Leah Teekel-Taylor, MD
(Medical Doctor)
I was 14 years old when my older sister and I began our employment history at a Rexall drugstore in Baton Rouge, LA. Mr. Price, our pharmacist, introduced us to the science of pharmacy which stimulated our curiosity about the rest of the medical sciences.
Timing was just right in the world with Billy Jean King beating Bobby Riggs and the Women’s movement was in full swing in this country. It seemed to me that there was nothing a woman could not do!
We set out to become doctors. I graduated from LSU in 1981 with a BS in Biochemistry and a 4.0 GPA. This led me to another great southern institution, University of Virginia, wherein 1985, I earned my MD with honors and met and married the love of my life, Marc A Taylor.
I began training in General Surgery at Georgetown University in 1985. When our two precious daughters, Kiersten and Allyson,support of my family, I returned to surgery and trained for 9 more rigorous years to become a Cardiothoracic Surgeon.
I love the magical dance of operating on the human body and especially the heart, but 11 years of Cardiothoracic Surgical practice have taught me that the treatment is often worse than the disease, even when things go perfectly in the OR. Simply put, here in the US, we have to do a better job of preventing heart disease and cancer or at least slowing disease progression, once discovered.
At Docs Outside the Box as the Medical Director, I contribute my medical and surgical expertise to each patient while extending an invitation to my patients to “look outside the box” to discover their unique underlying issues that traditional Western Medical sciences may have overlooked.
Using this approach, I help patients reduce the amount of prescriptions they require, especially for high blood pressure, post-operative pain, and other inflammatory conditions, while they find themselves feeling better and better every day.
In my person life, I strive for balance and quality of life. This means working hard at what I do well, but also investing time in my own physical, emotional and spiritual health and that of my family.
