Dr. Albin B Leong, MD

My Profession

I am a pediatric specialist in pulmonology, allergy and immunology. This means I work with families and their pediatricians to treat children and adolescents referred for various respiratory disorders, allergies and immune disorders. Examples of disorders that I help treat include asthma, cystic fibrosis, congenital lung disorders, chronic cough, unusual breathing noises, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, chronic lung disease, and sleep apnea. I became interested in this as a combination of my interests in working with children and adolescents along with experiences during my medical training with prominent mentors in respiratory and allergic disease.

Before medical school, I had been involved with children and adolescents in a number of activities, including being a coach in baseball and basketball, camp counselor for inner city disadvantaged children, mentor for fatherless children, and as a counselor in a juvenile hall. My interest in medicine was partly derived from an …impoverished background and observing my father die from cancer in a suboptimal health care setting during my youth. I've had a number of jobs and life experiences that helped shaped my interests during high school and college, including being a custodian,longshoreman, fish cannery worker, sales clerk, restaurant dishwasher, short order cook, engineering aid, lab assistant, and chronic care facility aid. I began college as a math and philosophy major, but changed by my junior year to an interest in medicine due to a desire to be in a helping profession using scientific information.

Practice Philosophy

I believe in the inherent worth, dignity, health and well-being of each person and his or her family. I feel that each situation is unique for that child or adolescent and their family. I hope to help guide each family in understanding what might be causing the person’s symptoms and how to then best treat that person. In doing so, I strive to, with the support of the health care team, to help families adapt to the person’s condition as well as possible. I also strive and expect to provide the highest level of specialty care within my scope of practice possible. When additional care is required, such as lung transplantation, specialty lung surgery, or rare immunological disorders, I have access to prominent centers for this level of care. I consider it an honor and privilege to be able to practice medicine. One of the greatest rewards within my practice is the satisfaction of seeing patients thrive, smiling with improved function.

Professional Interests

I am active with a number of local, regional, national and international organizations to learn and help develop advances in my field and maintain professional relationships. I am involved in medical research and teaching and have over thirty professional publications. An example of a patient care publication is the weblink on this website for bronchopulmonary dysplasia. One of my proudest professional activities and relationships is my teaching nationally and internationally in pediatric airway endoscopy as a member of the faculty under Dr. Robert E. Wood from The Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, generally considered the world authority in this area.

I’ve been a physician at Kaiser Permanente since 1982. I especially appreciate the collegial practice that I have within the group and the ability to practice medicine responsibly and ethically. I feel KP staff cooperate closely without much of the bureaucratic and business constraints often present outside of KP.

Personal interests

Being a solo specialist often affects my free time. I am active with physical fitness, being a regular "gym rat", ballroom dance lessons, and enjoy cooking, reading, movies, and spending time with family and friends.

My Qualifications

After my fellowship, I had further training in Pediatric Pulmonology at Rainbow Babies & Childrens Hospital (Cleveland) and Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston).