Vadim Levitin, M.D., is a technology pioneer and strategist with a background in information technology, health care, education, and a worldwide reputation of innovation, entrepreneurship, and startups. He has worked in 23 countries—including on projects on behalf of the United Nations and the U.S. State Department—built a business development company serving Fortune 500 clients, and created two successful companies from the ground up—one in education, the other in health care.
Dr. Levitin was the founder and CEO of Ecommerce Institute, a global education company with subsidiaries in the U.K., Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Caribbean. He has worked with companies, governments, and NGOs on every continent, authored national and corporate strategies in education, finance, trade, transportation, tourism, health care, technology network infrastructure, and diplomacy.
Presently a principal with Merkle & Nonce (Utah), EnLinx Partners (Tokyo), and CyberXpartners (Seattle), Dr. Levitin spent nearly two decades improving education, technology, and business infrastructures for national governments around the world, serving as the CEO of several organizations.
Dr. Levitin has an M.S. in Information Technology, an M.D. in Internal Medicine, and extensive academic and business experience.
Why are you proud to serve as chair of the KHSC Board of Trustees?
I was born in Moscow and moved to Kansas City as a young child where I lived for 20 some years. I consider Kansas to be my home state. I realize I wasn’t born here, but in my head these are my people and I really care what happens to them. I’ve also been a part of two successful startups and in many ways, that’s what this is. We have to design and be the architects of what this will become, and having been through that process in the past, I know how exhilarating that can be.
This project excites me a lot. I think it’s the most amazing opportunity to be on this board.
What do you believe will be KHSC’s biggest impact on the local community?
In my mind, there are many—job creation, the development of the city, cultural impacts—but the most important part is being able to serve patients and at its core, that’s what this is all about. It’s serving people who get sick or are trying not to get sick. The impact will be on the health of people in the state of Kansas, and that’s the most dramatic and positive effect.
What is your vision for KHSC’s development over the next decade?
My goal is for the proposed Kansas Health Science Center – Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine to be a number one—or one of the top 10—schools of osteopathic medicine in the country. Most medical schools started a long time ago and your past, no matter how glorious it is, can serve as a handicap because of established traditions and rules. This is a brand new initiative. It’s revolutionary, not just in its approach to how to educate students, but how to practice medicine. These students will practice in a technology-rich environment that will be unrecognizable to most of us. My hope is that our grads will be some of the most advanced physicians this country ever produces.
What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?
Years ago, I was contacted by the United Nations—for which I was doing pro bono work—to help change the education system in Albania. I had never even heard of Albania, but I couldn’t resist, because it was so interesting. It took me three years, but the project has now become a case study for the U.N. I computerized the entire education process in this country, inventing it from funding to implementation. When it was all over, the prime minister of Albania went to the U.N. and said, “Where’s Vadim?” He asked them to find me and send me back, so I ended up returning for two more years.