A 1970 graduate in applied mathematics from Harvard College, he earned both an MD (1976) and a PhD in Medical Information Sciences (1975) at Stanford. After a pause for internal medicine training at Massachusetts General Hospital (1976-77) and Stanford Hospital (1977-79), he joined the Stanford medical faculty with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Computer Science. Within a few years he had initiated a graduate training program in Medical Information Sciences, which he now directs. He practices on the inpatient service and in the outpatient clinics at Stanford, but spends the majority of his time with research and education in informatics.