Leslie Cadet, MD, MPH, QME, is a board-certified occupational medicine physician, healthcare executive, entrepreneur, educator, and advisor whose career has been defined by the intersection of medicine, workforce health, organizational leadership, and workers’ compensation. Across military, academic, clinical, and entrepreneurial environments, she has developed a distinctive ability to translate complex medical issues into practical strategies for employers, insurers, healthcare organizations, and other stakeholders. As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ASCEND Occupational Medicine Consulting, Dr. Cadet brings physician-level oversight to workplace injury and workers’ compensation challenges, helping organizations better understand the medical factors that influence recovery, return-to-work outcomes, disability, and claim duration. Her professional approach reflects a consistent principle: better outcomes emerge when strong clinical judgment is paired with thoughtful communication, disciplined leadership, and an understanding of the organization as a whole.
Dr. Cadet founded ASCEND Occupational Medicine Consulting to address an important challenge within workers’ compensation: while adjusters, attorneys, treating physicians, and employers each manage critical aspects of a claim, organizations can benefit from medical expertise capable of evaluating the broader clinical picture. Through ASCEND, she advises corporations and employers on workers’ compensation strategy, provides medical oversight and independent reviews, and develops evidence-based approaches designed to reduce unnecessary disability and facilitate appropriate recovery and return to work. Her work includes medical directorship, claim consultation, employer advisory services, Qualified Medical Examinations, Independent Medical Examinations, physician and provider education, and professional workshops and seminars. Her résumé further documents experience advising employers on methodologies for reducing workers’ compensation costs by more than $1 million and developing medically guided modified-duty strategies intended to accelerate recovery and reduce indemnity costs.
Alongside her entrepreneurial leadership, Dr. Cadet has built extensive experience within academic occupational medicine. As an attending physician in Occupational Medicine at Loma Linda University Health, she has provided medical expertise across environments that include healthcare facilities, industrial and manufacturing settings, and insurance carriers. Her work has encompassed workplace injuries, workers’ compensation claims, occupational examinations, return-to-work considerations, utilization of evidence-based guidelines, and collaboration with adjusters and utilization review professionals. She has also devoted substantial time to teaching residents and medical students, demonstrating a commitment not simply to practicing occupational medicine, but to developing the clinicians who will shape its future.
Dr. Cadet’s leadership experience extends deeply into employee health and organizational strategy. As Medical Director of Employee Health at Loma Linda University Health, she collaborated with stakeholders across an institution serving a workforce of approximately 18,000 people. Her responsibilities included helping establish strategic and clinical direction for employee health programs, advising managers and staff on employee safety, developing compliance-focused programs, supplying senior leadership with statistical information and trend analyses, and collaborating with clinical leaders to improve programs and operational efficiency. This experience strengthened her ability to move comfortably between the clinical and executive environments—understanding the needs of an individual employee while simultaneously considering institutional risk, compliance, operational performance, and workforce well-being.
Her path to executive medical leadership was shaped significantly by service in the United States Air Force. As a Flight Surgeon and Flight and Operational Clinic Medical Director at Dyess Air Force Base, Dr. Cadet operated in environments where readiness, safety, precision, and sound decision-making carried significant consequences. She led 23 personnel in clinical operations, contributed to patient safety and quality-improvement activities, trained incoming flight surgeons, and worked with senior leadership to strengthen medical staff effectiveness and clinical support programs. Her responsibilities extended from direct patient care and aeromedical consultation to fitness-for-duty evaluations, operational clearances, emergency response, and leadership of clinical teams. That experience helped establish a leadership philosophy grounded in accountability, preparation, teamwork, and service.
Dr. Cadet complemented her clinical and military experience with advanced academic training at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she earned a Master of Public Health in Occupational and Environmental Health and completed residency training in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. She served as Chief Resident, acting as a liaison between residents and faculty, assisting with recruitment and training, developing clinical schedules, and organizing educational activities. Her earlier education includes a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science from the University of South Florida. She is board certified in Occupational and Environmental Medicine and holds credentials including Qualified Medical Examiner, Certified Medical Examiner for the Department of Transportation, and Medical Review Officer certification.
Throughout her career, Dr. Cadet has expanded her influence beyond direct clinical practice by serving as an advisor, educator, speaker, and contributor to the broader occupational health community. Her consulting experience has included disability medical review, utilization review, healthy-building advisory work, and strategic guidance related to occupational health technology. As an Advisory Board Member for Enterprise Health, she provides medical expertise supporting the integration of occupational health electronic medical records within healthcare networks while contributing to organizational expansion, strategic planning, and perspectives on market trends. Her professional capabilities span occupational health, claims management, workers’ compensation, risk management, healthcare, corporate consulting, public speaking, communication, and cross-functional leadership.
