NEWARK, DE -- Dr. Maggie Leffler, a former standout distance runner for the University of Delaware women’s track and field teams and author of the new book, “The Diagnosis of Love”, will be on campus Tuesday, March 20 to promote the publication and conduct a lunchtime reading at the Bob Carpenter Center Lounge.

Leffler (at right) will read excerpts from her book and conduct a question and answer session at 12 noon at the BCC Lounge. The brown bag lunch event is free and open to UD employees and the public. She will be introduced by her former coach, current UD women’s cross country and track and field coach Susan McGrath-Powell. Leffler will also speak to University of Delaware creative writing students and faculty at 4 p.m. in Memorial Hall and conduct a book signing at 5:15 p.m. at 112 Memorial Hall.

In medicine, the balance of art and science requires attention and experience. In the new book by physician and writer Maggie Leffler, her character’s journey to find that balance becomes a riveting tale, The Diagnosis of Love (Delta Trade, 2007).

Many of the experiences of her fictional alter ego, Dr. Holly Campbell, mirror Leffler’s. Several years ago, while in medical school, Leffler chose to study in England in part to gather research for her novel in progress. Ensconced in her clinical studies, the writing progressed slowly as she juggled creative writing with her rounds. Her new book took on its emotional core when her mother, also a physician, became ill.

Yet Leffler is careful to remind that her new book is not a memoir. “The emotions are the same -- many of us who have cared for, and lost, a parent, have a visceral and shared sense of this grief,” says Leffler. The story also features many light points as the characters bumble through their confidences in love and work. A comparison to “Grey’s Anatomy” seems appropriate.

Acclaim for this novelist, who was also a finalist for the Crazyhorse Prize for Fiction at the College of Charleston in 2004, has been enthusiastic:

“This novel celebrates the support system that family and friends can offer in difficult times.” (Booklist)

“I loved this book and loved its voice. How often is one both charmed and intrigued on page one and ever onward? Maggie Leffler's writing accomplishes that thing I enjoy the most: lively storytelling that is in equal parts wryly witty and touching.” (Elinor Lipman, author of My Latest Grievance and Then She Found Me)

Leffler is a family practice physician in Pittsburgh, where she lives with her husband and son. This is her first novel, and she is currently at work on her second, which Delta will publish in 2008.

A native of Ellicott City, MD, Leffler earned nine varsity letters in cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field while at student at the University of Delaware and earned her degree in English with a minor in biology in 1994. She served as a co-captain for all three teams and led each to an East Coast Conference team title between 1990-91. She set a school record in the outdoor 4 x 1,500 meter relay in 1994 with a time of 20:27.3 and placed fourth in the 5,000 meter run at the 1993 North Atlantic Conference outdoor championships.