SOMG Graduation Year? 

• 2018

What are you doing professionally now? 

• I am currently in a one-year Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) Fellowship at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, specializing in advanced gastrointestinal and abdominal surgery. Specifically, I am focusing on more advanced training in complex and robotic hernia and bariatric surgery. I will graduate in July 2024 from the program and then will enter into practice. I graduated residency from the University of Tennessee/Ascension St. Thomas - Nashville in June of this year.

Any personal life updates or big milestones since graduating? 

• Since graduation, I have gotten married to my wife Elizabeth. We have a son, Ford who is 21 months old, and a daughter Evie, who is 5 months old. We also have two labs named Lady and Boone.  

Best memory of your time at SOMG? 

• My fondest memory as a student in Greenville was centered on the relationships with both my classmates and teachers. I was fortunate to create many strong friendships that still last to this day. I still keep up with many of my former classmates and try to see them when I can. The bonds we formed during medical school went beyond the classroom. Fun fact — I obtained my marriage license during medical school and officiated two of my classmates getting married to one another. Since then, I have married three other couples, including one of my recently graduated co-residents! 

How did your time at SOMG prepare you for where you are today? 

• Everything about Greenville prepared me for life now — how to speak to patients, colleagues, and staff. It prepared me academically, mentally, and physically with the amount of studying and time spent in the hospital. From a skills perspective, I was able to do a lot as a medical student, from clinical supervision at the school, hands-on activity on clerkships, and in the field on EMT runs. That confidence carried directly over into my residency. 

What person, course, or experience most influenced you while at SOMG? 

• I had multiple people influence me during my time there, and I was able to learn bits and pieces from a variety of specialties to help create my own personalized care for my patients. Apart from the many surgeons I was able to learn from, specifically those in MIS and Bariatrics that motivated me to enter into such a field, I look back most on my initial anatomy class with Dr. Shanna Williams - she was such an inspiring professor and fantastic hands-on teacher. Her love for anatomy made me appreciate the human body with a desire to operate one day as a surgeon, always maintaining a strong curiosity and awareness for the details. She maintained a high level of respect for our donor patient bodies, and that made a lasting impression on me - that everyone deserves undivided attention. I also appreciate Dr. Paul Catalana and his encouragement all throughout medical school. He was optimistic and helpful in times of stress for me, and he remains one of the big reasons I kept pursuing a career in surgery. Because of people like him, I can now say I have graduated from a general surgery residency and will be pursuing a MIS fellowship. All this to say, I remain thankful everyday for Greenville - my teachers, former students, mentors, patients, and community, for allowing me to grow into the physician and person I am today. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all of you.