Prior positions include Professor of Surgery at Yale University, military appointment as Professor of Surgery (USUHS) Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Program Manager at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Senior Science Advisor at US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command in Ft. Detrick, MD.  Undergraduate training was Johns Hopkins University, medical school at Hahnemann University of Philadelphia, internship at Cleveland Clinic, surgical residency at Mayo Clinic with a Master of Surgical Research. Awards include Smithsonian Laureate in Healthcare and the Department of Defense Exceptional Service Award.  During 23 years of military surgery he has been an active flight surgeon, an Army astronaut candidate, MASH surgeon for the Grenada Invasion, and a hospital commander during Desert Storm, all the while continuing clinical surgical practice