He received his veterinary degree from Cornell University; then completed a small animal rotating internship at the ASPCA in NYC, followed by an American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (ABVP) canine/feline residency combined with a master’s degree in human-animal bond studies at Virginia Tech. He founded the animal-assisted intervention program at Virginia Tech and now serves as veterinary advisor of the Human-Animal Bond in Tennessee (HABIT), the animal-assisted intervention program at the University of Tennessee. His clinical interests include behavior, dentistry, preventive medicine, and management of chronic disease. His research interests span all aspects of the human-animal bond including the effect of human-animal interaction on both humans and animals, the veterinary-client relationship, and stress reduction in both veterinary and animal-assisted intervention settings.