Richard Ellin, MD, an Adult Medicine physician in the Alpharetta Medical Office, began “cycling for a cause” in 1997 with a ride to support AIDS research. For more than a decade he has been involved with Team In Training (TNT), an organization that has raised $1 billion to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s blood cancer research and patient services. Dr. Ellin has completed their 100-mile charity bike ride 12 times, raising more than $100,000 for TNT.

For Dr. Ellin, leukemia research isn’t a faceless charity. For several years he rode to support the husband of a receptionist at Northside Hospital. Since 2007, he has ridden in support of a fellow physician who is battling Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. He feels a personal connection to the cause he supports, a valuable motivator in those final challenging miles of a 100-mile race.