University of Kansas School of Medicine
Kansas City, Kansas
Graceland University
Lamoni, Iowa
Wesley Family Medicine Residency
Wichita, Kansas
Anna Cleland-Leighton, MD, is a primary care provider at Amberwell Hiawatha. Prior to joining Amberwell, Dr. Cleland-Leighton completed the Wesley Family Medicine Residency Program in Wichita, Kansas, where she received excellent training in full-spectrum family medicine. She enjoys living in the close-knit community of Hiawatha and providing patient-centered care to the residents of Hiawatha and its surrounding areas.
Dr. Cleland-Leighton knew that she wanted to settle down in a rural community after she and her husband went to college in a small town in Iowa and greatly enjoyed it. “What I enjoy about primary care is the long-term relationships,” said Dr. Cleland-Leighton. “One of the things I was most excited about was building those relationships with my patients over time.”
With a love of science and a desire to help people, Dr. Cleland-Leighton decided when she was in tenth grade that she wanted to become a doctor. Her decision was made after shadowing a local pediatrician’s office. Seeing the relationships the providers in that office had with their patients and their families made a lasting impression on Dr. Cleland-Leighton. Then, in college, she did an internship with a family practice clinic, where she was able to see the different layers of care that can develop between a family and their provider. “We would see a child one week for a sports physical,” said Dr. Cleland-Leighton, “and then we’d see his mother the next week with a health problem, but we’d already started to build a relationship with the mother through her son even though we hadn’t seen her as a patient yet.” Building those relationships is one of the many aspects that Dr. Cleland-Leighton loves about being a primary care provider.
Amberwell Health focuses on patient-centered care. We ask each of our providers to tell us what being patient-centered means to them personally.
Dr. Cleland-Leighton puts her patients at the center of their healthcare decision making. “I bring a lot of information and expertise to that decision-making process,” said Dr. Cleland-Leighton, “and I can come up with what I think is the best health plan for you, but if you don’t want that plan, then it’s not going to help you. What’s really important to me is making sure that we work together and that I am a part of each patient’s team and not just telling them what to do.”
Dr. Cleland-Leighton grew up in a military family and spent most of her life in northeast Kansas between Fort Riley, Fort Leavenworth, and Kansas City. After graduating with honors from Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, with Bachelor of Science degrees in biology and chemistry, she earned her Doctor of Medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, Kansas. She then completed the Wesley Family Residency Program at Wesley Family Medicine Center in Wichita, Kansas.
Dr. Cleland-Leighton lives in Hiawatha with her husband, their young son, two dogs, and one cat. In addition to caring for patients, she enjoys reading, scuba diving, and participating in sprint triathlons. She also plays the flute and the violin.
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