Biographies

Karen Eunjung Lee Bechert, M.D., M.P.H., founder of MD Kiosk, is board-certified in Family Medicine. Her degrees include a B.A. in Biology from Harvard College, a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health, an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory, and a M.D. from the University of MN Medical School. Dr. Lee Bechert also obtained fellowship training in Geriatric Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Lee Bechert has worked extensively in public health as a medical filmmaker, and is a long-time grantee of the MN Department of Health. Dr. Lee Bechert's films and multimedia products for underprivileged communities in MN have been distributed to the WIC programs of Hennepin and Ramsey Counties of MN, as well as broadcasted on cable television. She recently received the 2009 Aegis Video & Production Award, the video industry's premier competition for peer recognition of outstanding video productions and non-network TV commercials, for her work in underserved populations.

Prior to entering medical school, Dr. Lee Bechert was an internationally recognized concert violinist. After winning prizes in the Sir Yehudi Menuhin International Competition in England and the Paganini International Competition in Italy, she gave up music for nearly ten years and became a primary care physician. Dr. Lee Bechert eventually turned to medical filmmaking as an artistic medium through which patient care and education can be greatly enhanced. Her involvement in MD Kiosk has included medical writing, graphic design, poetry/music therapy, film production and editing. She is also a composer and sometimes composes or uses her own classical sound tracks for the medical films she produces.

During her previous years in music, Dr. Lee Bechert received first place in the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Competition, the National Federation of Music Clubs Competition, and the regional WAMSO Competition. She was also the youngest winner of the YPSCA Competition of the MN Orchestra. Other prizes included 1st Prize in the Providence Journal Music Competition, 2nd Prize in the Julius Stulburg National String Competition, 1st Prize in the Schubert Club and Thursday Musical Competitions of MN. As a recitalist, she performed in Jordan Hall, the Gardner Museum, Honan-Allston Public Library (MA) and the Janet Wallace Auditorium. She was featured on Minnesota Public Radio, (MPR), WHRB (Boston), and WQXR's McGraw Hill's "Young Artist Showcase" in NYC. She also performed in the National String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center as a teenager. She has been featured on the nationally syndicated TV show, CBS “Sunday Morning” in a feature entitled “Music and Medicine” and appeared in a Schubert Club program which featured speaker Dr. Timothy Johnson from ABC News. She appeared as a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, the City of London Sinfonia, the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, as well as others. To listen to her music, click here.