Bandy X. Lee

Bandy Lee
Born27 May 1970[1]
New York City, U.S.
EducationYale University (MD, MDiv) Harvard University
Medical career
ProfessionForensic psychiatrist
InstitutionsYale School of Medicine (2003 - 2020); Harvard Medical School (2021 - )
Sub-specialtiesViolence prevention
Notable works"Profile of a Nation: Trump’s Mind, America’s Soul" (author)

The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump (editor, contributor)

Violence: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Causes, Consequences, and Cures (author)
AwardsNational Research Service Award

Bandy Xenobia Lee is an American psychiatrist whose scholarly work includes the writing of a comprehensive textbook on violence.[2] She is a specialist in public health approaches to violence prevention who consulted with the World Health Organization[3] and initiated reforms at New York's Rikers Island Correctional Facility.[4] She helped draft the United Nations chapter on "Violence Against Children,"[5] leads a project group for the World Health Organization's Violence Prevention Alliance,[6] and has contributed to prison reform in the United States and around the world.[7] She taught at Yale School of Medicine and Yale Law School from 2003 through 2020.

In 2017, Lee organized a conference at Yale on the mental health of Donald Trump with the participation of other psychiatrists including Robert Jay Lifton and Judith Lewis Herman.[8] Following the conference, in March 2017, the American Psychiatric Association released a statement reaffirming the Goldwater rule that restricts comments related to the mental health of public figures without their consent or evaluation.[9] Lee characterized the statement as silencing concerns raised by psychiatrists about the Trump presidency.[10]

Lee reconvened the conference the following month,[11] and later in the year edited The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, a collection of essays warning about the dangers of Trump's mental instability that became a New York Times bestseller.[12] It was reported that White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly secretly consulted the book as a guide for dealing with Trump.[13][14] Using this book as an "owner's manual,"[15][16] Kelly was able to intervene to block Trump from ordering the use of nuclear weapons.[17][18]

In 2017 and 2018, Lee met with over fifty U.S. Congress members who considered the 25th Amendment[19][20][21] and in 2019 held an interdisciplinary conference at the National Press Club, which discussed impeachment and was broadcast in full by C-SPAN.[22][23]

In 2020, Yale University failed to renew Lee's voluntary medical faculty position for allegedly breaking the Goldwater rule in her speech regarding Alan Dershowitz and Trump.[24] Lee sued Yale for breach of contract and breach of implied duty of good faith and fair dealing,[25] but the suit was dismissed in August 2022.[26] Lee subsequently filed for an appeal,[27] and on June 20, 2023, the appellate court upheld the previous ruling against her.[28] Lee warned against the silencing of intellectuals and criticized Yale's declaration of "no obligation to academic freedom" in her case.[29][30]

In August 2022, Mother Jones published an article titled "The Psychiatrist Who Warned Us That Donald Trump Would Unleash Violence Was Absolutely Right".[31] It argues that the events of January 6th are Lee's "vindication".[32]

  1. ^ Bandy X. Lee at Library of Congress
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Interview With Yale Forensic Psychiatrist Bandy Lee". Psychology Today. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  4. ^ Schwirtz, Michael (2014-03-19). "Rikers Island Struggles With a Surge in Violence and Mental Illness". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  5. ^ "Annan welcomes study on violence against children that calls for urgent global action". UN News. 2006-10-11. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  6. ^ "Violence Prevention Alliance". www.who.int. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  7. ^ Lin, Serena (May 13, 2020). "Profile: Dr. Bandy Lee and the psychiatric case against Donald Trump". yaledailynews.com. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  8. ^ "Transcript of the Duty to Warn Conference" (PDF).
  9. ^ "APA Reaffirms Support for Goldwater Rule". www.psychiatry.org. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  10. ^ Lee, Bandy X. (October 11, 2019). "Mental health experts see Trump is dangerous, but our professional gatekeepers protect him". USA Today. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  11. ^ Sharman, Joe (April 25, 2017). "Psychiatrist issues urgent warning over Trump's mental health". The Independent. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  12. ^ Lee, Bandy X.; Glass, Leonard L. (January 10, 2018). "We're Psychiatrists. It's Our Duty to Question the President's Mental State". Politico Magazine. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  13. ^ "Trump chief of staff used book on president's mental health as guide". the Guardian. 2022-09-15. Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  14. ^ Petrizzo, Zachary (2022-09-16). "John Kelly Reportedly Bought a Book on Trump's Mental Health". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  15. ^ "'That's Hitler, Bannon thought': 2022 in books about Trump and US politics". the Guardian. 2022-12-11. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
  16. ^ "The Divider review: riveting narrative of Trump's plot against America". the Guardian. 2022-09-16. Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  17. ^ "Trump discussed using a nuclear weapon on North Korea in 2017 and blaming it on someone else, book says". NBC News. 12 January 2023. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  18. ^ "Report: Donald Trump Wanted to Nuke North Korea and Then Blame It on Another Country". Vanity Fair. 2023-01-12. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  19. ^ Begley, Sharon (2017-08-16). "Democrats in Congress to explore creating an expert panel on Trump's mental health". STAT. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
  20. ^ "Washington's growing obsession: The 25th Amendment". POLITICO. 3 January 2018. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
  21. ^ "Top Psychiatrist SOUNDS ALARM on Trump's Deteriorating Mental Fitness…". Evergreen Podcasts. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
  22. ^ "[The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump] | C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
  23. ^ Lee, Bandy X. "January 6". bandyxlee.substack.com. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  24. ^ Hahamy, Madison; Horta, Beatriz (March 23, 2021). "Former professor says Yale fired her over tweet on Trump, Dershowitz". yaledailynews.com. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  25. ^ Yu, Isaac (2021-11-09). "Bandy Lee lawyers file counter to Yale's motion to dismiss suit". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  26. ^ Ruling on Motion to Dismiss, Lee v. Yale University, Civ. No. 3:21CV00389(SALM) (D. Conn. Aug. 30, 2022).
  27. ^ "Yale Lawsuit". Bandy X Lee. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
  28. ^ Lee v. Yale Univ.
  29. ^ Howell, Jordan (2023-06-26). "Yale shreds faculty rights to rid itself of professor who called Trump mentally unstable | The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression". www.thefire.org. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  30. ^ Lee, Bandy X. (2023-10-21). "Saving American Democracy through Truth". The Newsletter of Dr. Bandy X. Lee. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  31. ^ Kendall, Joshua. "The psychiatrist who warned us that Donald Trump would unleash violence was absolutely right". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  32. ^ Kendall, Joshua. "The psychiatrist who warned us that Donald Trump would unleash violence was absolutely right". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2022-09-15.