He is Board Certified in Adult Psychiatry. He received his Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) from the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Sciences in Des Moines, Iowa in 1989. He completed his residency through the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1993. His fellowship in forensic psychiatry was completed at the Department of Justice, Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina in 1994.