Crystal Lee thought she was just taking a break from seminary. The studies towards her degree in theology had become increasingly difficult, and she thought doing something else for a while might help her clear her head.
Crystal’s always been someone who moved from opportunity to opportunity as she chanced across them, able to adapt quickly to new lines of work and environments. Her past lives have ranged from a fashion designer assistant (her mother was the designer) and several years spent living in Korea as she ensured that stadiums in that country and Japan were camera-ready for the 2002 World Cup to supporting research at a Texas university.
During her seminary gap year, a friend who owned a home health company thought that Crystal might be good at talking to doctors. Following up on that idea, she quickly landed a job at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital as a physician liaison. It was there that Crystal began to realize that she “really, really likes working with doctors.”
She’s been at MLKCH now for almost ten years—starting off as a temporary, part time contractor, and growing, alongside the health system, to become the Director of Physician Relations and Graduate Medical Education. Her work is now integral not only to bringing doctors to work in MLKCH but in training a new generation of physicians who will provide care to communities like South LA.
She looks for certain qualities in the doctors that she recruits for the medical residency program—a willingness to be flexible, to creatively problem-solve in working with their patients. The right doctor for the community, Crystal says, is “Somebody who really believes in the mission, because it’s going to carry them through hard times.” That vision is evident in the doctors who work and train at MLKCH, sensitive to their patients’ needs in part because they may be from underserved communities themselves, or children of immigrants who settled in these communities.
With her team, Crystal has thrived in being part of growing a medical residency program that just graduated its first class this year. “The more experience residents have in a place like MLKCH, the more we can ensure that there are future doctors who know how to treat our population.”
The creativity and problem-solving parts of her job have kept her at MLKCH for the past decade—and inspires her to give. “Your money is where your heart is,” says Crystal, “and I’m going to spend my money on the things that I believe in. It’s important to me that that money never gets wasted. Here, I know it’s always going to be used in creative ways to help the community. Everything that we do is creative!”
The gap year that turned into a whole new career now has Crystal excited about the next ten years of growth at MLKCH—tackling the physician shortage in South LA through the gains made with the medical group, watching the hospital become a teaching hospital with each new graduating class, and becoming part of the history of changing healthcare in South LA along the way.
Support your co-workers! Join Crystal in being a part of MLKCH Gives.