Meet Adam Lee, one of our teammates shaping mission-based healthcare at Adventist Health

Dec 16, 2024

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Adam Lee, Operations Executive for Adventist Health Portland, 13 years with Adventist Health


From rehabilitation to laboratory services to volunteer staffing to organizational strategy, Adam Lee works to ensure that departments at Adventist Health Portland have what they need to do their jobs well.

When he isn’t helping manage any unexpected situations, Adam works with his team to provide a clear picture of organizational goals and what needs to happen to be successful. “The way to make strategy successful, is to help everybody in the organization understand their part in that strategy. Everyone in the organization needs to understand why their role is so critical to what we do,” Adam says.

What is your best habit?
LEE: My best habit is regular check-ins with my team, making sure I’m staying connected to the leaders I support so they have what they need and I know when issues start to come up.

What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t worry so much about each career choice. Early on we have a tendency to stress about the choices we’re making, about picking a major in college and our first job out of college — or at least I certainly did. If you work hard and build good relationships, then you get to go wherever you want to go.

What do you love about working at Adventist Health?
I love the people and the culture. There is a certain culture at Adventist Health Portland that feels like a small town. People know each other. It’s small enough that you feel like you know the people around you, but it’s not so small that you can’t do some really interesting things in healthcare. It’s an easy place to want to be.

Do you have an Adventist Health colleague you admire?
There is something about Terry Johnsson and the way he builds relationships and gets things done that is so impressive to me. As an introvert I am amazed at his ability to form connections with the people around him. He’s so great at doing difficult work while building deep and meaningful connections.

How do you unplug after a hard day?
I have a commute, which sometimes is a bad thing, but a lot of days it’s kind of nice to sit and listen to an audiobook or podcast. By the time I get home I’m ready to hang out with my family and put work behind me.

What do you do when you’re creatively stuck?
I usually find it’s best to just step away. Whether that’s just calling it quits for the day or going out and rounding and talking to people or going for a walk, there’s no one answer except for maybe just separating myself from whatever it is I’m stuck on. I don’t try to force through it most of the time because that doesn’t usually work for me.

What one word describes your experience working at Adventist Health?
Fulfilling.

Why do you choose to work in healthcare?
I feel that every day in some way I’m contributing to helping the community around me. Healthcare is super hard, and that’s appealing to me. I don’t like easy. I like the combination of hard work and getting to do it for all the right reasons.

What gives you hope?
When I hear stories and see firsthand patients who have an experience here that is unique to the way we’re providing care and the culture we have here, that gives me hope. It gives me hope knowing that experiences are being created here that are special and unique to the work we’re doing — because it’s healthcare, but also because there is something special here at Adventist Health Portland.

Explore opportunities to join the Adventist Health team at AdventistHealth.org/careers.

Read more inspiring stories about the Adventist Health team:
Meet Chris Hagen
Meet Haley Pacholec
Meet Jasmin Huila Flores

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