Natalie L. Leong, MD

College: Columbia University (Summa Cum Laude)

Medical School: Harvard Medical School

Internship: UCLA, Orthopaedic Surgery

Residency: UCLA, Orthopaedic Surgery

Fellowship: Rush University, Sports Medicine

Dr. Leong specializes in sports medicine and arthroscopy of the knee and shoulder. She is an expert in the treatment of cartilage, ligament, and tendon injuries with the most advanced and minimally invasive techniques. She also is skilled in the use of cutting edge biologics such as platelet rich plasma (PRP) and stem cells.

Dr. Leong is currently a team physician for the University of Maryland Terrapins. She previously served as an assistant team physician for the Chicago White Sox (MLB), Chicago Bulls (NBA), Chicago Fire (MLS), and Chicago Steel (USHL).

Dr. Leong has trained at prestigious institutions throughout her academic career, and has benefitted from the mentorship of some of the leading surgeons and scientists in the country.

Dr. Leong is a highly accomplished basic science and clinical researcher and has presented her work at numerous national meetings, winning many research awards. In additional to her clinical work as an orthopaedic sports surgeon, she runs a translational ligament tissue engineering and regeneration laboratory at the University of Maryland, focusing of developing new treatments using stem cells and engineered biodegradable scaffolds to help heal ligament and tendon injuries. She has secured competitive grant funding to support her research. She has published numerous scientific manuscripts in prestigious orthopaedic journals such as the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, Arthroscopy, the American Journal of Sports Medicine, the Journal of Orthopaedic Research, and Tissue Engineering.

ligament, tendon, cartilage, knee, shoulder, sports medicine, tissue engineering, ACL, regenerative medicine, stem cells

Selected Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles:

Leong NL, Redondo M, Christian D, Yanke AB, and Cole BJ. Biologic Injections in the Treatment of Cartilage Defects. OTSM. 2018. In Press.

Southworth T, Leong NL, Cole BJ. The Use of Platelet Rich Plasma in Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis. J Knee Surg. 2018. In press.

Leong NL, Petrigliano FA, McAllister DR. Current tissue engineering strategies in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. J Biomed Mater Res A. 2014 May;102(5):1614-24. PMID: 23737190.

Leong NL, Arshi A, Kabir N, Nazemi A, Petrigliano FA, Wu BM, and McAllister, DR. In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Heparin Mediated Growth Factor Release from Tissue-Engineered Constructs for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction. J Orthop Res. 2015 Feb;33(2):229-36. PMID: 25363620.

Arshi A, Leong NL, Wang C, Buser Z, Wang JC, Vezeridis PS, McAllister DR, and Petrigliano FA. Relative Complications and Trends of Outpatient Total Shoulder Arthroplasty. Orthopedics. 2018 Apr 16:1-10. PMID: 29658980.

Leong NL, Cohen J, Lord E, Wang JC, McAllister DM, and Petrigliano FA. Demographic Trends and Complication Rates in Arthroscopic Elbow Surgery. Arthroscopy. 2015 Jun;21(11-12):1859-68. PMID: 25980921.

Agarwalla A, Puzzitiello RN, Leong N, and Forsythe B. Arthroscopic Repair of a Subscapularis Tendon Rupture in an Adolescent. Arthrosc Tech. 2018 Apr 23;7(5):e523-e527. PMID: 29868429.

Book Chapters:

Leong NL, Kabir N, and McAllister DR. Graft selection in posterior cruciate ligament surgery. In Fanelli (ed.) Posterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries: A Practical Guide to Management, 2nd ed. Springer, New York, 2015, p. 101-110

Leong NL, Jiang J, and McAllister DR. The future possibilities of biologic ACLR. In Prodromos (ed.) The Anterior Cruciate Ligament: Reconstruction and Basic Science, 2e. El Sevier, Philadelphia, 2016. p 573-577.

Leong NL, Mosich GM, and McAllister DR. Quadriceps tendon repair. In Azar (ed.)Illustrated Tips and Tricks in Sports Medicine. Wolters Kluwer, Philadelphia, PA. 2018. In press.

Puzzitiello RN, Agarwalla A, Forsythe B, and Leong, NL. Principles of Clinical Research. In Makhni, Makhni, Swart, and Bush-Joseph (eds.) Orthopedic Practice Management: Strategies for Growth and Success. Springer, 2018. In press.

Leong NL, Kremen TJ, and McAllister DR. Graft selection in multiple ligament injured knee surgery. In Fanelli (ed.) The Multiple Ligament Injured Knee: A Practical Guide to Management, 3rd ed. Springer, 2018. In press.