Assistant Director
Tai M. Lee Jr., NRP, EMT-T, CIC/RF, MEP, assistant director of the Center for Disaster Medicine at New York Medical College (NYMC), is responsible for the coordination of the first responder training throughout the lower Hudson Valley and beyond. He is a retired police officer with 20 years of service with the New York City Police Department (NYPD). During his tenure with the NYPD, Mr. Lee spent the first half of his career in various patrol functions in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Due to his experience as a paramedic, Mr. Lee was temporarily assigned to the Police Academy’s Specialized Training Section, where he taught police officers and supervisors cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of the automated external defibrillator.
In the second half of his career, Mr. Lee was assigned to the NYPD’s Disorder Control Unit
(DCU). At DCU, he served as the unit’s senior instructor and subject matter expert in crowd control tactics and operations, weapons of mass destruction, hazardous materials (HazMat), incident management and command post operations and basic tactical medicine. Mr. Lee earned certifications in General Topics Instruction by the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services, HazMat Operations, Defense Technologies Less Lethal Munitions, the Incident Command System and Tactical Emergency Casualty Care. He is credited with the redesign of the unit’s Advanced Chemical, Ordnance, Biological, Radiological Action (COBRA) Refresher course, implementing Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START) training, and the distribution and training in the use of the NYPD’s Belt Trauma Kit (tourniquet, pressure dressing and hemostatic agent), to the then Patrol Borough Task Forces, which became the Strategic Response Group.
Mr. Lee’s duties also included coordinating exercise design, conduct and evaluation. Having
obtained certification as a master exercise practitioner from the Emergency Management
Institute, Mr. Lee designed and conducted tabletop and full-scale exercises for the New York Yankees and the U.S. Tennis Association. He earned his B.S. in public affairs with concentration in emergency management from State University of New York, Empire State College and his A.A.S. in paramedicine from City University of New York (CUNY), Borough of Manhattan Community College and also studied chemistry at St. Joseph’s University in Brooklyn. Mr. Lee became certified as a New York State Paramedic in 1999 and currently practices in Westchester County, with previous experience working within the NYC 911 system at various hospital-based ambulance services. He attained certification from New York State Department of Health as a Certified Instructor Coordinator and has taught EMT and paramedic students, as well as continuing medical education classes. Mr. Lee has also educated law enforcement officers throughout the continental United States as an instructor/contractor for the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP).
Philosophy of Training Emergency Responders:
“I believe that one of the most important tasks that an emergency responder needs to learn
is to get home at the end of the day. If any of the knowledge or skills that I can impart upon a responder helps them get home at the end of the day, then my job as a trainer is a success.”