Byline: Shannon Mortland
Sherman Lee believes everything happens for a reason. While he's now a director of business development and planning support at the Cleveland Clinic Health System, his path into health care wasn't always brightly lighted.
From the time the Warrensville Heights native was a kid, Mr. Lee wanted to be an electrical engineer, work for General Motors and make cars. He even pursued that major at Ohio University until he took a physics class and loved it.
'I had to do some soul searching to find out what motivated me,'' he said. 'I realized I got joy out of helping people.''
Though the self-described 'very spiritual'' Mr. Lee believes he does not have the God-given talent to be in direct patient care, he got an internship with the Cleveland Clinic to see how else he could help people while also quenching his thirst for the business world.
Mr. Lee decided to pursue a career in the business of health care. He spent two years as an administrative fellow in business operations at Kaiser Permanente, followed by three years as a planning analyst in business development at Advocate Health Care in Oak Brook, Ill. Wanting to come home to be near his daughter, Mr. Lee got a job at the Clinic.
Dr. Gus Kious, president of Huron Hospital, was on the recruiting committee for the business operations in the Clinic's eastern region when Mr. Lee was hired and has seen nothing short of excellent work from Mr. Lee.
Though Mr. Lee had no previous experience with medical management and clinical information, he quickly excelled in trend analysis, health care utilization and quality, Dr. Kious said.
'We wouldn't have a lot of that information without his effort and enthusiasm,'' Dr. Kious said.
Mr. Lee has been promoted twice in the last four years and now creates programs to help doctors and hospital departments improve the quality of patient care and make better health care decisions. He said the hardest part of his job is trying to figure out what doctors are looking for, when they're not even sure themselves but know something needs to be done.
Mr. Lee, 31, realizes the public doesn't even know his job exists, but he's OK with not receiving recognition for his work. What's important, he said, is that he knows he does a good job and that his work is important.
'We're like the lungs of the operation,'' he said. 'You don't see them, but if they went away, it would hurt.''
Outside of work, Mr. Lee leads a Bible study group for his church and is on the board of the Heights Parents Center, a Cleveland Heights nonprofit group that teaches people how to be better parents.
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