ABOUT ME

Before telling you who I am today, I believe a little background is in order. You can also check me out on LinkedIn and Twitter.

I grew up in a small town in the Texas Hill Country where livestock greatly outnumber the inhabitants. I spent my junior year of high school as a Rotary Club Exchange Student in Holbaek, Denmark. It was such an enlightening experience for a small town country boy to live with host families, attend a Danish high school and travel all around Europe at the age of 17.

After finishing high school, I attended Texas A&M University and was fully indoctrinated into the Aggie family. I still attend a couple of football games every year. And every year I think next year will be the year for a national championship. 2025 was close, but unfortunately 2026 is another next year.

After A&M I went to UT Houston for medical school. I always thought I would be a surgeon or family practitioner. Like most new medical students, I had never heard of a pathologist until I took my Pathology class. It was only after doing extremely well on my final that I thought maybe I should give Pathology a look. So, I decided to take an elective Pathology rotation. And, as they say, the rest is history. I chose Pathology and never looked back. During my fourth year I had the opportunity to spend a month in China on a cultural exchange in 1993, which was another great experience of life and medicine outside the U.S.

I matched at UT Southwestern, where I completed my residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology. I was fortunate to have a great mentor in Rob McKenna, M.D. During my training he was the President of the American Society of Clinical Pathology, and he piqued my curiosity in organized medicine. I attended a Texas Medical Association (TMA) meeting for the first time with a fellow resident, John Armitage, M.D. I quickly became active in the TMA and was soon Chair of the Resident Section and was a member of the Council on Socioeconomics. I attended numerous American Medical Association (AMA) meetings and Texas Society of Pathologists (TSP) meetings during my years in residency. I was selected for my first College of American Pathologists (CAP) committee as a fourth-year resident, the Practice Guidelines Committee. The final group that I was involved with as a resident was the American Pathology Foundation (APF). It was the APF that brought my focus to practice management in pathology.

I decided to go into private practice and was fortunate to get a job in Roanoke, VA at a four-person group in 1998. We merged three years later with two other groups within the Carilion system to form a twelve-person group. I became President of Dominion Pathology Associates a few years later. My involvement in organized medicine continued with the Roanoke Academy of Medicine (RAM), Virginia Society of Pathologists (VSP), APF, CAP, AMA and the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV). During my eight years in Roanoke, I served as President of the RAM, President of the VSP, Board Member of the APF, delegate chair to the CAP House of Delegates, CAP PathPAC Board, and 2nd vice-president of the MSV. I also received the AMA Foundation’s Leadership Award and the MSV’s Rising Star Award. I was happy with my career and the things I had accomplished in Virginia. I was not looking to leave Virginia, but a good friend of mine made me an offer I could not refuse. The family picked up and moved to Spartanburg, SC. I left behind a number of good friends in Roanoke, but sometime life takes you in a different direction than you had anticipated.

I joined a seven-pathologist group in 2006 and focused on our independent anatomic and cytology laboratory and developing relationships within the region. With the changes affecting medicine, we decided to merge with a larger group in Charlotte, NC to form Carolinas Pathology Group. Now we have a group of approximately 50 pathologists in addition to a number of PhD’s. In the past seventeen years, I continued to be active in organized medicine. With my time concentrated on our group’s practice and as President of our independent lab, I decided to cut back my involvement with the American Medical Association and South Carolina Medical Association. I continued my participation with the CAP and APF, as well as adding the South Carolina Society of Pathologists (SCSP) and Spartanburg County Medical Society. During these past 20 plus years I have served on numerous CAP committees, participated in numerous CAP inspections, had multiple roles in the CAP House of Delegates with 8 years on the HOD Steering committee (Sergeant at Arms, Secretary), served as President of the APF, and President of the SCSP. While President of the APF, I was able to guide the organization from a multiyear net loss to a large net profit by the addition of the Coding Handbook and the development of Lab Management University in conjunction with the ASCP.

Finally, I decided to formalize my business experience and get my master’s degree in business administration (MBA). I completed my MBA from the University of South Carolina in 2018. It was a great experience with some emphasis on international business, including time in Vienna and Prague.

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE

On a personal side, I spend my days with my beautiful wife Sarah and our three dogs, Penny, Coaley and Taz. The 3 kids are out of the house so we enjoy spending our free time at our lake house in the mountains of North Carolina. When not at the lake house or travelling for the CAP, we love playing pickleball. Like many people, we also like to travel around the US and the world when we have time. Italy, Morocco and US national parks have been some of our favorites thus far, but there are so many other places to see.