He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh in chemistry and studied abroad at the University of Oxford his junior year. Prior to medical school he was a Postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award Fellow at the National Institutes of Health. As a Regents Scholar, he earned his medical degree from UCLA, where he also obtained his MPH in Health Policy and Management. As a scholar he has helped to create an eConsult system for Medicaid patients to have improved specialty care access, a statewide inventory of acute care services, and an observational study using a Sync for Science mHealth technology.