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Benjamin Leon, Jr. Director of Surgical Learning & Innovation Center of Excellence

School of Medicine
Urology

Established in 2023 by Benjamin Leon, Jr.

BENJAMIN LEON, JR. is the embodiment of the American Dream. He arrived in the United States from his native Cuba in 1961 at the age of 16, without his family and only five dollars to his name. Through hard work and perseverance, Mr. Leon has become an internationally respected businessman and philanthropist who is proud to extol the principles that make the United States of America a beacon of freedom and opportunity.

Mr. Leon is the founder of Leon Medical Centers and a visionary in the healthcare field who for more than five decades has made a difference in the lives of seniors and their families in Miami-Dade County. He currently serves as Founder and Chairman of the Board of Leon Medical Centers and Leon Health HMO. Under his leadership, Leon Medical Centers continues to grow, becoming one of the most prestigious and recognized healthcare institutions in the country.

In 1972, the Leon family played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Federal Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) Act. Subsequently, on March 6, 1973, the Leon family’s medical center, operating under the name of Clinica Asociación Cubana, later known as CAC, was granted the very first HMO license in the State of Florida (HMO-73-1). In 2007, he successfully led the sale of Leon Medical Centers Health Plans, a Florida-based Medicare HMO, with over 25,000 members, to HealthSpring, Inc. Benjamin became a member of the Board of Directors of HealthSpring, a publicly traded company. The transaction with HealthSpring did not include Leon Medical Centers which remained fully owned by Benjamin Leon Jr., and his family. In 2022, Benjamin launched Leon Health, a new Medicare Advantage plan serving the unique needs of the communities served by Leon Medical Centers.

In addition to healthcare, Leon is a real estate professional with a vast portfolio of commercial and residential real estate. Currently, he divides his time between his home in Key Biscayne, Florida and his farm in Ocala, Florida. He is actively involved in giving back to the community. Through the years, by way of major donations and large-scale fundraising, he is the proud supporter of non-profit causes such as La Liga Contra el Cancer and has donated to various research funds including Johns Hopkins and Dana Farber. Leon also is fostering the development of our future healthcare professionals through his donations to Miami-Dade College’s Benjamin Leon Jr. School of Nursing and Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, establishing the Benjamin Leon Center for Geriatric Research and Education. Additionally, Benjamin Leon Jr. is genuinely dedicated to the Cuban diaspora and most recently, made a landmark gift making possible the establishing of Florida International University’s CasaCuba with the goal of preserving Cuba’s culture and the exile legacy for generations to come.

In January of 2025, the 47th president of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, nominated Mr. Leon to be ambassador of the United States in Spain and the Principality of Andorra.

Held by Ahmed Ghazi

AHMED GHAZI, M.D., FEBU, MHPE, is the Benjamin Leon, Jr. Director of the Surgical Learning and Innovation Center of Excellence at the Brady Urological Institute. He serves as the director of the Division of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery, the director of Surgical Simulation Training, and an associate professor of urology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Dr. Ghazi specializes in urologic oncology, utilizing advanced minimally invasive surgical techniques to treat cancers of the prostate, kidney, bladder, ureter, and other genitourinary organs. He is also an expert in the minimally invasive management of complex urinary tract stones.

As the director of SLICE (Surgical Learning and Innovation Center of Excellence) he leads a team of biomedical engineers that combines 3D printing and hydrogel polymer technologies to fabricate realistic procedural models that replicate the texture, appearance, and tissue reactions of human organs. In this role, he collaborates with educators nationally and internationally in various disciplines to enhance the role of simulation in surgical education. His work was recognized at the highest level of simulation, where phantoms created in SLICE are used to evaluate urologists applying for certification by the American Board of Urology.

After earning his medical degree from Cairo University in Egypt in 2000, Dr. Ghazi also completed his surgical training and urology residency there (2001–2005). He subsequently pursued a series of fellowships in minimally invasive urological surgery in Paris and Austria (2009–2011), earning accreditation from the European Board of Urology. He then completed an endourology and robotic surgery fellowship at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York (2011–2013). Dr. Ghazi joined the faculty of the University of Rochester’s Department of Urology in 2012, where he practiced until joining Johns Hopkins Medicine in 2023.

Dr. Ghazi believes in a reciprocal relationship between innovation, surgery, and research, where each informs and strengthens the others. He is committed to adopting innovative, evidence-based surgical technologies that enhance care and translate directly into improved patient outcomes.

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