My journey began in the Midwest, where I spent most of my childhood living in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Life in Wisconsin had its ups and downs as the first of five kids with a mom who had me when she was fifteen. I learned the value of hard work and time management early, as I had to begin working around the age of twelve to support my family and help my single mom. My first jobs were delivering papers before school and working construction after school and during summers.

Becoming a doctor has always been my dream. I wanted to help people through their most difficult times and improve the system that causes many to suffer unnecessarily. My family had limited access to health care my whole life, so I understand how it feels to be sick, feel helpless, and not know how to decide between buying food, paying the light bill, or paying healthcare expenses. My dream became my passion, and I charted a path to achieve it in my sophomore year of high school. I called it my thirty-year plan.

In 2007, I became the first person in my immediate family to graduate from high school and helped set an example for my siblings. My next step was college at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, where I double majored in Biology and Philosophy while double minoring in Chemistry and Anthropology. College was the time when my dream began to merge with reality. Through an internship with Inroads, I started working at Sacred Heart Rehabilitation within Columbia St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This job provided me with my first real exposure to caring for patients, and I loved every second of being a rehabilitation technician. I continued in this position throughout college and wrote about my experience in my medical school applications.

Fortunately, I was accepted to multiple medical schools when I applied. I decided to attend Duke University School of Medicine following a call from the Dean of Admissions, the late Dr. Brenda Armstrong. Dr. Armstrong's message to me was that she and Duke would support my dreams and that, upon arrival, she would expect a lot from me. I began medical school in 2011 and let my passion and Dr. Armstrong's support guide me to take full advantage of the opportunity to realize my dream. During medical school, I completed the Master of Science in Global Health program at the Duke Global Health Institute, graduating with the Most Outstanding Student award and gave the student commencement speech. While still a medical student, in 2014, I helped found the Division of Global Neurosurgery and Neurology (DGNN) in the Department of Neurosurgery at Duke Health.

My mom, siblings, and daughter, whom I raised as a single father since I was sixteen, attended my medical school graduation in the Spring of 2018. It's hard to put into words achieving a dream that you've had since you were a kid, but the emotions that day were overwhelming. After graduation, I took a non-traditional path and became an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at Duke to help lead DGNN. From 2018-2023, I helped DGNN increase its impact by conducting more than 50 research projects, publishing >60 peer-reviewed papers, presenting at numerous conferences, helping to build an epilepsy clinic in Southwestern Uganda, growing DGNN to over 100 people, and working with our partners in East Africa to improve access to and the quality of neurosurgery and neurology care. Beyond my work in DGNN, I taught health system and research methods courses, mentored all levels of learners, and founded the Center for Pathway Programs.

Departing from Duke was a tough decision, but I let my passion and thirty-year plan guide me. Fuller Health Solutions, my healthcare technology development and consulting firm, launched in 2023. I aim to leverage technological advances to improve people's lives by improving access to high-quality, safe, and affordable healthcare.