He grew up in Seattle, and attended the University of Washington for medical school, residency in psychiatry, fellowship in geriatric psychiatry, and a fellowship in Geriatric Mental Health Services Research. He worked as a consulting psychiatrist for MHIP (a broad community implementation of IMPACT) before starting at the VA. He conducts research about various topics, including the treatment of mental health conditions in primary care, the effects of pain on the lives and health of older adults, population modeling of depression and illness, and technological interventions to sustain independence. He enjoys spending time with his family, and tearing down things in his house well in advance of fixing them up.