, R. J., Sickora, C., Page, T. L., Martinez, M. L., Cantu, A. G., Schwab, K. W., & Lee, M. (2020). “We didn’t forget” Utilizing a community-nurse partnership to promote health in Rockport Texas after Hurricane Harvey.  Public Health Nursing, 37(1), 113-120. doi:10.1111/phn.12684 
      • Sickora, C., Salt, R. J., Page, T. S., Lee, W., Cantu, A. G., Lee, M., Schwab, K., W., Martinez, M. L., & Byrd, D. (2020). Evolution of experiential learning opportunities for nursing students after natural disaster. Journal of Nursing Education, 59(1), 30-33. doi:10.3928/01484834-20191223-07 

      Non-Peer-reviewed Articles 

      Korean Journal, Newspaper Health Column, San Antonio, TX 

      • Lee, M. (April 16, 2021). COVID Vaccination Event at the San Antonio Korean American Community (April 7 and April 28).  
      • Lee, M. (January 9, 2021). COVID-19 and U. S. COVID Vaccine Program.  
      • Lee, M. (May 1, 2020). How to be healthy in an uncertain situation related to COVID-19 pandemic?  
      • Lee, M. (April 3, 2020). What is COVID-19 Virus?   
      • Lee, M. (December 14, 2019). Cardiovascular Disease: Myocardial infarction & Emergency Responses 
      • Lee, M. (August 31, 2019). Health Insurance: Medicare and Medicaid 
      • Lee, M. (July 31, 2019). Healthy Retirement Life Styles 
      • Lee, M. (June 24, 2019). Diabetes: Prevention and Management 
      • Lee, M. (April 5,2019). Effectiveness and Importance of Exercise for Health 
      • Lee, M. (March 24, 2019). What is Prediabetes? 
      • Lee, M. (January 4, 2019). Mental Health: How to love myself? 

      Peer Reviewed Podium Presentations 

      • 2020, “We didn’t forget” Utilizing a community-nurse partnership to promote health in Rockport Texas after Hurricane Harvey (Salt, R. J., Sickora, C., Page, T. L., Martinez, M. L., Cantu, A. G., Schwab, K. W., & Lee, M.). Virtual symposium presentation of the 31st International Nursing Research Congress of Sigma Theta Tau International, Abu Dhabi, UAE, July 22-24, 2020 
      • 2020,  U. S. Nursing Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic. (Lee, M.) Virtual presentation at the 2020 3rd Moim Kim Academic Open Forum. Global Korean Nursing Foundation (GKNF) Korea & USA Joint Web Conference: Nursing Leadership in Pandemic Disaster, April 28, 2020 
      • 2019, Building community capacity and engagement to reduce health disparities and increase health literacy in the Korean immigrant community. (Lee, M., Braden, C. J., Ramirez, A. J., Lee, M., Kim, D., DeLeon, Y., & Chung, S.) The Annual Meeting of American Public Health Association, Philadelphia, PA, November 2-6, 2019 
      • 2019, Academic-community partnership among linguistically and socially underserved Korean immigrant community (Lee, M., Braden, C. J., Ramirez, A. J., Lee, M., Kim, D., DeLeon, Y., Kim, S., & Chung, S.). The 2019 Institute for the Integration of Medicine and Science (IIMS) Community Engagement Symposium, San Antonio, TX, October 12, 2019 

      Peer Reviewed Poster Presentations 

      • 2021, Relationship between Osteoarthritis Symptoms and Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms among Sellers Working at Traditional Market in South Korea. (Song, H. J., Bluhm, M.D., & Lee, M.). E-poster presentation at the 53rd Annual Conference of Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society (WOCN), Virtual Conference, to be held June 27-30, 2021 
      • 2020, The Status of Evidence-Based Practice Readiness of Undergraduate Nursing Students in South Korea. (Song, J., Park, H., Lee, M., & Stevens, K. R). Virtual poster presentation of the 31st International Nursing Research Congress of Sigma Theta Tau International, Abu Dhabi, UAE, July 22-24, 2020