Meeting the Global Challenge of Health Equity
“To advance global health equity, we must address implicit bias and structural racism, and reevaluate the environments in which we practice. Our focus must emphasize patient-centered approaches and coordinated care teams that promote wellness, support self-care, provide preventive care, and more effectively manage disease. Moving from transaction-based healthcare to wellness and prevention-based care can be both clinically effective and cost beneficial. To explore these challenges and offer a possible solution, we must create culturally adaptive wellness programs in rural and underrepresented neighborhoods and low-middle income countries (LMICs) that promote evidence-based strategies for the prevention and risk reduction of cancer and noncommunicable disease (NCDs) and the nonpharmacologic management of cancer treatment / chronic disease side effects. Science supports the efficacy and importance of lifestyle behaviors - physical activity, nutrition and diet, obesity management, the contemplative arts (yoga and meditation) - to positively impact health and affect clinical outcome. Educating communities on culturally adaptive lifestyle and behavioral benefits, addressing social determinants, and allowing individuals to take personal ownership for preventing illness and managing health by getting involved in the design and optimization of services is the first step toward real and sustainable change in population health.”
- Leigh Leibel
about.
Leigh Leibel, M.Sc., C-IAYT, ACSM-CET (pronouns: she/her) is based in New York City and works at the intersection of Integrative Medicine and Cancer / Noncommunicable Disease (NCD) to promote lifestyle-based prevention, risk-reduction, and supportive care. She is a recognized authority on the clinical application of evidence-informed mind-body practices in cancer and medically fragile populations to mitigate adverse effects of disease and treatment, improve quality of life, and impact clinical outcome. An alumna of the NIH / NCI Cancer Prevention and Control Summer Fellowship Program and a TEDMED scholar, she serves on the Board of Trustees of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO), the Health Equity and Inclusion Task Force, and Co-chairs the Yoga Special Interest Group. SIO is based in Washington, DC and is the premier multi-disciplinary professional organization dedicated to advancing evidence-based, patient-centered care for all individuals affected by a cancer diagnosis.
clinician.
Since 2015 she has had a clinical practice at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) working with palliative care and psycho-oncology to design evidence-based mind-body protocols for cancer patients and survivors to help manage treatment side effects and impact clinical outcome. She co-chairs CUIMC’s Integrative Health Collaborative and has been a preceptor (mind-body curriculum) in the Integrative Medicine elective at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. During Covid-19, Leigh and colleagues co-created Wellspring.Global, a collaborative of healthcare providers from 15 academic medical centers delivering evidence-based stress management information free via internet to cancer patients and frontline providers.
journalist.
She started her journalism career at CNN where she was an Executive Producer/Writer and member of the executive team that launched six new television networks and grew revenue to $40m+ in five years by leveraging the CNN brand across multiple on-air platforms. She writes on health topics; her new book Yoga Therapy Across the Cancer Care Continuum will be released June 2022 by Handspring Publishing, LTD and she contributed to the textbook The Foundations, Tools and Practice of Yoga Therapy: A Comprehensive Textbook by Singing Dragon. She is on the Editorial Advisory Board of Cancer Health Magazine and participated in the Narrative Medicine Program at Columbia University. She is a peer reviewer for the Journal of Supportive Care in Cancer (a Springer Journal) and Psycho-Oncology: Journal of the Psychological, Social, Behavioral Dimensions of Cancer (a Wiley Journal).
researcher.
Her recent research investigated the role of joint loosening yoga in the management of aromatase-induced arthralgia in breast cancer (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT0404287). The abstract was published in the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Journal of Clinical Oncology and received two scientific abstract awards for excellence and innovation in research. This was a small pilot study that showed promise for this difficult to treat side effect. Research is ongoing.
advocate.
In 2019, she formed the Global Health and Wellness Collaborative with cancer specialists from 15 countries to more effectively address the challenges of the disease through cross-sector partnering on research and cancer prevention programs. Under her leadership, the team from Nigeria, Nepal, India, Turkey, USA, Canada, Mexico, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Kenya, Poland, Brazil, and Caribbean Territories (Jamaica, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe) launched its first research project on World Cancer Day 2020, partnering with Project PINKBLUE in Abuja, Nigeria. (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04248881). Their abstract, Step up to health, Nigeria! Utilizing information from Abuja's 2020 World Cancer Day Walk for equity-based cancer prevention interventions was presented at the 2020 Trans-NCI-NIH Conference on International Perspective on Integrative Medicine for Cancer Prevention and Cancer Patient Management. The project’s goal is to replicate the Abuja Cancer Walk model in under represented communities and lower-middle income countries (LMIC’s) for cancer risk reduction and prevention.
yoga practitioner.
Atha yogānuśasanam. Leigh holds a Master of Science in Yoga Therapy with distinction from S-Vyasa University in Bengaluru, India where she studied science and consciousness and read ancient Sanskrit texts on Yoga and Indian Philosophy. She completed her internship at Arogyadhama Clinic and Research Center at Prashanti Kutiram. In 2019 she founded the Yoga Special Interest Group for the Society for Integrative Oncology and co/chairs it with Dr Raghavendra Rao, Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India. The group is currently developing Clinical Practice Guidelines for Yoga in Cancer to advance equity, accessibility, and safety in yoga across all cancer populations. In 2020 the Government of India invited her to be the Western juror for the final round of competition of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s My Yoga, My Life video-blogging competition; more than 37,000 entries were received on the occasion of International Yoga Day