10/23/2022 11:32:00 AM | General, Gymnastics
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
When Dr. Leah Brown near the University of Georgia successful 1998, aft earning a grade successful Genetics, the two-time NCAA gymnastics champion and 14-time All-American knew she wanted to get into medicine and go an orthopedic surgeon. Beyond that, the way that her beingness has followed implicit the past 20-plus years is the effect of passionateness mixing with opportunity.
"I'm that Type A property that decided arsenic a young kid that this is what I wanted to do," said Brown, who competed for the Gymdogs from 1994-97.
"The way that I took decidedly was not needfully good laid out."
It whitethorn not person been laid out, but it has led her connected a singular journey, 1 that has resulted successful aesculapian school, a subject vocation and deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, for which she earned galore awards including a Bronze Star, moving pro teams similar the Carolina Panthers and Phoenix Mercury, and the launching of her concern successful the Phoenix area, Urgently Ortho, a walk-in orthopedic clinic.
Brown is 1 of 3 2022 recipients of the Arch Award, presented by the UGA Athletic Association and Piedmont Bank, joining erstwhile equestrian rider Katie Jacobs and erstwhile wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi. The Arch Award highlights the successes of erstwhile Bulldogs successful the concern world.
"It's ever to beryllium recognized by the assemblage that I clasp truthful beloved to heart," she said. "Being an entrepreneur is tough, and determination are a batch of ups and a batch of downs, and immoderate clip you tin beryllium recognized for the successes, adjacent the hard ones, it's ever a bully thing."
For Brown, she experienced large occurrence successful gymnastics earlier going connected to bash good successful medicine, work to her state and successful business. Competing for legendary manager Suzanne Yoculan Leebern, Brown won her archetypal NCAA rubric arsenic a inferior successful 1996, connected the vault. The pursuing year, she closed retired her large vocation with an NCAA rubric successful the level exercise. In 2016, Brown was inducted into the UGA Circle of Honor, the highest grant a erstwhile Bulldog tin receive.
Brown said nary 1 infinitesimal from her vocation stands retired much than the rest.
"I deliberation it's conscionable the postulation of each of them, and being a portion of specified a large team, nether a large coach, astatine a large university," she said. "My Gymdog teammates are inactive immoderate of my closest friends, I'm inactive precise engaged with the program, and we inactive are a portion of each other's lives.
"I deliberation that that's specified a peculiar narration that you person erstwhile you're a Gymdog, and it surpasses conscionable the radical that you competed with. It's fundamentally a sorority, it's a sisterhood, and that's wrong the household ambiance that you get astatine the University of Georgia."
Brown has maintained adjacent ties to the university, arsenic well, and presently serves connected the UGA Foundation Board of Trustees.
"It's a genuinely unsocial place. I've been each implicit the country, I've lived successful each parts of the country, and determination is conscionable thing rather similar the camaraderie that we person successful relating to each different arsenic Georgia Bulldogs."
Brown archetypal got funny successful medicine astatine a young age, an involvement that was reinforced portion dealing with injuries. Having her archetypal wounded arsenic an athlete, she said, "and engaging with that doc that helped get maine backmost to my competitory level, that decidedly affected maine and what I wanted to do."
There was besides an ophthalmologist that made an impression, 1 that features successful what Brown is doing contiguous — "a game-changer," she said.
"I'll ever remember, connected the play I was having an oculus issue, helium came successful connected the play and saw maine successful his office," she said. "I retrieve thinking, I privation to bash this."
Brown joined the U.S. Navy successful 1999 and attended aesculapian schoolhouse astatine Ohio State. She did her internship astatine the Naval Medical Center successful San Diego earlier serving arsenic a battalion surgeon astatine the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
In 2006, she went overseas and served arsenic a Medical Aid Station Director during Operation Iraqi Freedom. That was followed by a residency backmost astatine the Naval Medical Center successful San Diego. In 2012, she was deployed to Afghanistan to service arsenic the Orthopedic Surgery Department caput during Operation Enduring Freedom. Since 2013, Brown has served arsenic an orthopedic surgeon with the U.S. Navy Reserves, on with moving her ain practice.
She started Urgently Ortho due to the fact that radical with injuries shouldn't person to hold weeks oregon months to get treatment.
"They request entree to care. You can't hold months, and it's unfortunate that our healthcare strategy has that arsenic a occupation for truthful galore of our patients," she said. "It's truly conscionable astir entree to care, whether that's during the time oregon aft hours.
"In summation to it, it's entree to specialty care. Emergency departments and urgent attraction are inundated with sick people, and I don't woody with sick people, I woody with injured people. And they are champion served, definitively, by radical who instrumentality attraction of injured people."
People similar Brown, for whom helping others is simply a lifelong passionateness and a imagination travel true.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the unit writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You tin find his enactment at: Frierson Files. He's besides connected Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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