Dr. Christopher Leggett

Clinical interventional cardiologist Dr. Christopher J.W.B. Leggett was born on November 8, 1960, in Cleveland, Ohio, the tenth of eleven children to Willie and Ethel Leggett. At thirteen years of age, Leggett was awarded a three year academic scholarship by the A Better Chance organization to attend Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. After his high school graduation, Leggett received a four year scholarship to attend Princeton University. While attending Princeton, Leggett was a campus leader and member of the Princeton University basketball team. In 1982, Leggett graduated from Princeton University with his B.A. degree in sociology.

In 1982, after attending the University of Cincinnati’s School of Medicine in Cincinnati, Ohio, Leggett attended Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, where he received his M.D. degree. At Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Leggett was also chairman of the Student National Medical Association. In 1986, Leggett interned in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland; after completing his residency at Johns Hopkins in 1989, Leggett completed his cardiology fellowship at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 1992, Leggett became a physician at the Cardiovascular Laboratory in the Veterans Administration Hospital at the Emory University School of Medicine in Decatur, Georgia. In 1993, Leggett became an interventional cardiology fellow in the Department of Cardiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. During his fellowship, Leggett was under the tutelage of world leader and pioneer, Dr. Gary S. Roubin.

In 2002, Leggett was appointed by the United States Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to serve on the National Practicing Physician Advisory Council in Washington, D.C. for a four year term. In 2002, a Georgia State Senate Resolution honored Leggett for his contributions to society; in May of that same year, Leggett was the recipient of the President’s Award at Oakwood College for being an exemplary role model for Alumni. Leggett is the Director of Cardiology at Medical Associates of North Georgia and practices medicine at Northside Hospital – Cherokee in Canton, Georgia; St. Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta, Georgia; and Gwinnett Health System in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Christopher Leggett was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on September 11, 2007.