He received his graduate degree in cellular regulation from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He has completed postdoctoral fellowships at Baylor College of Medicine in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology and at the University of Utah School of Medicine in the Department of Human Genetics. Using the fruit fly as a model system, his BIRCWH research project examines the role of the estrogen-related receptor in hypoxia and in cellular bioenergetic decision-making.