“That made me realize how important it is to keep people on their feet,” she said.

In fact, she worked in a few different medical areas, including dermatology and sports medicine, and found that “podiatry popped up in all of them.”

She decided to become a podiatrist, which is a physician who specializes in the care of feet and ankles.

A little over a month ago, Leyk became the newest podiatrist at Midwest Foot & Ankle Center in Fort Dodge.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Dr. Madison Leyk displays an article she wrote that was published in the spring 2025 edition of Foot and Ankle Surgery Techniques, Reports and Cases.

She said she enjoys identifying the things that are important to her patients and developing treatment plans that enable them to participate in those things.

Leyk had two articles published in the spring edition of a national podiatry publication. In both articles she wrote about a technique she used to treat a patient and the outcome of using that technique. One of those articles is about an ankle ligament reconstruction technique. The other is about treatment for arthritis.

Both articles were peer-reviewed, which means that experts in those areas thoroughly analyzed them before they were published.

The articles appeared in the spring 2025 edition of Foot and Ankle Surgery Techniques, Reports and Cases.

Leyk was invited to make a presentation related to those articles at a national podiatry conference. She also received a third place award for outstanding podiatry abstract.

In Fort Dodge, Leyk helps train new podiatrists through a residency program at UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center.

“I want to be part of a residency program and help the profession grow,” she said.

She is a native of Canada, who was born in Ottawa in Ontario. Her father’s job resulted in the family moving to Knoxville, where she graduated from Knoxville High School. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She then earned her doctor of podiatric medicine degree from Arizona College of Podiatric Medicine in Glendale, Arizona.

Upon earning her degree, she began a three-year surgical residency at Hennepin Health Care, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That hospital is a Level I trauma center, so she gained experience treating very serious foot and ankle injuries.

She completed her residency in June and started at Midwest Foot & Ankle Center on July 14.