He is a native of the South, having grown up in New Orleans, LA, and Little Rock, AR. He is a graduate of Tulane University School of Medicine, and, in 1992, graduated from the Brooke Army Medical Center Emergency Medicine Residency in San Antonio, TX. He completed 10 years of active duty military service as a physician, including three years as teaching faculty at the Emergency Medicine residency at Madigan Army Medical Center in Ft. Lewis, WA.