Education and knowledge-sharing are also central to Dr. Cadet’s professional identity. She has spoken on subjects ranging from return-to-work strategy and disability mitigation to mental health in the workplace, medical-legal reporting, physician shortages in workers’ compensation, provider practices affecting return-to-work outcomes, and evidence-based occupational medicine. Her presentations have reached audiences associated with organizations and conferences across occupational medicine, workers’ compensation, disability management, and employee health. Her contributions as an educator have been recognized repeatedly through Teacher of the Year honors from the Loma Linda University Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency Program. Her professional scholarship additionally includes peer-reviewed and educational work addressing occupational medicine, return to work, physician wellness, aviation medicine, and workplace health.
Dr. Cadet’s professional influence is reinforced by a record of recognition and service. In September 2026, she was named a Work Comp Changemaker© Award recipient by Deconstructing Comp and recognized as one of two “Hidden Gems” among the 12 professionals honored from a field of 55 nominees. Presented at the ELEVATE® Work Comp Conference at the Hotel del Coronado, the Changemaker Awards recognize individuals who initiate action, apply critical thinking, solve problems, collaborate, and communicate to bring about positive change in the workers’ compensation system. The recognition reflects Dr. Cadet’s ongoing work to bring physician-level medical oversight, evidence-based decision-making, and innovative approaches to workers’ compensation.
Her honors include the Air Force Commendation Medal, recognition as the 2015 Command Flight Surgeon of the Year by Air Force Global Strike Command, and multiple teaching awards. She has also contributed to broader conversations surrounding workplace and public health, including service as a member of the Task Force on Workplace, School, and Travel Safety for The Lancet COVID-19 Commission. These experiences reflect a career that consistently reaches beyond the traditional boundaries of clinical medicine and into questions of organizational preparedness, workforce resilience, public health, education, and system-level improvement.
Service has remained an important dimension of Dr. Cadet’s life outside her formal professional responsibilities. Her long-standing involvement with Brain Expansions Scholastic Training, including service as an alumni leader, reflects her interest in expanding educational opportunities and encouraging young people from underserved backgrounds to pursue careers in healthcare. Combined with her work as a physician, educator, entrepreneur, military veteran, and advisor, this commitment illustrates a broader personal philosophy centered on creating opportunities for others and using expertise in service of meaningful outcomes. Away from professional responsibilities, she also enjoys salsa dancing, an interest that brings creativity and personal expression to a career otherwise distinguished by clinical precision and organizational discipline.
As Dr. Cadet looks toward expanded board and advisory service, she brings a perspective shaped by more than a decade of leadership across healthcare, occupational medicine, military medicine, workers’ compensation, employee health, and organizational consulting. She is particularly positioned to contribute to organizations navigating workforce health, healthcare delivery, insurance and claims, employee well-being, risk management, disability management, occupational health, and related professional services. Her board contribution is strengthened by her ability to understand complex medical information while recognizing its operational, financial, human, and strategic implications. A self-starter with a strong commitment to helping others, Dr. Cadet approaches board service as an opportunity to broaden professional relationships while applying her experience to help organizations strengthen their strategies, solve difficult problems, and create sustainable value.
Character:
Dr. Cadet demonstrates character through a career rooted in service, accountability, disciplined leadership, and a genuine commitment to improving outcomes for individuals and organizations. From military medicine and mentorship to physician leadership and entrepreneurship, she has repeatedly accepted responsibilities that require sound judgment, attention to detail, and consideration for the people affected by organizational decisions.
Knowledge:
She combines advanced medical education with substantial practical expertise in occupational medicine, workers’ compensation, employee health, disability management, return-to-work strategy, risk management, and organizational health. Her experience as a physician, medical director, educator, consultant, researcher, and advisor enables her to evaluate challenges from clinical, operational, and organizational perspectives.
Strategic:
Dr. Cadet has demonstrated the ability to move beyond identifying individual medical problems and consider the systems, processes, and organizational decisions that shape outcomes. Her experience developing employee health programs, advising employers, analyzing trends, improving clinical operations, and contributing to strategic planning allows her to connect medical insight with broader organizational priorities.
Communication:
An experienced educator and public speaker, Dr. Cadet is skilled at translating complicated clinical and occupational health concepts into information that diverse stakeholders can understand and act upon. Her experience communicating with executives, managers, physicians, adjusters, insurers, students, patients, and professional audiences enables her to build alignment across disciplines and facilitate productive conversations around complex workplace health challenges.
