Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. John Leung.
Dr. Leung, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Hong Kong. As a child I remember being fascinated about the news of scientific breakthroughs and state of the art medical care in the United States. Unfortunately, my father had multiple chronic medical problems – at a very young age I had decided I would come to America to study and become a physician with a hope to help patients like my father.
Entrepreneurship runs in the family –my father came from a modest background and due to his medical problems could not keep a regular job. Out of necessity to support the family he started his own small business in his twenties. He learnt jade craftsmanship – it was a difficult art to learn but he worked very hard to master it. He would make jade crafts at home at night and then would sell them in the Jade Market during the day. My father taught me the value of perseverance. Sadly he passed away when I was in medical school but has been the driving force behind the person I am today – the ONLY triple board certified physician scientist in the United States (certified in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Allergy-Immunology).
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Is it ever ! I was confident after my graduation that I was very well trained and ready to practice medicine. However, I was blindsided by how much I needed to learn about the business aspect of running a successful practice. It was a steep learning curve – market research, finding the right location for the practice, accounting, payroll, staffing, contracting for services and equipment, billing and coding .…the list could go on and on ! I wish I had taken some business classes in college or medical school. Fortunately, I am not in this alone – my wife and my mother have both been very supportive of me from the beginning. My wife, now a successful Infectious Disease physician had ventured into solo private practice right after graduation. My mother, is a prominent businesswoman in Hong Kong and is very knowledgeable in real estate and property management. I lean on them to teach me what they know about certain business aspects of running the practice. Also, collecting and analyzing data to solve problems is something I learnt in my early career as an engineer and thereafter as a researcher – I use those skills to find solutions to day to date business problems.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Boston Food Allergy Center story. Tell us more about the business.
In 2016, I founded Boston Food Allergy Center (BFAC) because I needed a place to practice medicine the way I envisioned it should be: patient focused, integrated, high quality care, without a long wait time. At BFAC, our niche is food allergies and food related disorders . We care for children as well as adults and perform procedures like endoscopies, allergy shots, oral challenges as indicated. I spend a considerable amount of my time teaching (medical students, residents, fellows, nutritionists both from the US and international) as well as doing research to help find cures for these conditions to further benefit my patients.
The concept of a multi-disciplinary clinic to manage food allergies is not new. There are several food allergy centers around Boston that are attended by both an allergist and gastroenterologist. What sets BFAC apart is that the patient can be confident that the care is provided seamlessly. Patients can be confident that their medical problem is assessed by a single specialist who has been trained in both specialties and therefore nothing is lost in translation. Also, this enhances our ability to pick up of abnormal patterns that may have otherwise been missed by someone who does not have the same extensive/diverse training.
Lastly, at BFAC while our patients and their wellbeing is our number one priority, we take pride in providing an excellent work environment, compensation and benefits package to our staff. We strive to give our employees 100% health insurance coverage to help ensure that our staff gets the medical help they deserve when needed. I strongly believe that one is only able to provide exceptional care when they themselves are well taken care of.
What are your plans for the future? What are you looking forward to or planning for – any big changes?
Medicine in an ever evolving field and so are we at BFAC. We are starting an oral immunotherapy (OIT) program to cure patients with food allergy. OIT is the only proven cure for food allergy so far. During the treatment program, we re-train the immune system to tolerate the trigger foods (e.g. peanut) through ingesting carefully pre-calculated and pre-determined escalating doses over a period of time. The concept is similar to allergy shots for treatment of seasonal allergies in patients.
Contact Info:
- Address: Boston Food Allergy Center
65 Harrison Ave, Suite 201
Boston MA 02111 - Website: www.bostonfoodallergycenter.org
- Phone: 617-804-6767
- Email: admin@bostonfoodallergycenter.org
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