Hometown: Riverside, CA
Education: California State University, Chico (B.S.), Des Moines University (D.O.)
Favorite Sports Team: San Francisco 49ers and Alabama (because “Roll Tide” or something)
Favorite Movie: Star Wars (original trilogy), Aliens, A Few Good Men, Dune – Parts 1 and 2
Favorite Music: Tom Petty, Shinedown, Collective Soul, Mercy Me, For King and Country
Favorite/Most Influential Books: The Bible, Anything by Timothy Keller, Tipping Point and Blink by Malcom Gladwell.
I was born and raised in California spending my entire childhood in Riverside and then going to college at Chico State where I met my amazing wife, Kristen. Hearing God’s call to be a family physician, I found osteopathic medicine with its whole person philosophy to make a lot of sense, so I did my medical training at Des Moines University and got my DO degree. I also felt led to join the Air Force to be a military family physician, so I signed up for the Health Professions Scholarship Program and got picked up just prior to 9/11, not having any idea what was ahead for me. Never expecting to do more than my required payback time, I was very blessed to stay in the Air Force for 20 years getting an amazing breadth of experience going on three deployments, having my entire family stationed overseas in Guam and multiple places stateside and being core faculty at 3 different residency programs. During this time I got to practice and do all that family medicine has to offer and more. I was able to gain experience in obstetrics, hospital medicine, clinic procedures, and even acupuncture while using the Osteopathic Manipulation skills I learned in Des Moines on a regular basis. Even more exciting, during this time, Kristen and I raised our two children JT and Abi, who are now adults learning what God’s plan is for their lives.
Because of the experience I was blessed with in the Air Force, I developed a deep passion for training future physicians to be broad scope family docs. And now that I am a retired Lieutenant Colonel, I am excited to be at Gadsden Regional Family Medicine Residency to train and pass on all that I was blessed to learn to family medicine residents that are Missionally living out their Faith and Passions serving the underserved both locally and overseas.