Hometown: Durham, North Carolina
Education: University of North Carolina (B.S.), Wake Tech (EMT Basic/Intermediate), St. George’s University School of Medicine, Case Western/University Hospitals Family Medicine Residency Program, FSU/Lee Health Global Health Fellowship
Favorite Sports Team: UNC Tar Heels (Basketball, football, anything really), I have an Auburn/Alabama affiliation (but you’ll have to ask in person)
Favorite Movies: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Marvel Movies, Inception, Batman Trilogy (Christian Bale)
Favorite Music: Classic Rock, CCM, Piano Guys, Mannheim Steamroller, TSO
Favorite Books: The Bible, The Hobbit/LOTR series (Tolkien), Space Trilogy (CS Lewis), The Code of the Woosters (PG Wodehouse), A City in Winter Trilogy (Mark Helprin)
I grew up in Durham, NC. My father was an electrical engineer, and he and my grandfather were always letting me take things apart and put them back together to figure out how they worked. I’ve always considered myself to be an engineer of sorts, but over time that fascination with the inner workings of things has led to my interest in medicine.
My career path in medicine has been shaped by cross-cultural experiences. While I’ve now lived in seven states and three countries, my first true multicultural experience occurred in high school with my first mission trip (of many) to Guatemala. I worked with a team in a very rural area where a local Christian missionary used his family’s coffee farm to serve the local community. After doing short term mission work in many areas local and abroad, I knew missions would end up being an important part of my life. I chose family medicine due to its focus on the whole person and the utility it gives in international medical work, where specialists are rare and the skills of a family physician are fully utilized. These same skills are essential stateside when we work in the many underserved communities.
I was able to match both medicine and missions during my fellowship year in global health. My wife Bethany and I spent 3 months of the year doing medical work with an underserved population in Liberia, West Africa. We were joined by our 2 year old daughter Lillian who provided moral support and ate many bananas. In the long run, our family intends to make international work an integral part of our lives, whether through part time medical mission work or eventually as a full-time endeavor.
This journey has brought me to GRMC. After medicine, my second professional interest is teaching. I’ve been teaching since my first tutoring job in high-school through my role as academic chief in residency. I knew that one of my goals was to work as faculty for a residency program. My work as faculty during my fellowship year cemented this interest. Working as faculty with the GRMC Family Medicine Residency Program is both a privilege as well as a challenge, and I couldn’t be more happy to be here.