Leigh Leibel, MSc, C-IAYT, ACSM-CET is a journalist and global health entrepreneur working at the intersection of lifestyle medicine, cancer prevention, and integrative palliative care. She is Director of Adult Integrative Oncology, Division of Hematology-Oncology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, New York where since 2014 she has maintained a clinical practice designing evidence-based mind-body protocols for cancer patients in active treatment to mitigate drug and disease side effects and improve clinical outcome.
She teaches the Integrative Medicine Elective (clinical application of therapeutic yoga in cancer populations) at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and co-chairs the Integrative Collaborative at New York-Presbyterian, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.
Ms. Leibel is a 2020 TEDMED scholar and 2018 alumna of the National Institutes of Health / National Cancer Institute Cancer Prevention and Control Summer Fellowship Program. Her research interest is the application of mind-body interventions in the management of cancer and noncommunicable disease (NCD’s) and the promotion of wellness and disease prevention worldwide. Most recently, she is a co-principal investigator in an international research collaborative, Step up to health, Nigeria! Utilizing information from Abuja's 2020 World Cancer Day Walk for equity-based cancer prevention interventions.
She holds a Master of Science (First Class Distinction) in Yoga Therapy from S-Vyasa University in Bengaluru, India. Her dissertation Effect of Sukshma Vyayama Joint Loosening Yoga on Aromatase Inhibitor-Induced Arthralgia in Post-Menopausal Breast Cancer Survivors: A Feasibility Study Conducted on Facebook was selected by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) for inclusion in the Journal of Clinical Oncology supplement to the 2019 Annual Meeting proceedings. It received the Swami Kuvalayananda Award for Innovation and Excellence in Yoga Research at the 2019 Symposium on Yoga Research (SYR), best scientific poster at INCOFYRA 2020, and was presented as a poster at Memorial Sloan Kettering’s 2nd Congress on Interventional Cancer Pain Symposium.
In 2019, she founded and co-chairs with Dr Raghavendra Rao (AYUSH, Govt of India), Dr Santosh Rao (Banner MD Anderson), and Dr Lorenzo Cohen (MD Anderson) the Yoga Special Interest Group (SIG) for the Society for Integrative Oncology. The group’s mission is to advance yoga as part of evidence-based, comprehensive, integrative healthcare to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.
She is co-editor of the forthcoming textbook Yoga Therapy Across the Cancer Care Continuum to be released by Handspring Publishing in 2021 and a chapter contributor to Principles and Practices of Yoga Therapy, a forthcoming spring 2021 textbook by Singing Dragon (Jessica Kingsley Publishers).
In 2018, she chaired the Yoga and Cancer Symposium at the World Cancer Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and gave the keynote presentation Making Friends with Your Mind at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Survivor Conference in Buffalo, NY.
Leigh is a certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT) credentialed by the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and holds four sports medicine credentials with the American College of Sports Medicine: Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Group Exercise Instructor, Certified Cancer Exercise Instructor, and Exercise is Medicine Provider, Level One. New guidance from exercise oncology experts recommend systematic use of an “exercise prescription” by health care professionals in designing and delivering exercise programs that aim to lower the risk of developing certain cancers, affect health-related outcomes, benefit specific symptoms and side effects of cancer and its treatments, and best meet the needs, preferences, and abilities of people with cancer.
Since 2004, she has held an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) license in Connecticut and from 2004-2009 was in ambulance service with Westport EMT.
Formerly with CNN, she was the founding executive producer of CNN Accent Health Network.
The Inspiration! Patient artwork decorating the walls of the Chemotherapy Infusion Center at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.