About Dr. Smith
About Dr. Leslie Smith, MS, MA, LAc, MD, DAMBA
Approach
Dr. C. Leslie Smith is a dedicated learner and an enthusiastic teacher of all things related to the body and to health. She believes in the integration of different healthcare modalities and chooses the techniques that will enhance each individual person’s healing process and promote their health and vitality. Dr. Smith listens tenderly and thoroughly to her patients. Her touch is gentle, intuitive, and knowing. She uses Asian medical modalities, laser therapies, nutritional supplements and medicinal herbs, osteopathic release techniques, and nutritional counseling in her practice approach.
Training
Dr. Leslie Smith is a physician (MD), licensed to practice allopathic/western medicine and Traditional Asian Medicine in Illinois and California. She completed medical school at the University of Illinois Chicago, College of Medicine in 2004.
Dr. Smith initially trained as a general surgeon before a repetitive stress injury prevented her from completing her final year of training in surgery. Acupuncture was the only modality that was effective for her pain, and she became deeply interested in Asian medicine as a consequence. She completed several years of coursework at the renowned Yo San University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Los Angeles, and also studied Structural Acupuncture (Kiiko Matsumoto’s Japanese style) through Harvard Medical School, completing that training in June 2012. Since then, she has been focusing her acupuncture studies on the lineage of Masakazu Ikeda sensei, including Edward Obaidey sensei and Noriko Nagato sensei. Most recently, she completed additional certification in acupuncture and has passed all of the NCCAOM national boards for her LAc degree (“licensed acupuncturist”). She is a Diplomat of the American Board of Medical Acupuncture (DABMA), serves on the executive board of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture (AAMA website), and is a member of the board of the Integrative Health Policy Consortium (IHPC website).
Dr. Smith has multiple additional post-graduate degrees. She obtained a Master of Science in Physiology and Biophysics because she was passionately curious about understanding the way they body works. She obtained a Master of Arts in Medical Education and Leadership and completed a year-long Fellowship in Surgical Education because she wanted to develop expertise in communicating her knowledge to others. She is published in both of these fields.
Professional Educator
In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Smith is a dedicated educator. Her lectures provide continuing education credits to healthcare practitioners of many types (nurses, emergency medical personnel, other physicians). Dr. Smith is frequently invited to speak at medical conferences, was the keynote speaker at the Integrate Chicago Conference in 2017, and was a professor at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in Chicago and Yo San University of TCM. She currently is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and in the Department of Surgery at the University of Illinois Chicago, College of Medicine, where she teaches alternative therapeutic courses to medical students and gives Grand Rounds. She is working on research protocols to deliver acupuncture to hospitalized patients in various settings.
Personal
Dr. Leslie Smith is happily married with two rescue dog-children, Grace and Heidi, in Chicago. She loves playing in her spice cabinet, changing her hair color, and developing blisters on the dance floor.