About Dr. Brown

Lee K Brown MD received the BS (1972) in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and the MD (1976) from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York, USA. He is a tenured Professor of Internal Medicine and holds a secondary appointment as a Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, and Sleep Medicine.

His research interests include photo-biological applications to human disease and performance; circadian rhythm disorders; novel treatments for sleep disordered breathing; other sleep disorders; pulmonary and sleep physiology; and pleural disease. He previously held faculty positions at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the University of Arizona College of Medicine, USA. He is a member of the Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi honorary societies. He is listed in Castle Connolly “Top Doctors” for Sleep Medicine and Pulmonary Medicine, and won the Outstanding Clinician Award from the New Mexico Thoracic Society. He received the Alfred Soffer Award for Editorial Excellence from the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) in 2003.

He has served on the Boards of Directors or Trustees of the American Thoracic Society (ATS), the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), the American Sleep Medicine Foundation, the American Board of Sleep Medicine, the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC, and the Greater Albuquerque Medical Association (GAMA); he served as President of the latter organization in 2008 and is currently serving once more on its Board of Directors and as one of its representatives to the New Mexico Medical Society Council. He chairs the board of directors of the GAMA Political Action Committee.

Dr. Brown has also been active in the ACCP and chaired the Sleep Network for that organization; he has chaired and/or served on multiple committees of the ATS and AASM. Dr. Brown was a long-time member of the Editorial Board of CHEST, the official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians, and is is an Associate Editor and Founding Section Editor (Emerging Technologies) for the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, co-editor of the Section on Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology of Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine, and was co-editor of a 2017 volume of Sleep Medicine Clinics concerned with Advanced PAP Therapies and Non-invasive Ventilation. He is the author or co-author of 55 research reports, clinical guidelines, and official statements and 64 commentaries and editorials, all in peer reviewed journals, as well as 29 book chapters and has 1 additional book chapter in press. At the University of New Mexico (UNM), USA, Dr. Brown has served as medical director of the UNM Health System sleep disorders centers and as senior vice chair of clinical affairs for the Department of Internal Medicine. He has served multiple terms on the UNM Faculty Senate, is currently co-chair of its Policy Committee and a member and past chair of its Health Sciences Center Council and serves on its Executive Committee. He created and chairs the Council’s Policy Committee. He has served on the Faculty Senate Faculty and Staff Benefits Committee, Operations Committee, Governmental Relations Committee, and Business Council. For the State of New Mexico, Dr. Brown chairs the Polysomnography Practice Advisory Committee of the Medical Board and was appointed to the Advisory Board for Respiratory Care in 2010; he has chaired this Committee since 2014.

Dr. Brown joined the New Mexico Cancer Center team in 2022.