The Minnesota-based Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation on Thursday named Dr. Joseph Lee as its new president and chief executive, the first physician and person of color to lead the addiction treatment giant.
Lee is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, and has been medical director of the Hazelden Betty Ford Youth Continuum since 2010.
“Dr. Lee is a generational talent who will be a pioneering leader for Hazelden Betty Ford and the field of addiction treatment for years to come,” Lester Munson, chair of the Hazelden foundation board of trustees, said in a statement. “At this important juncture in the history of our nation, industry and organization, our board decided that a physician CEO would be best for our future.”
Lee officially begins his new role June 28, succeeding Mark Mishek, who announced his retirement last fall.
Lee takes the helm of the Center City-based organization at a time of rising demand for addiction treatment and mental health services.
The pandemic has led to stress over job losses and changes in routines as people were forced to work from home and help their school-aged children with remote learning.
And an opioid epidemic still rages. Drug overdose deaths in Minnesota rose 30% in the first half of 2020, driven in large part by overdoses of painkillers.
Lee said he plans to advocate for investments in addiction prevention and to fight the stigma and discrimination around addiction.
“COVID-19 has exposed the reality that we need more prevention in schools; easier access to quality treatment; and more robust ecosystems of community and recovery support to help people stay well long-term,” he said in a statement.
At 45, Lee is the youngest CEO in the organization’s 72-year history.
As the son of immigrants who moved to the United States from Seoul, South Korea, he plans to make advancing Hazelden Betty Ford’s diversity efforts a priority.
“As an Asian-American and the son of immigrants — someone who wasn’t a U.S. citizen until I was in my medical residency — I also hope others might see opportunity for themselves in the opportunity that I have been given as CEO,” he said.
Mishek became CEO of the Hazelden Foundation in 2008, and led the company through a period of widespread change in health care. He helped engineer the 2014 merger of the Hazelden Foundation and the Betty Ford Center, based in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
The combined forces made Hazelden Betty Ford the nation’s largest nonprofit provider of addiction treatment and mental health services.
Hazelden Betty Ford ranks No. 26 among the Star Tribune’s ranking of Minnesota’s largest 100 nonprofit organizations. Revenue was nearly $202 million in 2019, the most recent financial information available.
Jackie Crosby • 612-673-7335
Twitter: @JackieCrosby