The road to here.

Growing up on the North Shore.

I grew up in Smithtown on the North Shore of Long Island. It was a suburban place to grow up, but there was also plenty of nature nearby, from the Nissequogue River and wooded preserves to the beaches along the Sound. Summers meant going to the beach, attending nature camps, and spending as much time as possible with friends. The giant bull in the middle of town was simply part of the scenery, despite being a giant bull in the middle of town.

I was the youngest of three children in a family of five. My brother, Ben, is seven years older than me, and my sister, Elana, is four years older and has special needs. Elana now lives in a supportive group home and participates in a day program. Ben spent about a decade building and eventually selling a digital marketing agency and now works in economic development in Queens. We have all taken fairly different routes.

Our house was rarely quiet. Over the years, we had two dogs and two cats, so there was usually an animal making noise, shedding on something, or demanding attention. Music was also a big part of my childhood. I played guitar and oboe and was serious enough about the oboe to make All-State. I promise that is the only oboe-related brag on this website.

My mother began her career as a social worker and later became a therapist. My father is an attorney. Education and hard work mattered in our house, along with doing the right thing and speaking up when someone needed help. With a social worker, an attorney, and a child who required additional support all under one roof, advocacy was not something we discussed in the abstract. It was simply part of family life.

Biology, EMS, and a few odd jobs.

I went to Binghamton University, where I majored in biology. Like many biology majors interested in medicine, I spent those years studying science while looking for opportunities to understand what working in healthcare was actually like. I volunteered as an EMT with the local town ambulance and spent my summers back on Long Island working in transport EMS.

The work ranged from responding to emergencies to helping patients travel between hospitals, nursing facilities, appointments, and home. Some calls were intense. Others involved long rides, difficult staircases, and trying to maneuver a stretcher through a space that was clearly not designed with a stretcher in mind. A stretcher has a remarkable ability to find the narrowest doorway in any building.

EMS gave me an early look at the less polished side of healthcare. The work could be physical, dirty, tiring, and occasionally hard on both your back and your ego. Poor treatment did not only come from patients, families, or other healthcare professionals. EMS workers did not always treat other EMS workers particularly well either, especially if someone was new or lower in the informal hierarchy. It could be frustrating, but I enjoyed being useful and learning how to stay calm around people who were having a much worse day than I was.

During college, I also worked as a gym attendant at the downtown Binghamton YMCA and had a short stint as a pharmacy technician at Rite Aid. At Binghamton, I became involved in Parkinson’s disease research. Research was methodical and controlled, while EMS could change in the time it took to answer a radio call. I appreciated getting exposure to both sides of healthcare.

Fitness also became a larger part of my life during college. Working at the YMCA probably helped, although having free access to a gym did not always guarantee perfect attendance. My interest in strength, exercise, and physical function continued through medical school and residency and remains an important part of my life today.

Learning the language of medicine.

I attended Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in Middletown, New York. Medical school felt like drinking from a fire hose for a few years, except someone would periodically test you on the water. Anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and everything else arrived quickly and in large quantities.

Once clinical rotations began, all of that information had to be applied to real people whose symptoms did not always present in the clean, organized way they appeared on an exam. That was when medicine started to feel less like a collection of facts and more like an actual practice. There was rarely one perfect answer, and even the correct plan had to make sense for the person receiving it.

My osteopathic training placed additional emphasis on the relationship between structure, movement, and overall health. I enjoyed the hands-on aspect of that education and learning how physical function could fit into a broader plan of care. It also gave me an early foundation in musculoskeletal medicine that I continued developing during residency.

Medical school was demanding, but it was also a memorable period of my life. I had a great group of classmates, and we found ways to enjoy ourselves when we were not studying or feeling guilty that we should be studying. Living in Middletown also gave me my first real connection to the Hudson Valley. I spent a few years learning medicine in the area without knowing that I would eventually return to build my career nearby.

By the end of medical school, Family Medicine felt like the right fit. I liked the range of the specialty, the mix of acute and long-term care, and the idea of getting to know patients beyond a single problem or hospital stay.

Residency, city life, and meeting Kat.

After medical school, I wanted to experience somewhere different. I moved to Chicago for my Family Medicine Residency at Resurrection Medical Center and lived in Lincoln Park. I loved the neighborhood and spent a lot of time walking around, heading toward Lake Michigan, trying different restaurants, and enjoying the fact that there was almost always something happening nearby.

The commute to Resurrection on the northwest side of Chicago was less inspiring. It taught me that I enjoy city life much more when I am not spending a significant portion of it sitting in traffic. Lincoln Park was great. The commute was character building in the least interesting way possible.

The most important part of Chicago was meeting my wife, Kat, in late 2022. We were married in December 2024 at the Chicago Athletic Association. Chicago will always be more than the city where I completed residency because it is also where our life together began.

Residency was busy, demanding, and often unpredictable. I was fortunate to train alongside a great group of co-residents who made the difficult stretches easier and the good days more enjoyable. We spent a tremendous amount of time together, both inside and outside the hospital, and many of my favorite memories from residency involve them.

I also trained under fantastic attending physicians who were generous with their time and genuinely invested in teaching. Several had completed additional training in sports medicine, which gave me valuable exposure to musculoskeletal evaluation, injury management, injections, and the role of exercise in treatment and prevention. That experience fit naturally with interests I had already developed through fitness and my osteopathic training.

My Family Medicine training covered a wide range of care. I worked in the hospital, clinic, emergency department, labor and delivery, pediatrics, and several other settings. The variety could be challenging, but it was also what attracted me to the specialty. By the end of residency, I felt prepared to practice independently while remaining very aware of how much there would always be to learn.

Back in New York and making a home.

After residency, Kat and I moved back to New York. I now practice primary care in Fishkill, and the move has worked out extremely well. Returning to the Hudson Valley felt familiar after my time in Middletown, but it also marked the beginning of a completely new phase of life.

Family Medicine suits the way I like to work because it allows me to combine different parts of my training rather than narrowing my work to one organ system. My interests include preventive medicine, metabolic health, exercise, men’s health, musculoskeletal care, osteopathic manipulation, and office procedures. I enjoy the variety and the opportunity to continue developing different skills throughout my career.

The continuity of primary care is probably what I value most. I like getting to know patients over time and understanding the larger context of their health. I try to be straightforward and explain what I am thinking without making the conversation unnecessarily complicated. Medicine already comes with enough confusing language, so there is usually no need for me to add more.

Outside of work, Kat and I adopted our dog, Wright, in the fall of 2025. We are also expecting our first child in the fall of 2026. We are looking forward to this next phase and everything that comes with growing our family.

I spend my free time weightlifting, riding my bike, taking photographs, making the occasional YouTube video, and playing guitar. I also play Madden and FIFA on the PS5. I am a lifelong fan of the Jets and Yankees, which has provided plenty of opportunities to practice patience. I continue to classify gaming and sports fandom as hobbies despite the fact that they frequently make me less relaxed than I was before I started.

The Hudson Valley feels like the right place for this stage of our lives. We are close to family, surrounded by nature, and gradually making the area home.