CMDA: To get us started, tell us a little bit about your background (school, training, personal life, etc.)

 

Dr. Joshua Evans: My life has kept me in a pretty narrow radius. I grew up in the metro Detroit area and have not strayed far. I attended undergrad and medical school at Wayne State University and then did my pediatric training at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. I continued in academic pediatrics for about 10 years and transitioned into private practice about six years ago, and I currently practice in the city where I went to high school.

 

Dr. Hannah Evans: I grew up in a large, blended family in the upstate New York area. I attended SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York and trained at Christiana Care Health System in Delaware. About halfway through residency, I met Joshua at a CMDA singles’ winter conference. After I completed residency, we got married and I moved to Michigan. I now work at a community hospital outside Detroit. We have two young children, so life right now involves lots of snacks, silliness, outside time and PBS kids shows.

 

CMDA: When did you first get involved with CMDA?

 

Joshua: I became involved with CMDA during my second year of medical school. God was working in my life at that time through several events, and in CMDA I found a welcoming, loving, supporting group of friends who loved the Lord and encouraged me in my spiritual growth.

 

Hannah: I first became involved in CMDA when I was a medical student. Our Christian Medical Fellowship group provided much needed encouragement, prayer and fellowship during this season of life.

 

CMDA: And how have you been involved since then?

 

Joshua: Since then, I have been involved in various ways with CMDA. I helped lead a regular Bible study for upper class medical students and residents for about three years. I attended several CMDA singles’ conferences in Colorado, which is how I met Hannah. I have served as the CMDA Michigan State Representative for just over six years. We have also attended several other conferences, including multiple National Conventions and Midwest retreats.

 

Hannah: When I moved to Delaware, there was no existing local chapter, so a few others and I started one! One of the attending physicians in the group hosted at her home, and she and her family blessed me with many meals before meetings. They effectively became my family away from home, inviting me to be part of their birthday celebrations, recitals, etc. Now in Michigan, Joshua and I are involved with the Detroit area CMDA council. We like to go to the Fall Midwest Conference and the CMDA National Convention. Additionally, my Delaware friend convinced me to come to the Women Physicians in Christ Annual Conference yeaars ago, and I’ve been hooked ever since. These women have been such a blessing to me!

 

CMDA: Has faith always impacted your life and/or career?

 

Joshua: I wish I could say that my faith was always a guiding force in my life and career, but I have had periods in my life where I sought my own way or made choices without considering what God would have of me. In His mercy, He has always worked good through those times in my life.

 

Hannah: Yes, it has. In high school, I felt a leading toward medicine. Through college and the years thereafter, the Lord confirmed this direction for me. During the challenging seasons of training, there were moments when I would have walked away if the Lord asked me to. However, God has time and time again equipped me, settled my heart in times of uncertainty and encouraged me to trust Him. As an emergency medicine physician, I regularly handle life and death situations, deliver difficult news and bear witness to suffering. I have spent a lot of time in prayer, asking the Lord to help me trusting Him with my life, as well as the lives of my patients. While many would question why I would pursue a vocation with so much stress (not to mention the crazy hours), I know God directed me here. When I get tired, overwhelmed or stressed, the Lord renews my strength and my heart. He has brought me thus far, and I know He will continue to lead me!

 

CMDA: How have you incorporated your faith into your practice/and or career over the years?

 

Joshua: My faith challenges me to slow down when my nature drives me to work quicker. This has given me opportunities to ask questions about the spiritual lives of my families that I would normally rush past. It is a lifelong work in progress.

 

Hannah: Honestly, it is difficult to get to know a patient long enough to bring up spiritual concerns, but I have prayed the Lord would open my eyes to opportunities to be a light. I have on occasion prayed with patients or taken an opportunity to give spiritual encouragement. I believe my faith deepens my compassion for my patients—after all, they all need a doctor because of the effects of sin! Even if I never get to specifically talk about faith with a patient, I love the fact that I get to extend mercy and compassion to all ages and all walks of life. As a Christian physician, I know medicine is limited, but the Healer is not!

 

CMDA: Have you been involved with CMDA mission opportunities? If so, how?

 

Joshua: I have been to Albania to help with a Christian medical student conference, and I have been on a Medical Education International trip to China to discuss residency training.

 

Hannah: I have not been on a mission trip with CMDA yet, but I’m hoping to soon!

 

CMDA: What made you decide to become lifetime members?

 

Joshua and Hannah: CMDA has meant so much to me throughout the years that I could never see a time where I would not want to be involved in some way.

 

CMDA: How has CMDA impacted your marriage, especially as both of you are doctors?

 

Joshua and Hannah: Other than leading to us meeting, we have found so many wise friends who have walked the same road as us and have been willing to talk us through life. Many of the conference speakers have given us insight into marriage and relationships, and we have taken advantage of a marriage retreat as well.

 

CMDA: What would you say is the biggest way CMDA has impacted your life?

 

Joshua: In addition to my church, CMDA has been a steady compass throughout the years, a constant source of encouragement and a reminder to look beyond myself. It has also surrounding me with numerous Godly, wise counselors.

 

Hannah: The biggest way CMDA has impacted my life has been through the personal relationships I have made within its ministries. To have prayerful support and encouragement by fellow Christian physicians has been so uplifting.

 

CMDA: What’s one of your favorite memories from being involved with the ministries of CMDA?

 

Joshua: I don’t think meeting my wife can be topped, but the friendship and support I found in CMDA during my second year of medical school remains an incredibly sweet time to me, not to mention a lot of skiing with CMDA friends.

 

Hannah: I think my favorite memory would have to be when we went snow shoeing on the last day of the singles’ conference in Colorado. Though only considered a “date” by one of us, it was a great chance to get to know each other (and test one’s cardiovascular fitness). We talked for hours, but the most memorable part was when one of us ended up falling into a snow drift and the other splendidly documented it with a photograph. The sixth love language is humor.

 

CMDA: CMDA’s vision is “Transformed Doctors, Transforming the World.” What does that mean to you?

 

Joshua: As healthcare professionals, we have an opportunity to speak into the lives of hurting and lost people. This is even more important in a post-Christian culture where many of our patients may never step foot in a church. A life redeemed and transformed by Christ and supported by countless others who have gone before and walk alongside us cannot help but speak to the heart needs of those we are called to serve.

 

Hannah: To me, this means that, as a physician with my heart set on Christ, caring for my patients is ministry.