Dr. Leslie Cho, MD
Not yet claimedPreventive cardiologist, Cardiologist, Interventional cardiologist · Physician (MD)
Cleveland, OH · Telehealth in 1 state
Director of the Cleveland Clinic Women's Cardiovascular Center and Section Head of Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation; a Professor of Medicine specializing in coronary artery disease, cardiovascular prevention and heart disease in women.
About Dr. Leslie Cho, MD
Updated Sep 20, 2026Dr. Leslie Cho is a cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic's main campus in Cleveland, Ohio. She is board certified in interventional cardiology, cardiovascular medicine, and internal medicine, and she works in both interventional and preventive cardiology.
She directs the Cleveland Clinic Women's Cardiovascular Center and is Section Head of Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation. Her clinic bio also lists her as Chief Quality Officer of the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, and she is a Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Her listed clinical focus includes coronary artery disease, heart disease in women, high cholesterol and prevention, and peripheral artery and vascular disease.
She trained at UCLA for college, the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine for medical school, the University of Washington Medical Center for internal medicine residency, and Cleveland Clinic for a fellowship in interventional cardiology and peripheral disease. She has published cardiovascular research, including work on cholesterol-lowering drugs such as bempedoic acid in people who cannot tolerate statins and inclisiran.
CMS Open Payments records list $64,857.01 in industry payments to her from 2021 to 2025 across 39 records, with the largest amounts from Daiichi Sankyo entities, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Idorsia Pharmaceuticals, and Amgen. Payments from industry to physicians are common and legal; they are reported publicly so patients can see them.
- Board certifications
- Board certified in interventional cardiology, cardiovascular medicine, and internal medicine. providers.clevelandclinic.org
- Directs women's heart center
- Director of the Cleveland Clinic Women's Cardiovascular Center and Section Head of Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation. providers.clevelandclinic.org
- Professor of medicine
- Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. providers.clevelandclinic.org
- Training background
- Medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, internal medicine residency at the University of Washington Medical Center, and an interventional cardiology and peripheral disease fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. my.clevelandclinic.org
- Cholesterol research
- Her publication profile includes cardiovascular papers, such as analyses of bempedoic acid in statin-intolerant patients and research on inclisiran for lowering LDL cholesterol. researchgate.net
- Cardiology society role
- Fellow of the American College of Cardiology; her bio states she serves on the ACC Peripheral Disease Committee. usnews.com
- Clinical trial leadership
- Her clinic bio states she serves on the steering committee for international high-cholesterol trials, though specific trials are not named. providers.clevelandclinic.org
- Awards
- Received the American Heart Association Women in Cardiology Award (1998) and was named a Fellow of Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Prevention by the World Heart Federation (1999). cardiometabolichealth.org
- Residency award
- Received the John Humphrey Award for Most Outstanding Internal Medicine Resident at the University of Washington Medical Center. my.clevelandclinic.org
- Industry payments reported
- CMS Open Payments lists $64,857.01 in payments from 2021 to 2025 across 39 records, led by Daiichi Sankyo entities, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Idorsia, and Amgen. acc.org
Worth knowing
- Her American College of Cardiology disclosure page lists a modest speakers bureau relationship with Daiichi Sankyo and research or research grant support from Novartis, Esperion, and Eli Lilly. Such relationships are common in cardiology and are disclosed publicly. acc.org
- Two Cleveland Clinic pages list different administrative titles for her (Chief Quality Officer of the cardiovascular medicine department on one, and Vice Chair of Safety, Quality and Patient Experience for the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute on the other). No dated announcement was found showing which title is current. my.clevelandclinic.org
- A third-party directory lists hospital affiliations including Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Clinic Children's, and UH Beachwood Medical Center. These affiliations were not confirmed on Cleveland Clinic's own pages. doctor.webmd.com
- No personal or professional social media accounts were found for her on Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Threads. Searches were incomplete, so this means not found rather than confirmed to not exist. providers.clevelandclinic.org
Industry payments (CMS Open Payments)
Open the CMS recordFederal law requires drug and device companies to report what they pay clinicians: meals, travel, speaking, consulting, and research. Payments are common and legal; the point is that you can see them.
2021 to 2025
$64,857
39 payments
| 2021 | $2,380 |
| 2022 | $12,459 |
| 2023 | $175 |
| 2024 | $49,790 |
| 2025 | $53 |
Top payers
- Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH$20,205
- Daiichi Sankyo Company LTD$19,305
- Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC$8,456
- IDORSIA PHARMACEUTICALS US INC$7,080
- Amgen Inc.$4,165
Payment types
- Consulting Fee$43,482
- Travel and Lodging$10,859
- Compensation for services other than consulting, including serving as faculty or as a speaker at a venue other than a continuing education program$8,865
- Food and Beverage$999
- Education$653
A word of caution about these numbers
A payment does not mean your doctor is compromised or acting unethically. Most of these entries are drug samples left for patients, or lunch brought in for the office staff, and the amounts are usually small. Research funding and speaking at medical meetings are also normal parts of a clinical career.
As a rough guide, a total under $15,000 a year is usually not a concern. Much larger sums, especially from one company whose product your doctor recommends to you, are worth asking about. You are allowed to ask.
Sources: providers.clevelandclinic.org · my.clevelandclinic.org · acc.org · esc365.escardio.org · researchgate.net · usnews.com · cardiometabolichealth.org · doctor.webmd.com. Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
Summary prepared with AI assistance from the public sources linked above. It is not a review, a rating, or an endorsement.
Practice location
Cleveland Clinic Women's Cardiovascular Center / Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation
9500 Euclid Avenue, JB-1
Cleveland, OH 44195
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