VCOM–Virginia was honored to welcome Maxine Lee, MD, MBA, FASA, as the distinguished guest and featured speaker for the 2026 William G. Anderson, DO Speaker Series on the Blacksburg campus.
William G. Anderson, DO, was an icon of the Civil Rights Movement and a trailblazer in osteopathic medicine. He made history as the first Black president of the American Osteopathic Association and served on its Board of Trustees. He was also a member of VCOM’s founding Board of Directors. Throughout his life, he remained deeply committed to lifting others, a legacy that continues through scholarships established in his honor.
Dr. Anderson’s legacy lives on through leaders like Dr. Lee, whose life and career reflect Dr. Anderson’s spirit of service, leadership, and advocacy. Her visit offered students an inspiring example of how physicians can shape both their profession and their communities.
Dr. Lee is a board-certified anesthesiologist at Carilion Medical Center in Roanoke. She attended Harvard Medical School and completed her anesthesiology residency at Yale. She later expanded her expertise through a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for Physicians and earned an MBA from Radford University.
During her talk at VCOM-Virginia, Dr. Lee encouraged students to believe in themselves, seek leadership opportunities, and advocate for both their patients and the profession. She emphasized the importance of organized medicine, noting that because medicine is a highly regulated field, physicians can amplify their voices by becoming involved in professional organizations.
In fact, Dr. Lee knows exactly how important that is. Throughout her career, Dr. Lee has held numerous leadership roles, including president of the Roanoke Valley Academy of Medicine, president of the Virginia Society of Anesthesiologists, and member of the Virginia Board of Medicine. Within the Carilion system, she served as vice president for Medical Affairs at Carilion Medical Center and as a board member for The Jefferson College of Health Sciences. She currently serves on the Carilion Clinic Credentials Committee and the Virginia Tech Dean’s Council on Advancement.
Dr. Lee believes in the importance of service beyond a physician’s medical practice. “Service is not a burden,” she told students, sharing her belief that she is working “to make Virginia a better place to live and practice medicine.” She encouraged them to do the same.
She spoke candidly about building a sustainable career that aligns with personal goals and values. Early in her career, she pursued emergency medicine but later realized the specialty was not the right fit. Remaining open to new opportunities, she transitioned into anesthesiology, ultimately finding that the field that best matched her interests and strengths.
Her commitment to mentorship is equally strong. In 2008, Dr. Lee and her husband, Richard Wyeth, established the first Anesthesiology Student Interest Group workshops in the Roanoke Valley. The programs continue today, providing networking, mentorship, clinical skills workshops, and shadowing opportunities for medical students from Virginia Tech Carilion, LUCOM, and VCOM.
Dr. Lee concluded with a lively question-and-answer session and left students with three memorable rules of survival in health care: “Take care of yourself, respect nurses, and if you see a donut, eat a donut.”
To learn more about the Anesthesia Interest Groups (AIGS), visit https://www.asahq.org/education-and-career/asa-medical-student-component/msc-anesthesia-interest-groups
The William G. Anderson, DO Speaker Series is an annual event organized by the VCOM-Virginia chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), the nation’s oldest and largest student-run organization dedicated to supporting the needs and concerns of medical students of color.
