About Me
I am an abdominal transplant and hepatobiliary-pancreatic doctor as well as a general surgeon. I'm also an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and General Surgery at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. While there, I completed a Master of Divinity, which included a hospital chaplaincy internship. I hung up my scalpel in 2016. My research interests include finding pragmatic ways to overcome the many barriers to integrating palliative medicine into the care of seriously ill and injured surgical patients. Additionally, my goal is to define and explain spiritual suffering, grief or loss, and coping in caregivers. I am the co-director of Wake Forest University School of Medicine's fourth-year medical student clinical clerkship in geriatrics and palliative care. I am also the deputy director of the third-year clerkship in surgery. I love to teach the ethics and practice of shared decision-making and coach advanced empathic communication skills to learners at all levels, including students, residents, surgery and palliative care fellows and surgical attendings. I am the founding Councilor of the Surgical Palliative Care Society.