Faculty Spotlight: Daniela Leto
Dr. Daniela Leto obtained her medical degree from McMaster University and then proceeded to pursue post-graduate specialties at McMaster University with residency training in Medical Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine. Her main area of clinical expertise in Infectious Diseases is in the care of Immunocompromised hosts and she works closely with the Hematology Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy group at Juravinski Hospital. Dr. Leto has been the Head of Virology Laboratory Services at HRLMP, St. Joseph’s Hospital since 2020, and the Medical Microbiology Residency Program Director since 2015, and is now the Associate Chair of Education and Department Education Coordinator (DEC) for Pathology and Molecular Medicine.
Q. What is your specialty and why did you choose it?
A. “After completing my training in Internal Medicine, I was drawn to Infectious Diseases for its broad scope and diversity that makes the specialty stimulating and challenging, especially with its inherent links to public health and global health. Microbiology laboratory training broadened the scope of practice even further and I thoroughly enjoyed delving even deeper into the intricate working of the pathogens causing infectious disease. Even though pandemic preparedness was always an important topic during training, I could never have predicted the real life scenario we all found ourselves in starting the winter of 2020!”
Q. What has been your favorite project?
A. “Being part of the implementation and rapid expansion of the COVID & Respiratory virus testing lab was a stressful yet exhilarating experience and am very proud of the infrastructure our HRLMP Virology lab has developed to help our community and hospital patients.”
Spotlight