About Me
I was born and raised in Russellville, Arkansas with 4 siblings and parents who loved competing in a variety of games and events. Frequent familial competition cultivated a love for sports and eventually led me to play basketball at Southwest Baptist University (Bolivar, MO). While at SBU, I studied biology and spent time working for a few rural medical clinics. My time in these clinics combined with volunteer experience at free/charitable health organizations forged a passion within me to pursue primary care and to practice in an underserved setting. Around that time, I met my wife Morgan, who also played basketball and was pursuing a career in medicine. We married and then attended medical school together at UAMS (University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences).
While in medical school, I became passionate about health education and health equity, which led me to enroll in the combined MD/MPH program. I chose to focus my MPH degree on rural and global public health, which allowed me to participate in a global health rotation in Northern Africa to work on an HIV/AIDS initiative with local physicians. My capstone project for the MPH program was an endeavor designed to increase access to health insurance by providing education and application assistance to a population of uninsured patients in Arkansas. While at UAMS, I also became a pilot member of the Honors Program in Underserved Primary Care (HUPC) which provided me the opportunity to work with pediatricians to improve pediatric mental healthcare across the state during the post-COVID mental healthcare crisis.
I love spending time with my wife Morgan! I love hiking, running, biking, hunting, fishing, kayaking, camping, playing sports (lately pickleball), playing board games, watching movies, and eating great food. I also have eight nieces and nephews and enjoy spending time with them any chance I get.
Why I Chose Michigan?
After completing my zoom interview with Michigan, I ran to the other room to tell my wife we were moving north. The program ticked every box for me. Large catchment area, incredible facilities, top-notch training, beautiful area to live, the list goes on. However, with all these positives, I think the biggest factor that convinced me to choose Michigan was the personable faculty and the obvious family-like culture amongst the residents. I feel truly blessed to be a part of the UofM Med-Peds team!
