She attended Pomona College in Claremont, CA where she received her B.A. in English. Knowing it was time to move back to the South, she next attended Duke University School of Medicine, where she earned her M.D. She went on to complete her residency in family medicine at MUSC and Trident hospitals in Charleston, SC. Having a love for her own rural community, Ellen returned to Gainesville shortly after residency to start her her career as a family physician at the Longstreet Clinic.