He received his undergraduate degree with magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. He earned his medical degree from Indiana University in Indianapolis, Indiana and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. He completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at the Indiana University Medical Center. After residency, he completed fellowship training in adult spinal surgery under the direction of Henry H. Bohlman, MD at University Hospitals of Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio.