Dr. Michael Leonard is an academic public health physician board certified in internal medicine, general pediatrics, and infectious diseases (IDs). He brings more than 20 years of experience in ID practice with specific clinical, educational, and research expertise on the diagnosis, treatment, and management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Dr. Leonard is an active presence in local public health initiatives, and as such has influenced infectious disease policy and prevention efforts.
Currently, he is the Assistant Specialty Director, Division of Infectious Diseases at Atrium Health and a Professor of Medicine. Prior to joining the Infectious Diseases division at Atrium, he was on the ID faculty at Emory University where he completed his ID fellowship and later served as the Associate Program Director for the ID Fellowship program. Dr. Carlos Del Rio, current chair of the HIVMA and an authority on HIV continuum of care, was his mentor during his entire tenure at Emory. His research was mostly operational and epidemiologic. Emory has been a long-time site for the CDC funded TB Epidemiologic Consortium (TBESC) and he was a co-investigator having led several projects including TB among African Americans in the south and investigating TB mortality trends in the US. Public health has been and continues to be his passion and he served as the medical director for the Georgia Tuberculosis Program at the GA Dept. of Public Health. This included participating in both NIH and CDC funded research. Internationally he was active the NIH funded Aids International Training and Research Fogarty program (ATRIP) training HIV and TB research from the Georgia Republic in operational research methods. At Atrium Health he actively participates in the education of medical students and residents and is the Director of Education for Infectious Diseases and the PI for the AH Ryan White grant that serves over 1700 patients. He is a Co-PI in 6th year of funding with a FOCUS grant to promote HIV testing in primary care and ER settings. He is PI for the ARTAS grant to improve linkage to care for newly diagnosed patients with HIV. In the community he is member of multiple committees in the community including an active participant of the Ending the Epidemic task force and a board member of Carolinas Care partnership, an HIV housing and support organization. He is currently serving as an Infectious Diseases Consult to the Mecklenburg County Health Department.
Dr. Leonard demonstrates expertise with public health research design, collaborative research implementation, biostatistics, presentations, and medical writing, and has written investigator-initiated grants and research protocols. He is the chair of a safety and monitoring committee for a clinical trial and has served on scientific review committees. Dr. Leonard delivers a broad research skillset in implementation science, clinical trials, research design and planning, health equity and disparities research, and STI prevention and control.
