I was born in Conway, South Carolina and raised in Tabor City, North Carolina. After I graduated from high school, I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I graduated summa cum laude in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. I then attended Duke University Medical School on a Health Professional Scholarship from the US Air Force. After graduating from medical school, I did my general surgery residency at the University of Tennessee-Memphis.
Following residency, my first assignment with the Air Force was at Kirtland Air Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. During this time, I did one deployment in Iraq at Kirkuk Regional Air Base. After two years in Albuquerque, I was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base for one year and I finished out my Air Force commitment at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. I did another deployment to Iraq during this time at Balad Air Base.
After spending 5 years in the Air Force, I competed a minimally invasive and bariatric surgery fellowship at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC in 2010. I then joined Lexington Medical Center and the South Carolina Obesity Surgery Center in 2010.