He grew up in Hamburg, Germany, before becoming a music and medical student in Berlin at Berlin University of the Arts and Freie Universität Berlin. His residency match led him to Baltimore where he has lived since starting his postgraduate medical training. He did his residency training in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, followed by fellowship training in medical oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital with research training at the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins.