August 31, 2026 ­— A lot of people have spent a lot of time talking about Leanne Wong, M.S. And for good reason. With dozens of medals and victories throughout her storied career, the former Gator gymnast and two-time Olympic alternate is a legend both in Gainesville and around the world.

But Wong has a relatively new accomplishment to add to her already impressive resume: published author in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

Wong has always had an interest in science and medicine; both of her parents are research scientists, and some of her earliest memories include spending nights at the lab.

“I remember visiting the lab as a child,” said Wong, who was part of Florida Gators Gymnastics from 2022 to 2025 and served as an alternate for Team USA at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics. “Playing with beakers and pipettes, asking endless questions about science — it really sparked my imagination.”

That interest never left her, even as she trained through her childhood to become an elite athlete and traveled the world as part of one of the greatest gymnastics teams in United States history.

The double Gator, who holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Health Education and Behavior from the University of Florida, had an eye toward medicine from her first day of undergraduate studies.

It was a chance meeting in 2025, however, that gave Wong the opportunity to find mentorship at the UF Health Congenital Heart Center while working on her master’s degree.

Wong was put in touch with Jeffrey Jacobs, M.D., a professor of surgery and pediatrics in the UF College of Medicine and director of surgical research and education at the Congenital Heart Center. A world-renowned congenital heart surgeon and researcher who has performed more than 4,600 cardiac operations and has authored more than 900 peer-reviewed publications in academic journals, he leads a large research group that gives medical students and premedical students like Wong an opportunity to do real work in academic medicine.

Wong joined a research project led by UF medical student Ahmet Bilgili, examining the impact of prior coronavirus disease infection on heart donors.

“I’d already done behavioral research, but this was on another level,” Wong said. “I worked on the abstract and presented a poster at the College of Medicine’s Celebration of Research in 2026 at the O’Connell Center.”

Bilgili, also an endurance athlete who has completed two ultramarathons while in medical school, said Wong easily translated her discipline as an athlete to academics.

“She has a tremendous work ethic and was eager to get involved with our group’s research, where she played an important role in bringing our work to fruition,” he said.

The hard work paid off, and the group’s paper, “Pediatric Heart Transplant Outcomes Using Coronavirus Disease 2019-Positive Donors in the United States,” was published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery in May.

“Leanne excelled in four events at the O’Connell Center as a gymnast,” Jacobs said. “I’m proud to say that in addition to winning multiple awards in vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise, she’s also excelled in a fifth event on the O’Dome floor: meaningful academic productivity. She is a rising superstar with an extremely bright future, and we’re honored to have her as a member of our research team.”

Wong is no stranger to juggling multiple priorities, which she continued to do while completing her master’s program, launching a business and coaching the UF gymnastics team alongside observing heart surgeries and organ procurements. She ultimately capped off her experience in her master’s program by giving the commencement speech at her own graduation.

Now, Wong is taking a well-earned gap year. She’s training, shadowing, attending research meetings, running her gymnastics apparel business and advancing her public charity to reduce food waste and food insecurity.

“Medicine is a long and challenging route,” she said. “Learning from other people’s journeys is incredibly important, and I’m thankful for the opportunities I’ve had to grow and learn with the Congenital Heart Center over the last two years.”