As the youngest of three boys, being raised by a Single Mom puts a certain perspective on the world. We resided in Arlington, an area within Jacksonville, FL, which at the time had the highest violent crime rate in the state. Our normal was quite different from others. Not just socioeconomically, but in a broader more systemic sense. Our middle brother, Jeremy, is considered the "Lucky" one: he is a tattoo artist. Born with a natural gift that lifted him from our neighborhood to a better life. The oldest, Jason, is a chef. A learned craft that he sacrificed many years in perfecting.
Every parents dream is for their child to succeed in life. I am quite sure our mother hoped for the same. A more realistic aspiration was for us to simply come home safely from school and not be a footnote on the evening news. This was our neighborhood, a place in constant chaos. Fortunately, our mother's perseverance and adaptability got us away from the neighborhood. I learned from a very young age, that I wanted more than this life, I wanted better for myself.

In the beginning sports were my tool to escape poverty. I earned a scholarship to Jacksonville University as a Quarterback/Pitcher. College wasn't without its struggle: a shoulder repair as a freshman nearly overtook my career, but focus and determination allowed me to continue to play and succeed, earning the first championship in Jacksonville University football history. I continued to pursue sports, professionally, but stopped once I learned I would be a father to my son, Alexander. He is currently five and starting school. I remember learning the news of Alexander's impending arrival and thinking "I have five to six years to get a career together, to support my family". I immediately gave up the tool that took me away from the neighborhood, enrolled in Barry University; and I received my MSc in Biomedical Sciences sixteen months later, while raising my son.

All opportunities are met with expectations and their corresponding adjustments, and AUC was no exception. The key difference that set me apart from many of my colleagues was family: I am a father first. Family is extremely valuable to me, it's the one thing we felt could not be taken away from us. Family is a constant motivator that helps drive us to a greater future. Our mother and our son, representations of the past and future, are powerful reminders of where we have came from and where we intend to go.
My 3rd year of medical school was spent abroad in the UK. My time in the UK molded more than my medical knowledge, it shaped my view on the role of medicine in our society. There I was introduced to the field of Interventional Radiology. The challenge of interpreting scans combined with performing elegant procedures, all while treating the patient from beginning to end was an approach to medicine that I desired.

"The definition of an educated person is the realization of how ignorant one is to the world." Socrates' advocacy for humble learning is an ideology for us all to continue into the future. We can have a new normal. I look forward to meeting you.