He received his Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University in 1992 and medical degree from University of Illinois. He completed pediatric residency and a fellowship in clinical medical ethics at University of Chicago in 2000 and subsequently worked as a research assistant professor in Bioinformatics at Northwestern University. He completed his training in pediatric hematology-oncology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles prior to joining the faculty of the University of Southern California in 2005.