I'm a proud product of the under-represented minority education pathway to medicine. I was born and raised in a single parent home in Gary, Indiana. I was the first member of my family, and one of few graduates from my high school class to go on to college, despite being a teenage parent and having a significant lack of resources. I attended Florida A&M University (FAMU), a historically black college, where I established numerous academic support programs for my fellow pre-med students.
After graduating from FAMU in 2003, I matriculated to the University of Chicago-Pritzker School of Medicine. I graduated with honors from The University of Chicago in 2007 and became the first Black man to be selected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. In 2011, after completing residency and becoming one of the first minority chief residents at the University of Chicago Medical Center, I began my Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine Fellowships at the University of Colorado and National Jewish Health.
I went on to pursue my MBA in Healthcare Administration at the University of Colorado Denver Business School and concurrently completed a two-year Administrative Fellowship in the University of Colorado Office of Diversity and Inclusion in 2016. I was then recruited to the Colorado Permanente Medical Group (CPMG) in 2016 and quickly became a part of the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Advisory Committee.
In 2017, I was appointed the physician director of Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity for CPMG, where I was given many opportunities to increase the value of care for our patients. In 2018 I was appointed the Associate Dean for Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity for the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine. In 2021 I was honored to be appointed The inaugural Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for Morehouse School of Medicine.