Medical School: St. Louis University School of Medicine
Masters: University of Texas: Dallas
Undergrad: Georgia Tech
Greetings: residency applicants, people googling a famous British actor, and those just requiring a closer look at my enormous forehead.
I grew up in a military family, moving from Texas, to Spain, New Orleans, then Atlanta before studying engineering and working with GM engines at a plant in North Dallas. After combing the metallic shavings from my hair, I got a masters in biotechnology and took courses in oncology/virology that sparked an interested in medicine. I applied, worked for the FDA for a year and moved to Saint Louis with my wife and daughter.
During my fourth year of medical school, Texas A&M Christus Spohn appeared on my radar for away programs after a local EM resident recommended it, and I found out there was only one other residency program in the city. It was the type of learning environment that seemed to me, congruent with core philosophies of Emergency Medicine. Also, there was a beach near the hospital, and it was snowing in St Louis at the time.
My 2001 Chevy Blazer is pretentious and believes itself to be a modern day ship of Theseus. It broke down (again) during my away rotation in Corpus Christi and once some of the residents found out my predicament, one of them gave me rides to the ED for a week, while another killed several evenings helping me fix it. That's just one of many similar anecdotes that I could use to describe the supportive nature of this program and type of people that we work with. I was also especially impressed by their ED procedural proficiency, the quality of their conferences, and the range of experiences and depth of expertise in the attendings.
My wife and (now) two kids have really enjoyed South Texas coastal life. The beach is amazing, the surf is surprisingly good if you are into long-boarding, and the (lack of) traffic is priceless. Residency is difficult wherever you go, but over the years, faculty and residents have managed to build a program and atmosphere that not only challenges each other to constantly raise the bar, but recommends you are not miserable while doing so.
My current research interests include ultrasound-guided procedures.
If you have made it this far and are still confused:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001426/