Evan Leonard

Dr. Evan Leonard is a highly successful Doctor of Medical Science, Clinical Anatomist, and Certified Physician Assistant. Originally from Tampa, Florida, Dr. Leonard served in the United States Marine Corps while pursuing his post-secondary education at the University of Miami. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in human biology, he went on to obtain two master’s degrees and a doctorate in medical science.

Dr. Leonard gained extensive professional experience working as a physician assistant with the University of Florida Healthcare System. Since then, he has served in several academic consulting roles and possesses an advanced knowledge of pediatric cardiology, infectious disease, endocrinology, neurology, and nephrology.

Given his impressive contributions to the medical field, Dr. Evan Leonard was awarded the Decorated Affiliate of the American Health Council Award: “Best PA in Medicine” in 2018, followed by the Continental Who’s Who: Pinnacle Professional Award in 2019

He is currently the CEO and Medical Science Director of Health Education Totalis.

Where did the idea for your career come from?

After completing my academic education, I realized that there is a gap in the learning process, so I decided that I wanted to help revolutionize the system. I gained a lot of knowledge from my PhD advisor, who had extensive experience in the education landscape. His approach to the public sector inspired me to try something new. Half of my doctorate degree was dedicated to changing how clinicians are educated. Between being a passionate teacher and an enthusiastic entrepreneur I’ve been able to create inroads to that goal.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

With clients all over the world, I check my email early in the morning. I always answer messages as soon as I am able. From there I begin the morning with breakfast and coffee. Then it’s on to lessons, grading, and consulting through either zoom or other connections.
I spend a lot of time with students, who find the class and lectures inspiring in their desire to pursue a position in healthcare. When school is out, I am writing exams, books, and resources as is expected of adjunct faculty.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I begin by putting myself in the shoes of my client or student. Taking time to analyze every word or letter from their perspective ensures I fully understand what they need. During our conversations I make sure to take handwritten notes or use the whiteboard. I’m a big whiteboard person. The visual and physical side of this process helps me recall the important information.

From there it becomes a series of idea bubbles. It’s a series of connections and solution ideas building to the answer. I often encourage my students to avoid using digital note taking tools. Studies have proven the connection through physical interaction like writing notes and memory. It’s worth it to take notes by hand.

What’s one trend that excites you?

Gene therapies are really exciting right now. This is putting genetic material into the patient to treat or cure disease. This is exciting because there are many diseases previously deemed incurable that are on the verge of cures, not treatments. Autoimmune diseases like Lupus, Crohn’s disease and others are currently being treated by suppressing the immune system. With gene therapy we can go in, replace the bad genetic code reducing inflammation with normal code. They are specific parts of DNA or RNA that conveys the proper way to respond. This literally cures these conditions.

We are mere years away from curing Crohn’s disease. I think it’s in stage three of a research study. All of this, even the research into similar treatments for cancer. It’s going to be cured through gene therapy.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

It’s imperative for me to write everything on paper, not just on the computer. Each day a timeline is created down to the hour and I continue this out for the week and beyond if needed. That means setting hourly goals and accomplishing them. For example, I may identify something that needs done before lunch, so it’ll go on the list by ten, and another by eleven.

To make this work best, you need to nurture the ability to focus. That may be minimizing distractions, or it could be taking greater steps like total silence. Whatever it takes, the results have been incredible for me.

What advice would you give your younger self?

I would approach my younger self from a more spiritual sense. I would tell myself that work will come and go, and family and friends may also come and go. God is divine and has a plan for you. Help your fellow man, serve others, and you’ll see the love returned.

For some people, it’s serving their community, for others it’s serving people in other nations. So if I could talk to my younger self I would say, “Please keep your eyes focused on God and His plan for your life and don’t look anywhere else.”

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

I actually wrote a book on this very thought. It’s titled “Graviton of God.”

There is exponentially more statistical and scientific data suggesting an intelligent designer of our existence and universe. Being in the scientific field, this goes against the grain.

I’m not saying anything against evolution, but we were designed. There is far more evidence to indicate an intelligent designer than random occurrence to credit for our existence. I was so passionate about this fact that I wrote a book on it and kept it scientific. I didn’t get on a soapbox. I kept it statistical and listed numbers and facts demonstrating how this really is true.

Really, nobody agrees with me. But that’s another thing I’m setting out to change.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

I would say remain consistent. Sticking to a routine becomes motor memory in your brain. While you don’t have to keep an intense level of attention to detail. Remaining consistent in routines and deadlines keeps you meeting the goals on a steady and regular basis.

Clients and personal projects alike will have needed deadlines and information and you’ll want to deliver effectively. As you develop your consistency things will fall into place. Everything around you will benefit.

Consistency becomes natural from one step to the next.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

The greatest gift to any entrepreneur these days is absolutely the internet. It’s been that way for a long while. It’s possible the pandemic helped push the additional growth we’ve seen, but you have numerous options surfacing that were not available just years ago.

You can utilize websites such as Upwork or LinkedIn to connect with and develop relationships with clients. Both are free to begin using. Upwork may cost a few dollars to submit a proposal. Having an effective tool that connects you with clients is a huge asset. Narrowing down viable clients instead of facing a sea of options without vetting empowers the individual business owner. Your efforts also develop referrals and a network of clients that grows exponentially.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

The first six to eight months I began reviewing data for clients, my proposals were generic. Each one was created poorly and did not connect with possible clients. This resulted in losing clients.

Many human resources departments are using software to vet proposals and keywords in cover letters and proposals. It helps them identify knowledgeable applicants.

Once I began tailoring the proposals to each client, their needs, and the specific projects work fell into place. Today, keeping up with referrals is more of a challenge and one I am grateful for.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

We need more organizational software developers creating industry specific tools. For my industry, that would be medical science. We’ve had a revolution in electronic medical records, healthcare rights, medical records, and many applicable laws. If a software connected the items and a patient’s records making it shareable between physicians the benefit would be exponential across the world.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

Recently, I purchased a Nintendo Switch. It’s important to decompress and unwind. Sometimes playing a good video game does both. It’s an escape from the day, lowers the blood pressure, and really helps me enjoy the time off work.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

IBM SPSS Statistics software. This is a statisticians software to analyze data, finding the mean, median and mode and comparing two different outcomes. This is crucial for me. Many of my clients require data to be analyzed. This program can review data from clinical trials, pharmaceutical industry trials, and analytics associated with them.

All businesses need data reviews and analysis these days. It identifies trends, provides answers and insights. For smaller companies, excel is more than enough. For the kind of data and the amount of information I have to review, this program is irreplaceable.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

It’s a book called, “It’s rigged in your favor.” by Kevin L. Zadai.

It’s an extremely encouraging, uplifting book. It discusses staying focused on your purpose, your God given divine purpose, and explains you cannot fail doing so. This is how everything is rigged in your favor.

What is your favorite quote?

My favorite quote is by Sir Francis Bacon. It’s originally in Latin. And I took 13 credits of Latin, being a nerd. Essentially it translated to “Knowledge itself is power.”

Sir Francis Bacon is credited with saying it. But apparently it wasn’t first written down until Thomas Hobbes. Granted, Thomas Hobbes worked for Sir Francis Bacon for a while. So typically, they get the credit.

Key Learnings:

• Pursue your goals whole heartedly
• Keep your spiritual needs in mind and pursue them
• Stick with routine and you’ll see things fall together
• Be consistent throughout your career