In 2007, he received his PhD in biomedical science-bioinformatics from the University of California, San Diego, where he also completed his medical degree in 2009. In 2010, he completed his one-year internship from Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, California. From 2010-2014, Dr. Zapala finished his four-year Diagnostic Radiology residency from the University of California, San Diego, followed by a pediatric radiology fellowship from Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in 2015.