Dr. Southerland hails from eastern North Carolina where his family still lives in the town of Morehead City. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in zoology from North Carolina State University, and attended the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University as a prestigious Brody Scholar. As a medical student, he won multiple academic awards including the AAN Medical Student Prize for Excellence in Neurology and induction into Alpha Omega Alpha. Dr. Southerland did his internship in internal medicine at Carolinas Medical Center where he was named the Arnold R. Frazier Intern of the Year. He then completed neurology residency training at the University of Virginia where he served as chief resident and won multiple residency teaching awards.