I grew up in a small town north of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Growing up in New Mexico allowed me to obtain the perspective that diversity is a strength for all communities. After completing high school I went to the University of Iowa where I graduated with a B.S. in Microbiology with honors and a B.A. in Biochemistry. While also at Iowa I competed for the Men’s Gymnastics team. Gymnastics taught me leadership, teamwork, and perseverance. Go Hawkeyes!

I served in the US Navy while attending University of New Mexico School of Medicine. During that time I met and fell in love with my wife, Katie. That was also when I first was introduced to her home town of Moscow, Idaho. After our first visit to Moscow I was hooked and never forgot the small close-knit feeling I got initially when I cam here. Katie is a graduate of Moscow High School and the University of Idaho.

In 2015 I completed my residency training in Family Medicine at the Puget Sound Family Medicine residency at US Naval Hospital Bremerton, WA. We had two of our children, Evie and Mina during that time and Katie completed her Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington (I still don’t know how she did all those things with a husband in residency!). My residency training instilled in me the values of being humble,
working hard to advocate for patients and the lessons of how I wanted my patients to be treated. I still look up the attending physicians and and remember the interactions I had with patients while training at PSFMR.

Our first duty station after residency was Iwakuni, Japan at a small yet rapidly growing Marine Corps Airstation. We loved the military community, welcoming host nation, and opportunity to travel. Our third addition, Lulie, was also born during our time there. We will always cherish the time we spent there and the many memories we created.

I left the Navy after 11 years. I am proud of my service to our Nation and would freely join again if needed. However, as I promoted through the ranks my duties shifted to administrative tasks rather than focussing on patient care and I decided to pursue life as a civilian.

Upon moving to Moscow I started working at Moscow Family Medicine and joined the teaching faculty at the University of Idaho WWAMI program. I enjoy educating young student doctors on clinical skills instruction and helping serve students as a mentor. Sharing my passion for medicine and direct primary care has been rewarding.

Over time, working in a traditional fee-for-service clinics I started to feel less committed to the vocation of medicine. My practice was heavily influenced by “third parties” and regulations that in theory should help but end up hindering the type of care I was able to provide for my patients. High patients loads and coding requirements set in place by administrators and insurance companies limited time I could dedicate to what I felt was most important. I value compassion, connection and open communication and I knew there had to be a better way.

I opened Link Family Medicine to remove the middlemen and be able to make decisions that matter to the people I serve: my patients. I feel liberated and I have a new lease on my practice of medicine after stepping out of the system. I look forward to changing how my patients interact with medicine and enjoy having more time to focus on things that also matter the most to me: Katie, Evie, Mina, and Lulie.