Orange County Plastic Surgeon
Dr. Leis is educated, trained and skilled in plastic and reconstructive surgery. Her specialties are pediatric and adult hand surgery, reconstructive surgery, and aesthetic surgery.
“My parents are both sculptors. I think of myself as performing surgical sculpting.”
Raised by two artists, Dr. Leis developed an eye for aesthetics and an ability to create beauty. Another love – science – also inspired her career. “There was an expectation in my family that I should do what I truly love. My humanitarian work in Mexico and Zimbabwe helped shape the idea that I wanted to use medicine to give back to my community. Sculpture and science is the crossroads of my passion and ability.” She is grateful that she is able to combine these two important forces in her life to better her patients’ lives. “This is what I was meant to do,” said Dr. Leis.
“I feel what my patients feel. I want them to heal and consider themselves whole. I am their advocate.”
Dr. Leis is exceptionally empathetic and conscientious in addition to being an extraordinarily skilled surgeon. She is focused on building close interactions and connections with patients and parents of younger patients. She engages with every patient on an emotional level. Their hopes and desires are her hopes and desires. She believes that identifying with their challenges helps her achieve the best possible outcomes for her patients.
“In my work, no two cases are alike. Every day is fascinating and challenging.”
Dr. Leis worked at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Los Angeles County Hospital. Many of her patients were trauma victims who required the most demanding, complex, and cutting-edge surgical procedures. She used tremendous amounts of creativity, problem solving, and skill to, as she says, “recreate what had been lost.” When it comes to aesthetic surgery, Dr. Leis helps patients achieve their best self and gain confidence. “Quality of life is what my work is about,” she says.
“I strive to be a role model for young surgeons.”
As a professor, Dr. Leis works to instill in her medical students that they can be a different kind of teacher when it is their turn to mentor young surgeons. She pushes her students to embrace their unique qualities – their full empathic, authentic selves. She believes that education, like medicine, is not a one size fits all pursuit. That attitude is what she hopes to ‘pay forward’ with every student she teaches and create a chain reaction of empathetic, complete surgeons training empathetic, complete surgeons.
“I have a wonderful personal life as well as a fulfilling career. I am very grateful.”
Dr. Leis grew up in Central Oregon in a town with less than 1,000 residents. She now lives in Southern California and is married to a filmmaker. The two are active in the arts, including independent narrative film, documentary film, and theater. She enjoys travel and the outdoors. She’s proud to say she recently completed her first half marathon.
Procedures Dr. Leis performs:
Congenital hand reconstruction
Brachial plexus reconstruction
Carpal tunnel release
Cubital tunnel release
Trigger finger
Arthritis surgery
Tendon transfer
Nerve injury and reconstruction
Dupuytren’s contracture
Hand and wrist fractures
Traumatic hand reconstruction
Free flap microsurgical reconstruction
Breast reduction
Gynecomastia
Breast lift
Breast augmentation
Breast reconstruction
Facelift
Necklift
Browlift
Otoplasty
Blepharoplasty
Rhinoplasty
Botox
Fillers
Skin resurfacing
Abdominoplasty
Brachioplasty
Thigh lift
Liposuction
Fat transfer
Education
Dr. Leis earned a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Oregon State University Honors College, where she graduated Suma Cum Laude. She obtained her medical degree at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she was honored for her commitment to education with the Nathans Distinguished Service for Mentorship and Teaching. She then completed a six year residency in plastic surgery at Loma Linda University. She next completed an additional fellowship of one year in orthopaedic hand surgery at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. There she worked with leaders in the field of microsurgical reconstruction of complex congenital and traumatic injuries of the upper extremity.