Leah K. Spring, DO, FACMS, FAAD
Mohs Surgeon and Cosmetic Dermatologist, Pariser Dermatology Specialists; Commander, U.S. Navy Medical Corps
When Dr. Leah Spring joined the Navy after college, she expected the military would give her an opportunity to travel and practice medicine abroad for four years.
Instead, Dr. Spring spent 16 years on active duty, training as a Flight Surgeon and serving tours with Navy and Marine Corps squadrons. On one tour in Japan, she went to 13 countries in two years on operational and medical humanitarian missions.
Work ranged from responding to the devastating 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan to treating skin diseases in Central America. She also led the laser scar treatment program for Wounded Warriors.
“My military journey was such a wonderful, unexpected adventure,” she says. “I was exposed to many types of medicine and trained teams from all different backgrounds, often in somewhat austere conditions. It taught me to be independent, thorough and bold in my choices, to always continue learning and to reach out to my colleagues around the globe to coordinate the best care for my patients.”
Before separating from the Navy in 2022 with the rank of Commander, Dr. Spring’s military honors included three Navy Commendation Medals, two Navy Achievement Medals, the Humanitarian Service Medal and the Navy Pistol Marksmanship award.
“I consider myself incredibly privileged to have served my country and worked alongside some of the most selfless physicians, nurses and corpsmen I’ve ever met,” she relates. “The course of my life and career is firmly rooted in the values I learned in military service.”
A Michigan native, Dr. Spring majored in chemistry at Albion College, where she also was on a music scholarship for piano performance. She then joined the Navy and went to Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
After an internship at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Dr. Spring reported to Naval Aerospace Medical Institute in Florida to train with student pilots on fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters and master water survival skills.
Dr. Spring spent two years based in Jacksonville, Fla., and another two in Okinawa, Japan. As a front-line physician with a Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron in the latter post, her three largest missions were multinational training exercises in the Philippines and Thailand and aid delivery to Japan following the 2011 tragedy.
Returning stateside, Dr. Spring completed a Dermatology residency at Naval Medical Center San Diego, including a year as Chief Resident. She was a Staff Dermatologist for four years at Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune, where she traveled on missions to treat years-neglected cases of skin cancer in Honduras and Guatemala.
“I love being able to help people in a very visible and impactful way,” she says. “For me, Dermatology is the closest thing to art in medicine.”
In 2019, Dr. Spring began a one-year dual fellowship in Mohs Micrographic Surgery & Cutaneous Oncology and Cosmetic Dermatologic Surgery at SkinCare Physicians in Massachusetts. She was a Mohs Micrographic Surgeon at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and spent two years in private practice in South Carolina before joining Pariser this year.
Married to a Marine, Dr. Spring stays active with paddleboarding and walks with the family dog. She still plays piano, too, and is teaching her two children, ages 8 and 10, songs from her childhood.
Looking back on her military service, Dr. Spring feels both pride and gratitude: “It has been one of the great honors of my life to serve my country and care for its warfighters and their families. I have been a witness to selfless service, sacrifice, strength and fortitude — the best of the American spirit.”
